The Australian was loved by everybody in the area where he worked: Keonjhar district in Orissa. He was a humble man working with the local villagers, trying to bring a semblance of normalcy to the lives of hundreds of leprosy victims. He was killed because some lunatics of this country have taken it upon themselves to torch this country's morality and make us a laughing stock as well as a subject of universal global derision. Some mad men, preaching a cult of intolerance alien to this nation's history, killed him _and, to make matters even worse _ and his two young sons because all they believed was that this man was unfit to live in a world of bigotry. And to make matters simply tragic and shameful, the Australian and his two sons were killed in their sleep.

The killers shouted Hindutva slogans, we are told. We have also come to know the identity of the man who organsied the killing, keeping out villagers who tried to save the dying Australian and his hapless sons and torching his tent when they were sleeping. Since we are on the subject of Hindutva, it might be of some use to go back to the issue of morality and at least one chapter of the Mahabharata , the Hindu epic by which the nation swears. In the latter stages of the Kurukshetra war, when all was lost for the Kauravas and the Pandavas had emerged as the victors for all practical purposes, three cowards suddenly took it upon themselves to launch a night swoop on the sleeping Pandava tent. The epic writer, Vyasa, does not spare any kind words for them, not even the great Ashwathama, who was since sent into exile, never to be heard of again.The world, even at that time, rose against this dastardly act and the worst form of punishment in those days was meted out to Ashwathama; he was told to part with his ticket to immortality _ in the shape of a precious gem _ after which nobody heard of him again. The text,in its wisdom, goes on to say that the Ashwathamas would continue to live.

Obviously, they have. And the Stein family has been one of their victims. The country is still to reconcile itself with the import of this tragedy and the government has not made any great announcements worthy of a power centre which is expected to take immediate actions to ensure that the country remains confident after such incidents.

The CPI(M) and all other right-thinking political parties have naturally condemned the incident and the party has even sent a team of MPs to Keonjhar. But all that is a good gesture.The main question now confronting this nation is simple; why should such incidents be allowed to happen in the first place? And from where did the murderers get the gumption _ which, anyway, is a mild term in this context _ to shout slogans for a particular party owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar?

Obviously, with the Gujarat incidents still very much fresh in memory and now this dastardly act, things seem to be falling in place and a certain pattern is emerging.The country is in evil hands; indeed the questions of ability and performance are now secondary.The Sangh Parivar is an evil entity.There can be no doubt about that.It can perform only at the behest of the dark forces which Satan nurtures with great care in some dormant nook of our hearts but which, otherwise, are kept at abeyance by saner logic.

If the country continues to remain in the hands of the BJP, guided as it is by the Sangh Parivar, including the Bajrang Dal which was self-proclaimedly behind the Stein killing, then the future is truly bleak. Stein's martyrdom has not done anybody proud; it will only make the killers hungrier for more blood.