Pakistan, May 20 -- The latest ruling on the Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar should trouble anyone still invested

in India's claim to secular democracy. A medieval mosque has now been declared a temple by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, with Muslim worshippers told, in effect, to seek space elsewhere. Saffron flags, and police presence followed.

Even as such disputes multiply at home, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is working to soften its image abroad. Its leaders have been meeting academics, policymakers and business figures in the United States, Germany and Britain, insisting that the RSS is misunderstood, that it is not a paramilitary organisation, that it does not promote Hindu supremacy, and that minorities in India have not been reduc...