Secularism In India | An Analysis

Secularism In India An AnalysisSecularism in India as Gandhi and Nehru saw it is distinctly different from the Western view of profaneism. The Gandhi-Nehru secularism places the importance of the give tongue tos neutrality between Indias umteen faiths.Indias independence tear downtu some(prenominal)y came as a result of Congress success in 1946 elections,1and as a result the emergent India embodied an idea of a semipolitical community that was brought together by modern nonions such as individual rights, democracy, and citizenship irrespective of unearthly or opposite markers of ethnic identity.2The Congress c entirelyer embraced a version of nationalism that promoted an inclusive and plural vision of the Indian state irrespective of religious or other identities. gibe to Amartya Sen, the roots of Indian secularism shadow be traced back to its long and diverse multi-faith history.3Indias make-up grants its citizens, individual as well as group rights.4As such, Indias sec ularism tends to emphasize the neutrality of the state in religious affairs as opposed to a strict breakup of the state from religion. According to Sen, the first view requires the state to be equidistant with respect to solely religions meaning that the state treatment of different religions and religious communities will be symmetrical. The second view requires that the state has absolutely no kindred with any religion.5For the purpose of this essay first we will look if as per the spirit India is secular State and second how Hindoo nationalism affects Indias secularism.Evolution of composingNehru initiated the process of constitution fashioning with the eight point resolution for Independent India on December 13th, 1946. According to the resolution India was to be a union of the provinces and the sybaritic states. The constitution guaranteed the upholding of equivalence, justice, and freedom to the people of India. Along with these the constitution had special provisions for the people from the scheduled class, backward and under-developed areas. The constitution of Independent India had many things in commonality with the Government of India Act 1935 except the incorporation of Universal Adult Franchise as article 326 in June 1949 which marked its major differentiation with the Government of India Act.6The Constitution did not contain the word secular till the 42nd Amendment in 1976, in condition 25(2)(b). Prof. K.T. Shah was the only member who made an effort to get a provision regarding the secular character of India included in the Constitution. The following amendment, moved as Amendment No.366, was defeated on 3rd December 1948.7The State in India be secular sh totally have no concern with any religion, creed or profession of faith and shall observe an attitude of absolute neutrality in all matters relating to the religion of any class of its citizens or other persons in the Union.The following extract from the speech of Pandit Laxmi Kanth Maitra on 6th December 1948 quoted by Justice R. A. Jahagirdar can be said to reflect the consensus of the membersBy (a) secular State, as I understand it, is meant that the State is not going to make any disparity whatso ever on the ground of religion or community against any person professing any particular pretend of religious faith. This means in loading that no particular religion in the State will receive any State patronage whatsoever.8As the BJP Home Minister L.K. Advani is quoted by jam Chiriyakandath to have saidThe Constituent Assembly drew up a secular Constitution essentially be ride theocracy is alien to Indias history, tradition and culture. The concept of Sarva Panth Sammabhav (equal respect for all faiths) has always been regarded as an essential attribute of the state and statecraft of our country.9The non-discriminatory character of a secular State is undoubtedly imprinted on the Constitution. There is individual and incarnate freedom of religion the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. Every religious denomination has been given the fundamental right to establish and keep back its have institutions and to manage its own affairs in matters of religion (Art.25).10While word 25 gives individuals complete autonomy with regard to practice and performance of religious rituals, Article 26 allows every religious group an equal opportunity to operate inside the prescribed domain, which is defined by the law.11Equal treatment of all religious denominations requires that the state does not associate itself with a particular religion or recognise a particular religion as the majoritys religion which in Indias effort is Hindooism, the constitution rather disassociates itself from it. Article 27 stipulates that no person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the progress or maintenance of any particular religion. Article 28(1) says No religiou s instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly kept up(p) out of State funds.12These articles indicate separation of state and religion. Moreover, the silence