He worked for the Front for Rapid Economic Development of India, a social action group, then in 1971 became a writer for The Daily, a Mumbai-based tabloid newspaper in 1971.
[1] They started Sabrang Communications to generate revenue to sustain Communalism Combat, which they foresaw as not being viable on its own strength.
[4] In the run-up to 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Communalism Combat created an ad campaign featuring 18 fact sheets/backgrounders pitched against the Sangh Parivar.
In 1998 Sabrang published Damning Verdict: Report of the Srikrishna Commission on the riots in Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993, and 12 March 1993 bomb blasts.
[10] In October 2003, he was a participant in the first national meeting of "Muslims for Secular Democracy", and was chosen as General Secretary of the group.
[15] Talking of violence, he has said: "Put bluntly, do groups and organizations whose rights we defend themselves believe in democratic forms of mass mobilization?
[10] He has criticized Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), describing it as an extremist organisation that rejects democracy and secularism and espouses violence as a means to achieve a new Caliphate.
[19] Writing in the Deccan Chronicle in April 2011 on the proliferation of Muslim parties he said "Ideologically speaking, it means secularism by daylight, Sharia after dark.
[12] In September 1998, Setalvad and Anand published a paper on Saffron Army Targets People of the Cross that documented forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism with the assistance of state agents.
[20] In January 2014 the Ahmedabad Crime Branch registered a First Information Report that alleged that Anand, his wife Teesta Setalvad and others had embezzled Rs.15 million intended for construction of a memorial for riot victims.