Just as all the secularist, pluralist, liberals go nuts at the name of ‘Modi’ so they have in Britain too – when you mention Britain is a Christian country (and jolly good too!).
Cameron reminded Britons of this a few years ago and a load of really famous clever people wrote a letter to the Telegraph saying the British PM is wrong. Just as people write in the Guardian that Modi is a crazy religious right-wing sectarian divisive bigot.
This is what they wrote in the Telegraph about then PM Cameron: “we object to his characterisation of Britain as a Christian country … Britain is not a Christian country … At a social level, Britain has been shaped for the better by many pre-Christian, non-Christian, and post-Christian forces. We are a plural society with citizens with a range of perspectives, and we are a largely non-religious society…Constantly to claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in our society. This needlessly fuels enervating sectarian debates that are by and large absent from the lives of most British people, who do not want religions or religious identities to be actively prioritised by their elected government.”
You really have to be in denial to think Britain is not a Christian country – what the hell do you think Easter holidays and Christmas breaks are? About bunnies and Fir trees? Or an established Church is. The Queen is not a Defender of Faiths but of ‘The Faith’ .
As for India, it’s also known as Hindustan for good reason. When three quarters of your population follow one faith – Hinduism – to deny it is a Hindu nation, when every corner street has a temple, the country stands still at Diwali – you’re fool to call it anything other than a Hindu nation.
And as this October we proudly in Christian Britain celebrate Diwali, if we want an anthem, I can think of none better than one amended from the British themselves.
Then raise the saffron standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the saffron flag flying here.
Hindustan’s flag is deepest saffron,
It shrouded oft our martyred gone,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts' blood dyed its ev'ry fold.
Look 'round, the Gujarati loves its blaze,
The sturdy Punjabi chants its praise,
In Chennai’s temples its hymns are sung
Mumbai swells the surging throng.
It waved above our infant might,
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.
It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.
Then raise the saffron standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the saffron flag flying here.