of Indian constitution over the provision of an official religion speaks the most about separation of state and religion. As Smith says, What the constitution does not say is just as important as what it does say.On citizenship, the Indian constitution recognises the people of India as the citizens where the state has nothing to do with their religion, faith, belief or caste and acclaims to treat all citizens equally. Article 15(1) ensures religion as not being a ca utilise of discrimination. It statesThe state shall not discriminate any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth or any of them.Article 16(1) and (2) statesThere shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state.13No citizen shall , on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or appointment under the state.The employment of the three clauses, individual and corporate freedom of religion, separation of state and religion and citizenship in the Indian constitution excludes the role of religion in defining the relationship between the union and its citizens. outgrowth of Hindu nationalism and role of Hindutva in Indian politicsThe Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha had been in the Indian political arena since 1951 and 1915 respectively. It was the political and institutional context of Indian politics in the 1980s, and not Hindu nationalist ideology per se, that facilitated the emergence of the BJP.14For BJP Hindu nationalism equates Indian-ness with Hindutva (Hindu-ness)15as the threat that nationality is based on territory and not religion..For this essay the impact of Hindu nationalism on Indias secularism is explained by assessing a) the Uniform Civil Code, b) the Ayodhya controversy and c) Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which gives Kashmir special status within the Indian union. We also look at d) the saffronization of education in India through a reinterpretation of Indian history by Hindu nationalists.According to Savarkar a legitimate citizen of India is one for whom India is not just the matribhoomi (motherland) but also the punyabhoomi (sacred land).16These two notions are congruent for Hindus Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs whom they regard as the true citizens of India. According to this argument, Christians and Muslims pose a ethnical threat to Indian (Hindu) culture since their punyabhoomi does not coincide with the territory of India. They can live in India so long as they do not cast their identities and conform to the larger Indian (Hindu) culture.17The Hindu nationalist agenda operates at multiple level s within Indian society. The BJP (and its predecessor, the BJS) serve as the political arm of Hindu nationalism. The RSS fulfils a militant and ideological role the Bajrang Dal is an organization aimed at radicalizing Indias Hindu youth the Vishwa Hindu Parishad works as a social and pagan body espousing Hindu nationalism (and even works with the radical elements within the Hindu diaspora) and the Vidya Bharti works as the educational arm of the RSS. Together, these and numerous similar organizations form what is k outrightn as the Sangh Parivar built around the RSS that aims to promote Hindu nationalism.In 1948 RSS was temporarily declared to be an unlawful organization and its activities were proscribed as a result of Mahatma Gandhis assassination by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, an RSS devotee. The Hindu Mahasabha, another political group of HIndutva escaped ban at this time but their activities were forbidden these groups were forced to maintain a lower profile.Since independence, C ongress party dominated the Indian political scene until 1989. Congress partys hegemony began to gradually decrease after Nehrus death in 1964. Indira Gandhis craft of emercy between 1975 and 1977 caused mass disillusionment with the Congress party across India. This ultimately led to the election of the first non-Congress party giving medication in 1977, led by the Janata Party, a coalition of parties that included the BJS. Within this political context BJP formed in 1980 move intoed national politics in India. BJP tried an attempt to appear as a more moderate party and capture wider popular appeal which alienated the RSS, which in turn supported Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress party in the 1984 elections to controvert its displeasure.18As a result, the BJP returned to its Hindu nationalist ideological nerve centre. Use of religion by Indira Gandi in the state of Punjab to challenge the appeal of its regional rival, the Akali Dal, a Sikh religious party and later Rajiv Gandhis re version of Supreme Court judgment that had granted alimony to Shah Bano19further assisted BJPs Hindutva cause rise.BJP used Congress partys closing to pacify the Muslim orthodoxy to argue that this step was contrary to the spirit and practice of Indian secularism as it privileged the sectarian interests of a particular religious community.In 1989 Rajiv Gandhi began his electoral campaign in Faizabad district, where