Secularism and Contradictions

After the 42nd amendment in 1976, our preamble added the word "Secular" in it. When it's said that "India is a secular country", it means that there is a co-existence of multiple religions and a separation between the religion and state.

But, there was always an inherent link between contradiction and secularism in India, as it seems.

In the colonial regime also, it was the "divide and rule" policy adoption that worked a lot. When we go into the past and analyse our legacy of secularism, it points out that besides having a difference, we all stood against the unjust and inhumane shackles of colonialism. But a cynical view also persists, was it really a sense of unity or whether it was the reconciliation of the same communal motives and time that decided that we should be united now?

Well, if there was unity, why was there partition on communal grounds? India would never like to recall the memory of those horrendous communal riots. In addition, the reasons for the lack of social and economic Development was always given a religious colour. All this poses a question: Does secularism really exists, or it's the constraint imposed by those who realized the devastating effects of communal riots?

The pictures depict the situation of politics nowadays.

Even in post-independent India, the traces of communalism persists. The violence of the Mumbai, Muzaffarnagar and Godhra communal riots had always left us terribly shocked. Ram mandir Dispute is again one example. Also, in secular India, political parties still try to fill their vote banks through communal ideologies. Religious rhetoric is in vogue. The hate speech of Akbaruddin Owaisi and Sadhvi Prachi's Controversial comments pose prime examples. Also, it happens only in India that Judicial judgments are seen from a religious perspective. The hanging of the Terrorist Afzal Guru saw criticism of such kind.

Also, the media's role is to be mentioned over here. Many a time, debates on religious matters like triple talaak, uniform civil code etc, involve contrasting views of great intensity that can devastatingly influence the people's perspective regarding each other's religions. The independence given to media, is somewhere (unintentionally) resulting in arising of communal sentiments among people. But, the media has always played a crucial role in arousing unified sentiments among indians.So, instead of questioning the media's independence, it is expected that the tolerance level and rational perspective of the citizens of India may render broader. Furthermore, a spade should always be called a spade, not by any other name.

On one side, we say we are a secular country; on the contrary, we have different law boards on matters like divorce, polygamy, marriage, alimony etc. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other Non-Muslim Indians follow common law, whereas Muslims follow their own sharia-based personal rules. A secular country rejects religious laws and sees every citizen of that country subjected to common regulations and so is the concept of the Uniform Civil Code.

But once again, we have instances like a Muslim knowing each and every shlokas of Bhagvadagita and a Hindu reading the verses of the Quran. Indian Defense selection criteria never identify the capabilities of a candidate based on religion. Marriage of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor poses a secular example. We have many such examples that have promoted secularism in India.

At last, although India is a nation with various religions co-existing, but it is not this co-existence that only matters but the strength of integrity and unity among these religions that matters. Strength despite diversity must be our National Motive.