On Secularism

The term secularism, in the Indian context, means equidistance of the state from all religious identities. It is to be specifically noted that this definition is applicable only to India because of one factor that differentiates India from many other countries (i.e.) India is a multi-religious country. In a sense, the definition of secularism for India is an adaptation of the definition in the West – that the state I separated from religion. India is a country where people belonging to various religions live together enjoying equal rights and freedom irrespective of their religion.

Going back to the time when the world was ruled by various emperors and kings, when the term secular did not exist and the kings who were supposed to be the superior, when the kings were the representatives of God and legitimized by the temples or respective worship place. In Europe there were many kingdoms. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful and the religion followed then was Christianity. The church and the king were working together. The year 1453 is one of the most important dates in history as it was the year which witnessed the origin of many changes. “The fall of Constantinople” had occurred. Constantinople was a kingdom in present day Turkey and was the capital city set up by Constantine, the Roman Emperor. It was called the sick man of Europe as it had people of many religions living together and not like the other empires where Christianity was the major religion of the people. The only land route to Asia was through Constantinople. Now that Constantinople had been captured, the European powers had to find a new route as most of their trade was with the Asian countries. Thus the industrial revolution happened. The famous saying, necessity is the mother of invention had its meaning cleared. The fall of the Roman Empire was during the same period. It was now when King Henry wanted to marry a second time and according to the bible it was not allowed. So, he rebelled against the church and then came the splitting up of the State from the Church. They became two different separate ruling powers. The state thus ruled over the common man, the followers of the King. This was easily possible in the European countries as Christianity was the most prevalent religion.

In India there was a period of transition, but the situation was different. As we all know India is a multi-religious country unlike the European countries. India is the birth land for many religions. The feeling of a nation and nationalism started in the aftermath of colonization. The leaders realized that unity was required to fight against the British. But in India, Hinduism happened to be the religion of the majority and all other religions were recognised as minorities. So to achieve unity or nationalism, one had to achieve secularism first. So, in the 1880s, the Congress started bringing in new policies like giving protection and recognition to the upper and middle class Muslims who were considered as the leaders among other Muslims. This was not a great success as the Muslims demanded reservation (as they were minorities) in proportion to their total population.

Another incident which is a noted one in the Hindu- Muslim unity is the Khilafat movement and Gandhiji’s role in it. The Khilafat movement was a protest against the European countries which had occupied Turkey and overthrew the Muslim sultan Khalifa. The Muslims around condemned this act of the Europeans and wanted them to restore Khalifa to take control over the Muslims’ sacred places. The Khilafat movement in 1919-1920 was against this action of the Europeans. This is when Gandhiji, who was a national leader and a follower of Hinduism, took a step forward and began the Non-Cooperation movement along with the Khilafat movement joining hands with the Muslims. The Muslim leaders were very happy with Gandhiji’s action and thus everyone stood united during the Non-Cooperation movement, fighting against the British.

But soon it was realized that there was unity only among the leaders and not the people of the two communities. And when things went sour among the leaders it had an immediate and greater impact on the common people. The communal violence in 1924 in the North-West Frontier Province brought out the harsh reality. If religious unity as stated above was present in the hearts of every single individual, such an incident would not have occurred. But the Montague-Chelmsford reforms (1919) and elections to representative bodies that provided for communal representation served as the provocation for this disunity. This British policy of divide and rule, however, had to be challenged by the national movement. Thus secularism became a national aim.

Though secularism was achieved to an extent, after independence communalism was reborn. The secular nation of India had faced partition on communal basis which later led to the inclusion of Articles especially on this issue (Articles 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29) in the Constitution of India. These provisions in the constitution provide religious freedom to every citizen of this country.  According to these provisions the state does not interfere in the internal issues of any religion, but it interferes and checks that no religious sentiments are hurt. In other words, no discrimination on the basis of religion in any public affair. But at the same time you can find particular minority institutions, which is provided by the same constitution, in order to give them importance and security in the society.

The articles mentioned above are stated below:

Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

 (1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.

(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation any existing law or prevent the State from making any law-

(a) Regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practise;

(b) Providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.

Article 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs.

 Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right-

(a) To establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes;

(b) To manage its own affairs in matters of religion;

(c) To own and acquire movable and immovable property; and

(d) To administer such property in accordance with law.

Article 27: Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion.

 No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.

Article 28: Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain educational institutions.

(1) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly          maintained out of State funds.

(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to an educational institution which is administered by the State but has been established under any endowment or trust which requires that religious instruction shall be imparted in such institution.

(3) No person attending any educational institution by the State or receiving aid out of State funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto.

Article 29: Protection of interests of minorities.

(1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.

 (2) No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Incidents that shook every soul: major communal violence in India:

November 1984:

Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, violent mobs began organised attacks on members belonging to the Sikh community in Delhi, Meerut and many others towns in Northern India. The violence went on for three days and left more than 3500 people (all Sikhs) dead and property worth crores of rupees destroyed.

Ayodhya:

            It happened on the 6^th of December, 1992 in Uttar Pradesh. A historical monument was destroyed by many lunatics. The Babri Masjid was a 450 year old monument and as the name mention it was the worship place of Muslims. On the above mentioned day hundreds of “kar sevaks” rushed into this religious complex and brought it down. This was followed by violence against members of the Muslim community in many towns. There were a few instances of retaliatory violence too.

Manoharpur, Orissa

            In a shocking incident, an Australian missionary, Graham Steines, who was involved in rendering relief to the leprosy patients in rural Orissa was burnt to death along with his two sons. The killer, Dara Singh, was caught and it was found that he was a member of a Hindu fundamentalist organisation.

Gujarat, 2002.

            On February 28, 2002, a group of kar sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya died after the coach in which they were traveling was set on fire at the Godhra railway station in Gujarat. For a few weeks after that day, most parts of Gujarat was engulfed in violence against the Muslim community. It left over 3500 people dead and property worth several crores destroyed.