the town of Ayodhya is located. There he promised to create a Ram Rajya (rule of Ram), again playing majoritarian politics. BJP started to openly criticise the Congress partys treatment of religious symbols as pseudo-secularism.However, the Congress party lost the 1989 elections and the era of coalition and minority-led government of V. P. Singh which was supported by the BJP from the outside. In order to secure the support of the now mobilized lower castes, V. P. Singhs government put forth an affirmative action program the Mandal Commission that promised 27 percent of all government jobs and places in institutions of higher education.20In order to offset political split within the Hindu community, L. K. Advani launched a 10,000 kilometer-long rath yatra in 1990. He expected the similitude pillars of Mandal and Masjid would ensure the rise of Hindoo nationalism rise in Indian politics.While the BJP was only able to win 7.4 percent of the popular vote in the 1984 general elections, its vote plowshare increased to 21 percent in 1991.35 In 1996 the BJP formed a coalition government that only lasted 13 days, while the 1998 BJP-led coalition government, the National democratic Alliance (NDA), survived for a year. Finally, in 1999 the BJP-led NDA government formed the first non-Congress government that survived the full five-year term with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as its prime minister.Jaffrelot has shown that the Hindu nationalist movements strategies include both radical and moderate elements.21The BJPs radicalized, militant nature is demonstrated b y the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and the Gujarat violence a decade later ensured the support of its core constituency and the RSS. In spite of their coalition with ideologically different parties, the BJP succeeded in promoting a Hindu nationalist version of Indian history by implementing changes to the National course of study Framework.22The specific policy issues that were crucial to the Hindu nationalist agenda wereUniform Civil Code In the late 1980s the controversy created by the Shah Bano graphic symbol gave the BJP the ammunition to criticize the policies of the Congress party as catering to minority-ism and being pseudo-secular. This case is an example of this tension between individual and group/religious rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.23The Indian state did not show the same zeal for reform in Muslim laws as it did while enacting the Hindu laws in 1955 and 1956. According to Articles 37 and 44 of the Indian Constitution, the establishment of a uniform civil code is a directive principle for the Indian state in making laws, even as it is not enforceable by any court.24BJP still remains committed to the implementation of a uniform (Hinduized) civil code.The Ayodhya Controversy The closing of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 and controversies surrounding this mosque had been around since the nineteenth century, this issue had remained dormant since Indias independence.25In the 1980s, the BJP used this issue as a political exchange point to unite the Hindu electorate irrespective of caste or language in an attempt to construct a Hindu vote.26As an electoral dodge the Ayodhya issue paid off. The BJP increased its vote share from 11.4 percent in 1989 to 21 percent in the 1991 general elections.27The construction of a Ram temple at the site of the destroyed mosque remains on the agenda of the Hindu nationalists. The Ayodhya controversy erupted again in February 2002. This attack had all the signs of a systematic and pre-meditated political violence on minority Muslims in which the state government was an active party. This led to the rise of Hindu nationalism supporters so much so that Narendra Modi even campaigned on the Hindutva platform in the state elections in 2002 and won. The Hindu nationalists further threatened that Gujarat experience would serve as a laboratory to be replicated elsewhere in India.28According to Nussbaum, Hindu nationalism in general, and the Gujarat incident in particular, poses a serious threat to the survival of democracy in India.29However, the general appall amongst the Indian public in other states led BJP to drop this issue from their 1999 NDA election manifesto try to replicate it in other Indian states.Article 370 and Kashmir Article 370 of the Indian Constitution grants Kashmir special status within the Indian union. Kashmir is Indias only Muslim-majority state but enjoys special provisions such as repressive land-ownership. Article 371 of the Indian Constitution allows the governments of certain states such as Nagaland and Mizoram in northeast India to legislate on the ownership and transfer of land in these regions, thereby restricting migrations of Indians from elsewhere in the country.30Indias Lakshadweep islands also enjoy a similar status as even Indian citizens require special permission to enter this restricted region.31However, it is only the Kashmir issue that is important to the Hindu nationalists given