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[India, since independence] has always functioned as an upper-caste Hindu state.

But the conceit of secularism, hypocritical though it may be, is the only shard of coherence that makes India possible. That hypocrisy was the best thing we had. Without it, India will end.
...
And we are learning, too late, to cherish hypocrisy. Because with it comes a vestige, a pretense at least, of remembered decency.
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~ Arundhati Roy​

https://www.thenation.com/article/arundhati-roy-assam-modi/