Secular India???

As the V-day approaches, love birds around the world rejoice at the thought of spending an entire day with their loved ones. While in India, the thought of V-day brings up fear among the lovers as they don’t know which religious fanatic organisation will harass them and make them suffer for no fault of theirs. These religious fanatic organisations who remain almost nonexistent the entire year and who are usually never heard of suddenly take the center stage on Valentine’s Day. We see love birds almost every day walking in the nearby parks yet these organisations only target them on V-day. Just because V-day had its origin in Western culture, these fanatics think it should be banned. When we accepted and blended many Western cultures to our needs, why still hate some traditions? After all India is a free country and everyone has right to follow whatever traditions they like. This problem arises because of our understanding of the word “Secularism”.

World understanding of term “Secularism” differs from Indian understanding. The world view of secularism refers to the non interference of the State in any religious matters. State does not identify with any religion; they remain equidistant from every religion. Indian understanding of secularism largely differs from the World’s view. Accordingly State should not identify with any religion but it should at the same time protect the interests of the religious minorities. Whenever the people of religious minorities feel discriminated, State comes to their rescue. Many people do not recognize this difference and tend identify with the World view which in turn is creating tension among various religions and cultures. For the same reason the framers of our Constitution never used the term ‘secular’ in our Constitution. It was later added specifically to the Preamble of our Constitution by the 42^nd amendment. Our fore fathers knew world’s understanding of secularism will be difficult to implement in India as ours is a land of many religions and sometimes the majority may curb the interests of the minorities, so the responsibility of defending and protecting the interests of the minorities falls upon the State.

The government too sometimes fail to understand its duties in protecting the interests of the minorities. Protecting the interests of the minorities is a broad term and can be interpreted in many ways which sometimes leads to tensions. For example the Union government is providing subsidies to the Indian Muslims undertaking Hajj pilgrimage. The government supports this move while the majority religion people oppose it as by doing so it is not protecting interests of the minorities but instead simply appeasing them for their votes which in turn is antagonizing the majority. Bhagvad Gita is holy text of the Hindu religion which is recognized as the official text in Russia which can never happen in India. Instead of looking at Gita in an objective manner, people tend to identify it with a particular religion and the Government too agrees with this view. These instances show that the State too has a narrow understanding of the term ‘secularism’ which in turn by its actions is creating religious tension between the majority religion and the minorities.

As people too fail to understand the term ‘secular’ in Indian context, they define Government’s actions with the world view and criticize it. Let’s consider the recent controversy regarding the film ‘PK’. The film is about an alien who comes from a Utopian world where religion does not exist but the concept of GOD does exist. The entire film depicts his search for GOD and finally learning to believe in one true GOD and not the Gods created by human beings. This film which contains a good message for the entire society was criticized by some because of their narrow understanding capabilities. Their fixation on trivial issues made them fail to understand the inner message due to which they demanded ban on the film. In India all the films are reviewed by Central Board of Film Certification (popularly known as Censor board) which depending on the content certifies whether the film is universally watchable or whether it is an adults only film. So a film once reviewed and cleared by the CBFC should not be interfered with by the State. But the State to appease particular sections of the society time and again is interfering in these issues. For example a Telugu film ‘Denikaina Ready’ which was cleared by the CBFC was again reviewed by a committee appointed by the State and edited it as a particular community expressed that their religious sentiments were hurt by the film. Such incidents completely change the understanding of the term ‘secular’.

It is the duty of the State to make people understand the issues and should not buckle under pressure. They should stand for the values enshrined in the Constitution and uphold them in high esteem. When the State itself fails to understand what 'secularism' means, how can it educate the citizens? Instead of trying to appease some sections of the society, the State should focus on upholding the Constitutional values and educating the people in Indian understanding of 'secularism'. Then only we can call ourselves a 'Secular State'.