“Indian concept” of Secularism
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word ‘Secular’ means “not having any connection with religion.” That is the western model of secularism. In the western model, there is a wall between the state and the church. The word wall means that the state has no authority within the walls of the church. So, there is a complete separation of power between the state and religion.
In comparison, the Indian model of secularism is quite different. Indian philosophy of secularism is related to “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” which means equal respect for all religions. The foundation of India as a secular country is based on Gandhian and Nehruvian ideas of secularism. This statement can understand Gandhi’s view,
“I do not accept any 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.”
The secularism of Nehru is rooted in our commitment to scientific humanism. He used secularism as a glue to unite India as a nation and democracy.
The Indian concept of secularism is a strategy of principle distance, i.e., the state does not interfere with the tradition and culture and day-to-day activities of any religion, but it might intervene positively to eradicate superstition, gender biases, or any ill activity to the society. Indian secularism does not question the existence of God, or in other words, the state is not anti-religion, but no religious entity is above the state. On one end, Indian secularism protects the nation’s rich cultural and religious diversity by giving religious freedom to every citizen, including the minority communities. On the other end, secularism wants to create a scientific temperament among the people and build a more humane and modern state.
For the last few decades, Indian secularism has moved quite from the core idea and replaced it with political opportunism. Rajeev Bhargava termed this phenomenon as “Party-Political Secularism.” Political parties refrain from interfering with religion or intervening only when it benefits their electoral and vote-bank politics. The Ram Janma Bhumi movement, the demolition of Babri Masjid, and the aftermath of these two events put a question on India as a secular state. From its birth as a party, the current ruling party, BJP, opposed the idea of Indian secularism. They used religion as a political tool, and for the last decade, religion became an integral part of Indian politics, practiced by all other parties. The advent of toxic Hindutva in the Indian political arena is a threat to secularism. In the Constitutional assembly debates, Vir Narain remarked,
“The plain fact is that those who want to establish Hindu Rashtra in India see secularism as a real obstacle; …Those who want democracy in India know … that there can be no effective democracy without secularism.”
If the Hindutva people overcome the obstacle of secularism, we do not know for sure till now. However, I think India will survive as a secular nation not because of the state but because of its people who have respected cultural and religious diversity for thousands of years.