the complex history of its accession to the Indian union after independence.32Reinterpretation of History and Changes in the educational Curriculum In an attempt to show that India is the matribhoomi of all Hindus, the Hindu nationalist historians claim that the Vedic Sanskrit-speaking Indo-Aryan peoples were indigenous to India, thereby implying that no Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent ever occurred.33to show that all of Indias Hindus are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the subcontinent.34Islamic political domin ance in the subcontinent has been reinterpreted by the Hindu nationalists to emphasize the more militant look of the rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and the exploitation of their Hindu subjects. Periods of Hindu-Muslim cultural syncretism and good governance of Akbar is absent from the Hindu nationalist narrative of this period of Indias history.35Furthermore, these revised textbooks have deleted references to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 by a member of the Hindu Mahasabha. The textbooks blame Muslims for the partition of India.36Since the BJP has a long-term agenda to redefine Indian identity, they were not hesitant to use their power while in government to redefine Indias past with the intention to mould the future generations understanding of Indias history along their ideological lines.According to the twin tolerations argument, a broad range of religious-state relations are possible in a democracy.37BJPs single major success has been the communalization of Indian politics by changing the discourse on secularism. It has affected in two ways. First, in spite of the rise of Hindu nationalism, a standardization of Hinduism appears to be occurring for the first time in the religions history. Second, Indias lower castes are increasingly conforming to the religious and social norms of the upper castes as they climb the socio-economic ladder. This is resulting in further homogenization within Hindu society.38Is India a secular state?What is India and who is an Indian are simple questions that are extremely difficult to answer.39One should note that the territorial idea inevitably becomes part of all nation-states, but territory does not have to be the defining principle of national identity.40The constitution makers without mentioning the word secular wrote a secular constitution. Though the constitution does not define who or what is a Hindu, but it defines followers of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism as Hindus for purposes of Hindu temple en try. Article 25 (2) (b) (Explanation II) states the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religionWould this be to prevent the conversion of Dalits to Christianity or Islam, to reform Hinduism to make it palatable to the former untouchables?The Hindu marriage ceremony Act of 1955 applies to(a) any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms and developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj(b) to any person who is a Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion, and(c) to any person domiciled in the territories who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion.41In other words, legally there is no such thing as a Buddhist, Jain, or Sikh marriage, is this another attempt to deny other religions a typical identity and absorb them in the Hindu fold?Although freedom of religion is granted under the constitutions Article 25 (1), in 1982, when a few car bon Dalits embraced Islam in Meenakshipuram, Indira Gandhi characterized conversions as a threat to national security and the central government took measures to curb conversions.Is it not ironic that the Indian state is ready to deploy army to cleanse out Sikh insurgents from Golden Temple and Muslim rebels from Charar-i Sharif, but not protect Babri Mosque from the Hindu activists?Article 16 (2) of the constitution prohibits discrimination in public employment on religious grounds. Per Presidential orders of 1950 and 1956 the beneficiaries of Scheduled Castes reservation can only be Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists but not Christians and Muslims.Predominantly Hindu army of Kashmir was absorbed in the national army in 1947 whereas Hyderabads largely Muslim army was disbanded, rendering nearly 20,000 jobless. Are Indian armys infantry regiments not still based on religion (Sikh regiments), or ethnicity (Gorkha) or caste (Rajput) or region (Garhwal) in which members of other faiths, ethni cities, and regions are barred?Are government school texts in Hindi and regional languages not saturated with signs, symbols idioms, phrases, and icons of Hinduism? Have the textbooks of history and social studies not been filled with gross distortions of Indian history of all eras, ancient, medieval and modern portraying Muslims and Christians to be the villains, traitors and foreigners?Based on the constitution and political practice including congress partys can we not say India is as secular as India can be No Less, No More.