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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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2/3



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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