Fundamentalists, be they Muslim, Christian or Hindu, are conjoined triplets, joined at the hip and sharing the same rectal orifice which, for the want of a better word, has come to be, has to be called asshole.

The human blood is what they drink from the goblet of gore, and the elimination of human life is what they easily, swiftly shamelessly, unapologetically seek when confronted with a view of the world that contests their own.

In the name of Bhagwan, Allah, Jesus.

In the name of protecting their religion.

In the name of the silent, faceless devout in whose crease and on whose behalf they bat.

For the Muslim lunatic fringe, a work of fiction that challenges their imagination a la Salman Rushdie, or a newspaper column that demands a better deal for women a la Taslima Nasreen, is enough to shame their brave biriyani brethren into announcing global contests for their heads.

For the Christian lunatic fringe, the bestial and brutal slaughter of thousands of innocent Iraqis in America’s ongoing “war”, and in countless other “clashes of civilisations” as they know it, is OK because it is all part of a grand divine plan that will finally culminate in the ‘second coming’ of Jesus Christ.

Say namaste–namasakar to the Hindu lunatic fringe.

Hellbent on taking their—our—“religion” down the same dark and ghastly road of hatred and intolerance. Hellbent on overturning every known canon that their—our—“religion” is famous for. And hellbent on turning their—our—“religion” into a pale, pathetic version of the one they so despise.

Say hello to the a-in-c, Ram Vilas Vedanti (in picture).

The Honourable Member of Parliament (MP) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has delivered this gem on M. Karunanidhi:

“Anyone who speaks against Ram should be beheaded and his tongue should be chopped and [those] who will do it will be given gold by Ayodhya’s saints.”

Like, maybe, the carrot of 72 virgins that the religion of the other part dangles before its martyrs. But, apparently, not in the hereafter but here on earth.

Of course, if Karunanidhi is free to say what he did, in a “free and democratic country”—a reality that the spokesmen of the sangh parivar can spot only when their trishul-weilding, tilak-toting foot soldiers are tearing apart posters of Fanaa or seeking a student’s arrest—Shri Vedanti should be free to air his “personal opinion“.

But an honourable Member of Parliament, who has taken oath under the Constitution of India, publicly advocating death in a public forum of another constitutionally elected colleague?

Forgive them, Rama, for they know what they do.

And forgive them, Allah, for the Mukhtar Abbas Naqvis and the Shahnawaz Hussains too know what they are defending.