In the past two weeks, since the Dadri killing and numerous incidents of violence against ‘beef eaters’ in India, some Pakistanis have reacted with surprise at what is being called India’s sharp right turn. These Pakistanis, who believe religiously that the grass is greener on the other side, seemed to be living under the illusion that India is a secular paradise, which it never was. What it did do successfully was give its otherwise god-obsessed and caste-ridden society the window dressing of secularism and liberalism but those who have studied India and its history have known the reality behind these tall claims. Cow slaughter has been an emotive political issue in India for more than 100 years. Mohandas Gandhi famously said in 1921: “Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. And Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. Hindus will be judged not by their tilaks, not by the correct chanting of mantras, not by their pilgrimages, not by their most punctilious observances of caste rules, but their ability to protect the cow.” However, Gandhi would not countenance murder in the name of this cause just as he would not countenance the murder of a cow in the name of humanity. He wrote: “I would not kill a human being for protection of a cow, as I will not kill a cow for saving a human life, be it ever so precious.” What happens when lesser men. — like those we see in the Indian-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – take up the cause? You have lynchings of the kind we saw in Dadri. It is not the first time that mobs have gotten violent over the issue. Behind the politics of cow slaughter and cow protection is the reality of India’s sharp and competitive (albeit economic) communalism and caste-ism. This majoritarian communalism does not begin with the BJP. The first time the Indian National Congress, ostensibly a secular Indian party, came into power in 1937 it allowed communal Hindu considerations to dictate its policy and governance. Cow protection was one of these considerations. Not only did Congress pass a resolution calling for a complete prohibition on cow slaughter at the time it was being led by Gandhi and Nehru, mostly Congress-led governments have before and after independence legislated cow slaughter bans in 24 out of 29 states in the Indian Union. The bans have been enacted and legislated by upper caste Hindus to target both Muslims and lower caste Hindus who consume beef. Even now, within two weeks of the Dadri outrage, the Congress, which has for the better part of its existence been the sole spokesman of upper caste Hindus, has vowed to back the BJP government. Banning cow slaughter is a profitable communal enterprise and not even those who hypocritically claim to be secular can afford to ignore appealing to the religious sensibilities of their followers. After all, at the heart of the cow protection issue is the core Hindu religious belief that the cow is the sacred mother of all Hindus. Cow slaughter therefore is considered blasphemy and cow slaughter laws in most Indian states are essentially blasphemy laws though, unlike our blasphemy law, there is no capital punishment associated with these laws. A number of Indian liberals have jumped into the cow debate recently only to declare sanctimoniously that they would never allow India to become a Hindu Pakistan. Perhaps they are under some illusion that they were somehow better or more civilised than Pakistan to begin with. However, the fact is that sans the window dressing of secularism, India has never been any better than Pakistan on the ground, especially when it comes to bigotry and superstition, if not worse. The more shrill these so-called liberal voices in India get over not being a Hindu Pakistan, the more the point that neither of these Siamese twins have been able to escape each other, try as they may. If anything, an impartial investigation would reveal 10 times as many outrages in India to each Pakistani outrage. Many of these outrages are hushed up by a pliant Indian media, which is very conscious of the country’s global image. The essential difference between the two countries has always been marketing. While Pakistan has been successfully portrayed as a nation of crazed fanatics, at times quite justifiably, India has so far escaped the scrutiny of the world with respect to its problems with religious disharmony, bigotry and fanaticism thanks to the fact that the would-be whistleblowers in India are equally prickly when it comes to the country’s imagined honour. There is a second difference too, perhaps a more striking one. Prime Minister (PM) Modi is the elected leader of the world’s largest democracy. Our Modi equivalent, General Ziaul Haq, was imposed on the people of Pakistan against their will. To sum up, while Pakistanis, especially Pakistani liberals, have always been forthcoming about the multitude of wrongs that exist in Pakistan, the so-called Indian liberals only speak out against outrages after the world chances upon them. Till then they are happy to wear the mask. All that PM Modi and his BJP have done is take this mask off for good. Now more than ever it is clear India is a Hindu country that expects Muslims and others living in it to live in accordance with the beliefs of the majority. For this one cannot help but be grateful. For long we, the Pakistanis, have suffered the self-righteous and self-congratulatory comparisons by so-called Indian liberals who are. — whether they like it or not. — as hapless a minority in their own country as they like to portray Pakistani liberals in Pakistan to be. The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Mr Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com