India is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic. The Constitution of India guarantees its citizens full freedom in matters of religious faith. One of the fundamental rights given by the Constitution is the right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
But there is a lot of confusion about Indian secularism. The secular character of India means that there is no state religion. The government does not favour any particular religion or sect. In the eyes of the law, all religions and their followers are equal. There is no discrimination on the basis of religion, faith, caste, creed, race, sex, etc. There is complete religious freedom.
The government neither favours nor opposes any religion. It regards religion and its practice as a personal affair of the citizens.
India has many religions and to give freedom of religion to everyone and for equality of religion, India was declared a secular country. The word secular was added into the preamble by the 42th Amendment (1976). As per this there would be equality of all religions in India, along with religious tolerance and respect.
As per the written Constitution of India, India is a secular country and we as citizens of India must abide by it. Even the old philosophy of oneness of religion has been mentioned in Hindu scriptures known as the Upanishads. The Upanishads preach ‘Sarva Dharma Samabhava’ which means respect for all belief systems.
Everything in India revolves around religion and with time religion has flourished with Indian civilisation. In feudal India, where authority lay in the sword, there was almost complete religious tolerance. People from different religions used to live in peace and harmony and there was complete respect for each other’s religion. Few clashes and controversies occurred during that time, though later with the coming of the Mughals, people were forced to adopt Islam by autocratic ruler like Aurangzeb.
Secularism became more prominent under the British rule in India. Religion then became an inseparable part of politics and social life. The British government imposed separate laws for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other religious communities. This was the basis of their divide and rule policy. With this a civil code came into existence that was not the same across all religions, but different for each religion.
At the time of Independence, secularism was the main objective of political leaders. All prominent leaders of the Indian National Congress were committed to secularism. But unfortunately, the exact opposite happened, communal violence led to the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 as separate nations. Pakistan was formed as a new homeland for Muslims who felt insure of living in India, with a Hindu majority. This communal violence also led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, who preached secularism and religious tolerance.
After Independence, India became a secular country in which the Indian state did not have any one state religion, but her people were free to follow or adopt any religion. Gradually, most political leaders started preaching communal ideology, which led to India becoming a combination of communalism and secularism.
During the early 80’s, communalism became so strong that it began to overshadow secularism in India. Hence the word “pseudo-secularism” began to be used by different political parties. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, the Babri Masjid\Ram janam bhoomi controversy in 1992, militancy in Kashmir and Punjab are few major examples which prove the superiority of communalism in India versus secularism.
Communal forces oppress minorities in India and lead to the disintegration of secular policies. Communal and religious clashes are the biggest question on the definition of “secularism” in present day India.
The vested interest of people behind communalism must come to an end for a truly secular India. There should be liberal space and respect for each religion. Great and deep subdivision of religion needs to be addressed and everyone at personal and social levels must follow ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhav’ philosophy.
Religion is personal and must not interfere with politics. To strengthen secularism, whenever there is damage to religious sentiments the government must deal with the perpetrators strictly and the guilty must be punished.
“Positive secularism is not tolerance of all religions but it is the total denial of religious beliefs, it is the emergence of homogeneous human outlook which is based upon verifiable facts of life.”
(Contributed by Simiran Mohapatra)