India: A Secular Country?
The Indian constitution states that India is a secular country, i.e. India doesn’t have any state religion and it regards all religions with equality, and every single resident of this nation has the option to practise, or not practise, any religion of their choice.
At the time of partition, a new country was born in the name of religion and on the other hand, India decided to be a secular state. The preamble of the Indian Constitution states that ‘India is a secular country’. The constitution has empowered everyone with certain Rights; one of them is ‘Right to life’ which states every citizen of this country has the right to live their life with peace and harmony, regardless of caste, religion, gender or creed.
In all these years of independence, the secularism of this country has been challenged time and again by anti-social elements. There have been politically persuaded uproars and killings, which have led to the demise of several people. What makes me extremely upset, significantly more than these ruthless killings for the sake of religion, is that there are individuals among us who legitimise such killings.
Another serious issue regarding secularism in this country is ‘pseudo-secular’ people who claim to be secular, and to prove their secularism pass remarks like ‘not every Muslim is a terrorist’; they don’t understand that their contemplation is loaded with bigotry. The moment you link terrorism with a religion, you demonstrate how enormously biased you are. There is always someone we know who will say things like “I am secular because I have a Muslim friend”. First of all, a friend is a friend; why do they even care about their religion and secondly, having a friend from another religion doesn’t make you secular. Secularism means respecting every religion and additionally implies being sufficiently tolerant to acknowledge the blemishes in your very own religion.
Defining Terrorism
According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations terrorism is defined as any act “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act”.
By my interpretation of that definition, I think that any act of violence against civilians, whether it is riots or vigilantism by political groups counts as acts of terrorism. I believe, whether we consider the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat riots, the 1993-34 nationwide riots in relation to the Babri Masjid demolition or recent killings in the name of Gau-Raksha, they all count as acts of terrorism.
Such incidents are never reported as terrorist acts. This is not just in India; this is a pattern all over the world. The merciless open shootings in America by white men are rarely categorised as terrorist attacks, but a similar crime committed by a Muslim is always reported as an act of terrorism. The religion of a criminal is only highlighted when a person is a follower of Islam. This is because terrorism is usually linked with Islam, ultimately leading to Islamophobia all over the world.
Right-wing politicians all over the world have used Islamophobia to spread hatred against the Muslim community. Everyone is well aware of the hatred Trump has for Muslims. Similarly, even in India, the rise of violence supported right-wing religious groups is worrying and threatening. This will keep on happening until and unless we don’t stop connecting terrorism with religion, instead, we should address the real issues with every religious fanatic out there.
Religious Fanatics Exist In Other Religions Too
Many religions in the world have extremist groups, which are basically groups of brainwashed people, made to commit horrendous crimes in the name of religion. Many of these groups have a political and financial motive behind them and members are brainwashed by inciting fear and hatred against other religions. Religious text is misinterpreted to make these people believe that whatever they are doing has actually been commanded by their God and it is aimed at saving their religion. Some of these groups are even state-sponsored.
I believe we should agree on one fact, that all religions in the world need an upgrade and we need to abolish a lot of regressive practices related to religion. This can only be done when we address these regressive practices as a problem. All these changes should come from within the community itself or by the sane and liberal legislature. The abolishment of Sati practice in Hinduism or reforms related to triple talaq in Islam are examples of this. Every religion has a sane group of people who raise such questions, but most of these people are attacked for their progressive opinions. People cannot avoid questions against regressive practices in the name of secularism, its high time we call spade a spade.
Secularism and religious tolerance are of utmost importance for every country, they are important for humanity to survive. Every human being deserves and has the right to live a life of their choice with peace and harmony without facing any kind of discrimination due to the religion he/she follows.