Can the finance ministry really be saying that it is no longer permissible, in modern, supposedly secular India, for literature to treat such themes?

"It is a smudge on the face of secular India," said Muhammed Muzaffar, 45, a high school teacher.

In time, Ghaffar Khan's goal came to be the formulation of a united, independent, secular India.

What happened at Ayodhya is the first shot fired at secular India.

The underlying quarrel dates back to 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned between a secular India and a Muslim Pakistan.

The state-run television of secular democratic India constantly shows programs from Hindu mythology glorifying war against non-Hindus.

There is a caste system within Hinduism, although it is highly controversial and is slowly finishing off in modern secular India.

A secular India was Sahir's preference to an Islamic Pakistan.

He said the nation would survive "as a secular India or not at all."

But many of us who have made our homes in this country are affected by the same sense of loss of our dream for a genuinely secular India.