How Secularism is Intertwined With the Idea of India

Adopting the Ideal  

India is a land of various cultures which are quite different from each other. In India there are 28 states and 8 Union territories and all of them represent their different languages, food, religions, customs, and traditions which are unique in their own way and change from place to place within the country. 

For the rest of the world, India is known for the largest multicultural society along with the fact that there is unity in diversity. It was premised on inclusion of all and exclusion of none due to which all major religions in the world like Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Parsis all constitute its vast population.

In the Indian society the multi-religious and multicultural character is deeply rooted since time immemorial. During the Independence Movement, to go against the colonial regime all the culturally diverse groups united together and gradually consolidated towards the nationalist goal.

India’s experiment with creating a political unity out of  such a diverse culture has not been without problems. More often than not, issues arise between the different communities but this was not sharply projected during the time of national struggle as the focus was on unifying and coming through the challenges. 
 
Politics and Cultural Diversity 

The establishment of democratic political order in India was indeed a major achievement. Political leaders kept the diversity of culture in the framework of constitution with the principle of unity in diversity. Despite culture diversity, the underlying unity is what defines Indian society.

The political parties invoke religion and culture in politics as a political symbol. After India gained independence, our very first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru from the Indian National Congress party followed the principle of secularism to hold on to the diverse culture of the country under one roof. 

The ideology followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was formerly known as a Hindu nationalist party didn’t follow the belief of multiculturalism, the ideology followed by them was Hindutva i.e. majoritarian nation state. India’s identity was personified as Hinduism because they considered Hindus as the sons of soil which also consists of majority of the population.

Embracing the Country's Cultural Diversity and not Politicising it

To prevent communal riots among the Muslims and Hindus, Jawaharlal Nehru prevented Indian politicians from misusing religions and culture for political gains by enforcing the People Act 1951 which represents that campaigning on any religious theme during elections is forbidden.

Secularism in India suffered a more severe strain when former prime minister Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi sought to capitalize on the religious differences bluntly which was a display of pseudo-secularism. This led to erosion of the traditional Indian secularism.

Structured injustice on the basis of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or any other religion is an integral threat to the nation. Many politicians, out of their own fear or hatred become an enemy of culture by using statements related to a particular culture like for Indian nationalism, Hinduism became an articulation point of patriotic sentiment.

 
Being biased toward one culture politically is miserably inauthentic as it fails to reflect the unity in cultural diversity in India which is the major principle of our constitution.  It is not only against the broad idea of India, but also apathetic to Hinduism.

Jawaharlal Nehru once said that 'The affairs of nation must be conducted on the basis of political principles, not religious sentiments'. This represents that every politician should embrace the presence of diversity in the culture rather than using and politicising it in an incorrect manner.

Going Ahead With it 

Indian secularism is the outcome of an entire civilization. Every sensible person anywhere in the world must know that nationalisation of religion is good neither for religious faith nor for the idea of a nation.

Once a well-known literary figure, Nayantara Sahgal, once said- 

“We are unique in the world that we are enriched by so many cultures, religions. Now they want to squash us into one culture. So it is a dangerous time. We do not want to lose our richness. We do not want to lose anything, all that Islam has brought us, what Christianity has brought us, what Sikhism has brought us. Why should we lose all this? We are not all Hindus but we are all Hindustani.”

Written by- Prerna Chadda

Edited by- Isha Singh