competitive exams in india - essay_article - secularism in india.pdf
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8/14/2019 Competitive Exams in India - Essay_article - Secularism in India.pdf
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03/11/2013 Competitive Exams in India - Essay/article - Secularism in India
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SECULARISM IN INDIA
I do not expect India of my dreams to develop one religion, i.e., to be wholly Hindu or wholly
Christian or wholly Mussalman, but I want it to be wholly tolerant, with its religions working side by
side with one another.
Mahatma Gandhi
On paper, India is unquestionably a secular State with secure constitutional guarantees for all citizens.
Yet, at a social and political level secularism seems an abstraction. There is a serious contradiction
between the secular goal of the Indian Constitution and the growing communalisation of its polity.
Secularism cannot be defined without relating it to the socio-political context. What is true in the
western context, may not be necessarily valid in Indian context and vice versa. Secularism, in
philosophy and politics, is rejection of religious and sacred forms and practices in favour of rational
assessment and decision-making. In Europe and North America, secularism can be traced to the 18th-
century Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Enlightenment thinkers attacked classical traditionsand religious authority. In particular, they argued that the separation of Church and State would
enable the free exercise of human intellectual capacities and imagination, and would bring about
government by reason, rather than by tradition and dogma. The State, which was subservient to
Church, till then, was able to free itself from domination of papal authority, after a long struggle.
Western dictionaries define secularism as the absence of religion, but Indian secularism means a
profusion of religions, none of which is privileged by the State. Secularism in India does not mean
irreligiousness, rather it means multi-religiousness.
However, the Indiansociety was very different from the European society in its socio-religious
structure and could not, therefore, imitate the western model of secularism. It had to evolve its own
model of secularism from its own experimental context. Since there was not any struggle against any
established religious authority, there was no question of anyresentment against religion. Also, India
was rich in pluralistic traditions, and mainly relied on them for developing its concept of secularism.
Indian pluralism is best summed up in two maxims: ekam sad vipra bahula vadanti (i.e. That which
exists is one; sages call it by various names) and sarva dharma sambhava(All religions should beequally respected).
Thus, right from the beginning, Indian secularism drew its strength from pluralism. It was the religious
community, rather than the religious authority, which mattered in the Indian context of secularism.
The saner leaders of both the communities emphasized justice in power-sharing, without questioning
the religious authority of either community.
In fact, the leaders of minority communities feared domination by the majority community and
interference in their religious affairs. The leaders of the majority community, on the other hand,
sought to assuage the feelings of minority communities by assuring them they would be free to follow
their own religions. Such leaders were called secular, while those of the majority community who
resented unrestricted religious freedom for minorities were called communal. (a loose definition) Thus,
in Indian secularism an anti-religious attitude did not play a part.
When the concept of secularism came to be accepted in Indian politics, beginning with later part of
19th century, Indian society was deeply religious and people jealously guarded their religious rites as
well as religious identities. Even the modern reform movements launched by Raja Rammohan Royand Sir Syed, both in the Hindu and Muslim societies, were launched within the framework of
respective religions. The leaders of freedom movement, like Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad
and others were all believers themselves and adopted the religious idiom to mobilize the Indian
masses for the freedom struggle.
For Gandhiji, the basis of Hindu-Muslim unity was also religion. The political unity, in his view, should
also be based on ones religious duty to unite with other human beings. He wrote in the Harijan of July
6, 1947 that ....by trying to befriend Muslims I have only proved myself a true Hindu and have rightly
served the Hindus and Hinduism. The essence of true religious teachings is that one should serve and
befriend all. To strengthen his point then he goes on to quote a coupletfrom Iqbals famous poem
Naya Shivala: "Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein bayr rakhna",meaning, religion does not teach us to
bear ill-will towards one another.
Constitutional concept
Differing views of national leaders meant that the form of secularism that found expression in the
Constitution after independence was ambiguous. The result was that the Constitution sought to do
several thin s. It made some allowance for the role la ed b reli ion es eciall Hinduism in Indian
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8/14/2019 Competitive Exams in India - Essay_article - Secularism in India.pdf
2/3
03/11/2013 Competitive Exams in India - Essay/article - Secularism in India
www.competitionmaster.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?ID=679b5bdf-267a-4d44-8348-08574c6fa230
ECONOMY
PETROLEUM PRICING
POLICY IN INDIA:
NEED FOR CHANGE
REFORMS IN
GOVERNANCE AND
POVERTY
ALLEVIATION
MACROECONOMIC
MANAGEMENT AND
MONETARY POLICY IN
INDIA
INFLATION IN INDIA :
FUELLED BY DEMAND?
