Even as we tie ourselves into knots over the question of giving easy citizenship rights to Hindu victims of persecution in our Muslim-majority neighbouring countries (i.e., Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan), the case of a former legislator from Imran Khan’s own party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is seeking asylum in India, should concentrate minds.

Baldev Kumar, a 43-year-old Sikh, his wife and two children came to India last month and have sought asylum in India due to the Pakistani state’s persecution of minorities. He told newspersons: “I have come here to seek asylum and will request (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi Sahib to help us.”

Kumar joined Imran’s party in the belief that it would change Pakistan to something better, but that hasn’t happened. He pointed to the abduction of a teenage Sikh girl --- the daughter of a Gurdwara granthi --- and her marriage to a Muslim after conversion, as evidence of what minorities have to go through in Pakistan.

His plight, and those of all minorities in our neighbourhood, suggests that India needs to mark itself out as the ultimate homeland for Hindus, rather than talking of a Hindu rashtra, which gives rise to fears of a theocratic state.

Babasaheb Ambedkar, who foresaw such a situation when he wrote his famous tract on Pakistan before partition, was very clear that the transfer of minority populations was not only necessary, but also feasible.

He suspected that minority Hindus in Pakistan were probably less safe than minority Muslims in India, and that is exactly what has played out over the last few decades.

After discussing the issue of demarcating the boundaries of Pakistan and India, Ambedkar addressed the problem of minorities in both countries thus. He wrote: