Question

essay on reservation and secularism​

Answer 1

Answer:

Our Constitution guarantees/stipulates justice and equality of opportu­nity to all its citizens. It also recognizes that equal opportunity implies competition between equals, and not ‘un-equals’. Recognizing the inequal­ity in our social structure, the makers of the Constitution argued that weaker sections have to be dealt with on a preferential footing by the state. A special responsibility was, thus, placed upon the state to provide protection to the weaker sections of society.

Accordingly, the Constitu­tion provided for protective discrimination under various articles to accelerate the process of building an egalitarian social order. Thus, prefer­ential treatment for the depressed classes (SCs and STs), including reserva­tion of seats, should not be understood as an act of magnanimity on the part of the political elite at the national level but rather a strategy to give them a share in power in politics and administration and to uplift them socially and economically.One of the dimensions of democracy can be called secularism because it essentially implies the extension of democratic principles of liberalism and individualism in the realism of religion. The protestant reformers were asking for freedom of conscience and secularism stood for a protest against the theological hegemony of the Pope. The democratization of ecclesiastical institution was called secular reaction in Europe.

India had no organised Hindu or Muslim spiritual institutions, comparable with the Christian church. On the other hand, it had an indigenous component of secularisation from the mediaeval times. The Sufi and Bhakti movements in medieval India gave a tremendous impetus to bringing the people of various communities closer. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, Baba Farid, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Dadu, Tukaram, Mira Bai and many others contributed to the development of a composite culture, which was not possible through any political or administrative system. Guru Nanak saw no distinction between man and man.

The spirit of tolerance and coexistence became a landmark of secular attitude and outlook. Ashoka’s famous twelfth rock edict on ‘Religious Toleration’ echoes it. It triumphed in the reign of Akbar, who, being a liberal Muslim ruler was alive to the dangers of religious bigotry and tried to promote national solidarity by his catholic eclecticism and secular policies.