Addled Only in Parts Strange Case of Indian Secularism Alok Rai On the rebound from the vacuity of official, elite secularism, and from its esseptial hypocrisy, it is important not to fall into some form of 'subaltern' romanticism. Even as we recognise the intrinsic functionality of the traditional bonds of caste and community, their sustaining role in the face of the heartless violence of capitalism, one should simultaneously be able to see the other, vicious face of these groupings.