On 2 October 1986, the Times of India published a long joint letter by 12 Marxist historians led by Romila Thapar. The opening lines of the letter accused the newspaper of being almost communal because it had in the recent past published two reports about Qutub Minar and Mathura, both of which highlighted the destruction and desecration of Hindu Murtis and temples in those places by Islamic rulers. Even if such discovery comes to light on its own, and no matter how reputed an institution has uncovered it, just the mere publication of such news implies communalism to the Marxist historians of India.

In fact, this is an established Marxist technique in which accusation is the first tool, which puts an opponent on the defensive from the beginning and then the job becomes easy. Even when the arguments of a Marxist are pathetic and his logic faulty, accommodating it becomes a psychological urge for the opponent or interlocutor for the fear of being branded a communal. Indeed, for the longest time, being "communal" was considered derogatory by Hindus.[i] This vile psychological tactic has been exploited by the Marxists with great aplomb for the longest time because of a simple but deep-rooted factor in the Hindu psyche. A Hindu does never like to be called narrow-minded. A common Hindu will let go a view, even concede it against his own understanding just to ensure he is not called illiberal and ‘narrow-minded.’ This is his weakness, which in the past made Hindus accept even others’ intellectual dishonesty.

If the interlocutor hesitates to concede the point, other harsh words could also be forthcoming for him. Just as ordinary, decent pedestrians want to steer clear of taunting by roadside bullies, our intellectuals are cautious about not being defamed by the Marxists in the secularist academic atmosphere prevailing in our country. This is not a far-fetched imagination, but a fact of our life. The well-known English writer Gurcharan Das wrote that such an atmosphere has been created for secularism that today if someone studies the Vedas, Gita, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata they are required to clarify immediately that they are not ‘Hindu Communalists’. More significant than this is the fact that any well educated Hindu today hesitates to admit that he is studying ancient Sanskrit works as if he is committing a crime. It is essential to realize that this atmosphere has been created because of the constant use of that tool: accusation and abuses by the Marxists.