. , ,
life. It also gave statutory recognition to minorities, thereby implicitly accepting the existence of a
majority. It aimed to foster a common civic identity, but then compromised this by the provision of
reserved seats in legislatures to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (initially meant to last 10
years, no Parliament has contempla-ted doing away with this and its regular extension has become a
formality).
Though our Constitution is secular, originally the word secular found only a single casual mention in
the document of 1950. The reference was to economic, financial, political or other secular activity in
Article 25(2a) and the usage followed the standard dictionary meaning. It was only during the
emergency in mid-seventies, during Congress party rule, that the words secular and socialist were
added. The secular objective of the State was specifically expressed by inserting the word secular in
the Preamble of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976. But the word secular was not defined,
although it was given official (not Constitutional but operational) expression in the State practice of
maintaining equidistance from all religions, or paying equal respect to all religions, not favouring oneat the cost of another. Thus, the unity and fraternity of the people of India, professing numerous
faiths, was sought to be achieved by enshrining the ideal of a secular State, which means that the
State protects all religions equally and does not itself uphold any religion as the State religion.
Thus, the spirit of Indian secularism is not denial of any religion or religious practice, but religio-
cultural pluralism. It is certainly better than atheistic secularism as the latter does not admit the right
of citizens to believe.
Critique
Uneven benefits of modernization and industrialization, on one hand, and marginalization of religious
traditions, on the other, have led to strong reaction, lending legitimation to the reassertion of religious
and ethnic identities, and putting more and more pressure on the secular State.
During eighties, right-wing politicians mooted the concept of positive secularism, putting a question
mark on the Nehruvian concept of secularism. The advocates of positive secularism argue that all
those who follow Nehruvian secularism are following a pseudo secularism or false secularism, as
they are indulging in minorityism by unduly favouring the minorities.
Religion in India, whether pre- or post-Independence, has never been dissociated or delinked from
State institutions at any level: legal, institutional or cognitive. Rather, the modern Indian State has
been involved in regulating the religious affairs of society, more to secure political goals than to
modernize the soc ial structure of Indian society. As a matter of fact, its var ious policies have
promoted and strengthened the religious identity of people and provided State patronage to religious
institutions and leaders.
Secularism became not a creed of radical separation between religion and politics, but of spiritualising
politics itself, which often took the form of mutual accommodation of orthodoxies. The crucial question
would be what should be the relationship between the State and religion? Should the State play a part
in religious affairs?
Many argue that it is not possible to do away with religion from politics in India. It must be noted that
though the Constitution provides for citizenship on individual basis, irrespective of ones religion or
caste, one can hardly forget that our existential reality is communitarian, rather than individual-
oriented.
The Constitution had to take note of this existential reality. Thus, our Constitution tries to imbibe
elements of both as an honourable compromise. Strictly speaking, the ruling elites do not rule in the
name of religion, or for a particular religion. However, politics of the ruling elites has always found it
convenient to negotiate with various communities, rather than individuals. Religion has firm presence
within the communities, and it is a reference point for the communities to define themselves. The
Indian State, therefore, continues to interact and deal with communities, and in the process,
constantly legitimizes and reinforces the communities through its acts.
The meaning of religion varies from one person to another. All religious people are not dogmatic,
narrow-minded, ignorant, superstitious and intolerant. Dogmatism and narrow-mindedness or
fanaticism are psychological rather than religious categories. In that way, even an atheist or agnostic
can be dogmatic or intolerant and even fanatic.
The role of religion has often varied, from being an instrument in the hands for enforcing abject
subjugation of the toiling masses, to that of inspiring the revolt against tyranny or racial oppression.
Religion for toilers generally steps in to cement the strong bonds desired. It provides values and
meaning to their lives. It is their hope. Religion acts not only as a substitute to science in explaining
the universe and its laws, it also acts as a popular philosophy for even the most ordinary person to be
able to appreciate.
The ordinary or powerless need stronger, collective existence to give meaning and purpose to their
existence. The collective social existence through which the individual seeks to compensate his or her
powerlessness is to have common social values, culture, and a world-view.
Some social scientists in India have argued that the serious threats to social tolerance and diversity in
India today come either from an anti-democratic, majoritarian, ethnic nationalism or from a
homogenising and modernising nation State, and the imposition of alien values on Indian society.
Such theorists prefer a State which does not claim procedural neutrality and separation of State from
religion but is, instead, guided by an encompassing indigenous culture, although they oppose the
interpretations of Indian culture which are being marketed by right-wing forces today. Minorities could
be protected, they argue, by the tolerance and modes of coexistence which have evolved in the
society over time, rather than by a modernising nation State with alien values. The State should be
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prepare to evo ve some o its powers an unctions on to communities.
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