Education Minister Rakkam Sangma after being castigated by members of the public including church elders on his statement that the Capt Williamson Sangma State University would be consecrated as per Christian rituals since Meghalaya is a Christian state, has now distanced himself from the statement. And who does he blame if not the media? Thankfully the electronic media does not lie. What is spoken is recorded for posterity. The problem with most legislators is that they don’t measure their words and get carried away when confronted by the media. Perhaps their intent is to put their best foot forward but often there are slip-ups, perhaps because what is articulated is also what is uppermost in their minds.
It could not have been lost on the Education Minister that India is a secular country and as per constitutional law any state that violates the spirit of secularism as enshrined in the Constitution can become liable under Article 356. At the dawn of Independence, India had visionary leaders who foresaw the dangers of mixing religion with politics as is happening today, where the Hindutva forces have gone on a rampage to assert that Hinduism should become the dominant religion. Although secularism was not specifically mentioned in the Constitution it became enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution after the Forty-second Constitutional Amendment in 1976. However, the Supreme Court of India in the 1994 case of SR Bommai versus the Union of India firmly established the fact that India was secular since the formation of the Republic. That landmark judgment in fact established beyond reasonable doubt that there is a clear separation of state and religion. The Supreme Court had stated categorically, “In matters of State, religion has no place.
The Supreme Court ruling further says that any State Government pursuing a non-secular policy acts contrary to the constitutional mandate. Further, all state-owned educational institutions are prohibited from imparting religious instructions. In fact, Article 27 of the Constitution prohibits the use of tax-payers money for the promotion of any religion. Unfortunately, in recent times the Constitution has been violated time and again as far as the use of religion for political gains is concerned. This is a matter that requires extensive public debate as it erodes the spirit of diversity which is the hallmark of India. Giving importance to any single religion in a country with such diverse faiths is bound to lead to conflicts, more so when the state is involved. Ministers of the Government would do well to imbibe the spirit of the Constitution and stand by those principles at all times no matter what the provocation is. That is statesmanship and politicians need not be politicking all the time to score political points. There is a limit to seeking cheap popularity.
