The myth and reality of Indian secularism

The debate on the myth and reality of Indian secularism got an impetus when the Director General ISPR, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, at a news briefing on December 6 advised New Delhi to first be secular in letter and spirit instead of advising Pakistan to follow a secular mode of governance as a precondition to have normal relations with India.

The DG ISPR was referring to the comment of Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat which he made at the National Defence Academy in Pune on November 30 that “Pakistan has made its state an Islamic state. If they have to stay together with India, they’ve to develop as a secular state. We are a secular state. If they’re willing to become secular like us, then they seem to have an opportunity.” In fact, General Rawat was responding to a remark about Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan which he made during the Kartarpur corridor ceremony that Islamabad was willing to go an extra mile for establishing normal and friendly relations with New Delhi.

Secularism per se means a mode of governance in which state remains neutral in religious matters and is not supposed to tilt in favour of a particular religion. Secularism also means that religion is a private and personal matter and followers of all religions must be treated equally. Constitutionally, India is a secular state because according to the 42^nd amendment made to the Indian constitution in 1976, its preamble mentions India as a secular nation.

Following the rise of Hindutva and the surge of communal politics in India in the form of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Shiv Sena, the Bajrang Dal and the Sangpariwar, erosion of secularism got an impetus. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its communal allies managed to seek power for the first time in 1998. The moderate face of the BJP got transformed in 2014 when the arch communalist and former chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi came to power and began erasing not only the Muslim legacy of India but also challenging secular face of his country.

While the breach of secularism today is seen in many secular countries of the world, including in the West, the case of India is unique. While the 42^nd amendment to the Indian constitution added the word ‘secular’ to its preamble, there is lack of uniformity as far as personal laws of Hindus, Muslims and Christians are concerned. The state of India is unable to uniform laws for majority and minority schools.

Four major realities in ‘secular’ India tend to prove that secularism is a myth and not a reality. First, in a secular order, the state is supposed to remain neutral and prevent religious persecution. The demolition of 16^th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Utter Pradesh state of India on December 6, 1992 by fanatic Hindus led by L K Advani of the BJP reflected a bitter truth that the then Congress-led government in New Delhi looked the other way when a mob of several hundred Hindu extremists succeeded in demolishing the Babri mosque. The BJP-led Hindu extremists alleged that the mosque was built during the Mughal rule in a place where there was a Ram Temple.

As a mild action, the Congress government of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao merely dismissed the state government of the BJP but took no action to prevent the demolition of the mosque and punish those responsible for that inhuman act. The image of India as a secular state was severely tarnished because of the demolition of Babri mosque and the subsequent surge of Hindu nationalism as it was proved that India was not a secular but a Hindu state. Second, the outbreak of communal riots in Gujarat in February 2002 when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of that state witnessed the massacre of hundreds of Muslims by fanatic Hindus representing the Shiv Sena and other Hindu fanatic groups. Gujarat riots further shattered the myth of Indian secularism. Not only Muslim but also Christian and Sikh minorities felt insecure because of the surge of Hindu nationalism under state patronage.

Third, Indian secularism became a thing of the past when Narendra Modi, an ardent Hindu nationalist with an utter anti-Muslim bias, became the Prime Minister of India. His involvement in Gujarat riots, along with that of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, is well known. It is during Modi’s tenure that the Indian state systematically embarked on a policy to declare India as a Hindu state and to get rid of what he and his Hindu fanatic companions call the ‘baggage of secularism’. Holding Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, responsible for giving special status to the Muslim-majority state of Jammu & Kashmir under article 370 of the Indian constitution and his daughter, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for adding the word ‘secular’ to the Indian constitution through 42^nd amendment in 1976, Modi expressed his determination to undo the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and to erase the legacy of 1,000 years of Muslim rule in the Indian sub-continent.

Obliterating the Islamic legacy became his top priority by taking steps like renaming Indian cities having Muslim/Urdu names like Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bareilly, Agra and Kanpur. Fourth, since 1947 till today, hundreds of communal riots have taken place in India where 200 million Muslim minority sects in a country of 1.3 billion live in utter insecurity. Periodically, there are reports particularly from northern India about lynching, killing and injuring Muslims accused of cow slaughter and other issues. In most cases, the police and the law-enforcement agencies are a party to acts of brutality committed by Hindu fanatic groups against Muslim minority and provide enormous space to those who want to transform India into a Hindu state. Even Christians and Sikhs bore the brunt of rising Hindu nationalism and the BJP, along with other Hindu communal groups, is bent upon imposing a Hindu way of life on other religious minorities.

Those defending Indian secularism argue that against all odds and the acts of Hindu nationalist groups led by the ruling BJP, India is still a secular country. The constitution of India doesn’t discriminate Indian nationals on the basis of race or religion as the highest offices of the state — President and Prime Minister — are not reserved only for Hindus. Non-Hindus like Muslims, Christians and Sikhs have assumed such positions which prove the reality of Indian secularism. Furthermore, despite the current surge of Hindu nationalism, there is no dearth of Hindus in India who are not fanatics and are committed to religious tolerance and multiculturalism.

It is the silent majority of India which needs to assert its position on the steady erosion of secularism and the surge of religious intolerance particularly with reference to Muslim minority. If India is negatively transformed because of the age-old dream of diehard Hindu nationalists to impose their own brand of religion, the casualty will not only be secularism but also democracy. In this context, General Rawat’s assertion that Pakistan should become a secular state to develop friendly relations with India lacks logic and rationality because there is a serious question mark as far as the reality of Indian secularism is concerned.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2018.

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