And while on the Sethusamudram project, here is what a senior Left leader given to metaphors came up with: “The first few names on the protocol list constitute the biggest example of Indian secularism. The President (Pratibha Patil, a Hindu), the Vice-President (Hamid Ansari, a Muslim), Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh, Sikh and a minority) and Sonia Gandhi ( UPA Chairperson, a Christian).”