The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, cannot be faulted for forgetting his duty. That consists of paying lip-service to the premise behind the chief minister’s chair in a secular country. When asked after the founding ceremony of the Ram Mandir whether he would be present at the inauguration of the mosque that the Supreme Court has ordered to be built in Ayodhya after the Babri Masjid demolition, he reportedly said that as chief minister he had no issue with any community or religion. Having made this pronouncement, he proceeded to hedge it with multiple speculations and declarations of his layered identity. He was not a petitioner or respondent — how is that relevant? — and he would not be invited anyway, plus if invited as a yogi he would not go — why would a chief minister be invited as a yogi? — and, most notably, as a Hindu he would not go because he was free to follow the way of worship of his own religion. That is a lot of excuses. Although the obvious question here is whether he is a chief minister first or a Hindu and a yogi first, and many have asked this not too kindly, there is also a greater confusion. Does Mr Adityanath’s way of worship forbid attendance at the holy places of other faiths? Such a claim would be rejected by many who share this religion, and by numbers of thinkers and leaders who have moulded the practice of the faith. The closed mind is special, if not to Mr Adityanath alone then to the champions of Hindutva in general. That lies at the basis of the divisiveness that is tearing apart the secular fabric of the country.

In telling irony, the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation has decided to invite the chief minister not for the inauguration of mosque-building alone, but for the simultaneous opening of public utility facilities including a community kitchen, a hospital and a research centre for Indo-Islamic studies on the same premises. The chief minister would be expected to be present at the inauguration of public welfare institutions. There is a message inhering in this programme. Perhaps Mr Adityanath will take note.