Indian secularism has come of age. Not too long ago, assorted figures like Mullahs and now, increasingly, Christian groups, used to holler that their sentiments were hurt and blah. The current dispensation would instantly rush to their rescue and impose a quasi ban on whatever was causing the hurt sentiments. And we used to blog about the steady erosion of freedom speech and more blah.

But this news item really gladdens the heart (thanks to a reader who emailed the link).

U.S. heavy metal band Slayer’s latest album has been recalled from music stores across India after the country’s small Christian community said the cover depicting Christ with amputated arms and a missing eye was insulting.

EMI, the music company, which released Slayer’s album has withdrawn its sales on its own volition.

Which only illustrates my earlier assertion that Indian secularism has come of age. It no longer needs government intervention; the government by raising a cry over non-issues like the Da Vinci Code, has ensured that citizens wake up to the new reality.

For their own good.

On a more serious note, the fact that EMI has withdrawn the album proves the effectiveness of the UPA’s “minority policy.” The fact that an obscure organization named Catholic Secular Forum has the clout enough to force EMI to hurt its own business shows how alarming the UPA’s policies are. Not to mention the Narendra Modi visa episode where an overwhelming number of Christian groups succeeded in pushing their case on dubious grounds.

Another item to mull over is the increased display of public intolerance by Christian groups. It is simply India’s misfortune or fateful irony that Slayer’s album is banned in India where Christians are a bare 2% of the population, while not even a coo of protest is heard from the Christian nations of Europe, or the US. And I have valid reasons to think that this phenomenon majorly owes to Signorina Maino at the helm. In retrospect, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi’s zest to have Da Vinci Code “approved” (sic) by Christian groups owes to that other Congress illness: dynasty bootlicking. He simply wanted to please his Christian boss.

The UPA seems content to watch the nation disintegrate; nay, it’s rather enabling the disintegration in the hoary Congress tradition. The Indian media has as usual, gagged this news. Thank God for the Internet. Head over to this excellent discussion board where people are thrashing out this issue. Of note is this item:

Catholic Secular Forum…isnt that an oxymoron?