Suparna Sharma says ‘the Constitution of India drops secularism at our doorstep’ leaving us ‘to behave appropriately or otherwise — in our private lives’:

Uma Bharati, Bharatiya Janshakti Party leader, said: “Shabana Azmi is lying. Actually, many people don’t respect actors and don’t want to give them their houses. Everybody watches Shabana Azmi’s movies, not just Muslims. She has insulted her non-Muslim fans. She should be thankful that she was born a Muslim in India and not a Hindu in Pakistan. I have travelled to 80 countries and I can say that India is the most liberal country. Discrimination on any ground, especially religion, is not good. But, Shabana is lying.”

Well, to check if Shabana was lying, I telephoned Bosco, the Bandra broker. Posing as Narjis, I asked for a house to rent – in Mumbai’s Juhu or Bandra area. Bosco said, in Bandra I would need a company lease. He would try Andheri West. When I asked about Juhu, he said, “Juhu! Impossible! It is totally Hindu-dominated.”

A post you should read.