Secularism has been one of independent India’s most debated and contested issues. There have been innumerable debates regarding the subject. The concept of secularism comes from the western idea of secularism, which the Britishers adopted. In some countries there is a complete divorce between religion and state, then there are theocratic countries as well, but the concept of secularism is different in India.
The Indian version of secularism doesn’t accept a certain religion as the state religion but rather respects and maintains a watchful ambivalence on all religions and religious affairs. Secularism in India has developed a distinct and modern version of secularism. Ashis Nandy, the social theorist, argues, “The Indian meaning recognizes that even when a State is tolerant of religions, it need not lead to religious tolerance in society. For, tolerance by the State cannot guarantee tolerance in the society.”
He also says that India’s concept of secularism is based on faith, and if we revisit the history of India both Akbar and Ashoka were unaware of the concept of secularism and instead were liberal of Islam and Buddhism respectively.
Ashis Nandy, in his essay “Anti-Secularism ”, explains, “India’s more assertive minorities like the Muslims and Sikhs who seem less reconciled to the idea of secularism.”
It is quite evident from contemporary India that different communities leave no stone to unturn to show their dominance over the other, especially the religion in the majority, i.e. Hinduism. For the past many years, from changing the names of places like Allahabad to Prayagraj to changing the history of the battles like that of the Haldighati, erasing history is a way to assert dominance and a way to unite people based on their religious practices. The ongoing quest to change history, to show the hegemony of one religion which is not only practised by one political party in power but rather by others as well, shows the necessity of pluralism in all regions and their history.
Communalism is an evil by-product of secularism, with communal politics exacerbating its significance further. The kind of secularism India is practising is helping the survival of politics in India. When our constitution was created, the idea of a secular state was not a negation of religion but rather adherence to the principle of equality of all religions.
Leaders like Gandhi aspired to a secular nation where religious tolerance exists and, more importantly, politics and religion exist together. After more than seven decades of independence and the evolution of secularism in India, it is seen that the politics in India is mainly about religion and the communal divide.
I believe the concept of secularism looks impossible in the Indian context. Although India claims to be a secular democracy, today’s India is no longer a religious-neutral entity; it no longer treats different religions with equality. It is more appropriate to say that Hinduism has become the country’s official religion without being declared one.
The Muslims and the Christians are the targets of the state, and different laws and practices are done to make the Hindu religion superior to the others. The riots depend more on rationality, objectivity, and self-interest from materialism, secular cost-benefit analysis, and greed than religious fanaticism or stereotypes. The concept of secularism is seen as a weapon against the minorities in contemporary India. From the recent Hijab controversy to the Sikh riots (where they were made the anti-nationals), the idea of secularism in India is seen as bent on political interests.
The call for genocide of Muslims in Dharam Sansads by people with extreme Hindu ideologies, the demolition drive to destroy houses of the minorities, and disputes like the Gyanvapi Masjid and the opening doors of the Taj Mahal are no coincidences but a progression of the state policy of the BJP government since it came to power since 2014.
The Constitution also fails to protect the rights of the minorities, and the press makes India a sliding democracy. The recent Citizenship Amendment Act is another example of how minorities are being suppressed and discriminated against. Journalists and activists are being booked under sedition and counterterrorism laws, and the government suppresses dissent. Laws like the anti-conversion and the slaughter bans call for a dominant Hindutva notion.
The Bhartiya Janata Party, or the BJP, was created on the notion of religion, and it is quite successful in making the Hindu religion the dominant religion in the country.
With all these instances, one can clearly say that secularism in the Indian context is not possible, despite the efforts and vision of our founding fathers, who aspired to a nation in which all the religious diversities exist peacefully and equally.