If you are not from Congress, you are not secular!

Also, if you are contesting on any other party symbol against a Congress candidate, you are an "agent" of the BJP out to beat the "secular forces".

I happen to live in a densely Muslim populated area of Old Delhi and have seen Congress candidates, from former Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf to Congress heavyweight Kapil Sibal, taking this line election after election.

Irrespective of whether it is a municipal or a Lok Sabha election, the Congress candidates have a single point message for the Muslim electorate: Don't divide the "secular vote".

The issues of development, schools, employment opportunities, Muslim representation in grade A government jobs, inflation and widening economic disparity hardly find a mention in Congress candidates' speeches made to Muslim voters.

What's interesting, and tragic, is that they succeed most of the times in garnering Muslim votes.