By arguing that acts of terrorism inspired by Islamists have nothing to do with the average Indian Muslim, why doesn’t he think that violence attributed to gau-rakshaks are also a case of certain individuals or groups going “off-track’’? If the majority shouldn’t feel threatened by a few ‘individuals’ of the minority community joining terrorist groups, what makes Ansari believe that the Muslim population in this country is having a ‘sense of insecurity’ because of the actions of a few ‘individuals’ from the majority community? This exceptionalism of the Indian Muslim turning terrorist, and assertive Hindu groups threatening every Muslim in India, are clearly the stuff of Ansari’s selective imagination.

Thirdly, in his speech at NLSUI last week, Ansari said that placing cultural commitments at its core made any form of nationalism illiberal. Interestingly, replying to a question on judicial intervention in matter of triple talaq in the RSTV interview, he sought to discount the religious commitments of Muslims from the state. “You don’t have to, the reform has to come from within the community”, said the former vice-president. He went on to add, “Modernity has to be caught up with, without letting go of tradition. You address modernity with tradition and tradition with modernity.” Well, that’s what modern states try to do when they accommodate “cultural commitments’’ within modern state apparatus. Something Ansari was rejecting two days ago in Bengaluru.