New Delhi, March 15 -- In his now-canonical study, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, first published in 1981 and revised in 1997, Palestinian American scholar Edward W. Said makes a statement that goes into the heart of the war that is raging in West Asia. "It is only a slight overstatement to say," he writes early on in his treatise, "that Muslims and Arabs are essentially covered, discussed, and apprehended either as oil suppliers or as potential terrorists."

The fallout of Said's observation is evident at this moment, especially in India, as the country faces a shortage of cooking gas and fuel. As an ally to the US and Israel, India shares their apprehension of Islamic terror bei...