legacies of National movement democracy and secularism
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Secularism means equal respect for all religions and sects, and tolerance. Discrimination, overt and covert, on the grounds of religious belonging is discountenanced. In the light of the Constitution, the right to freedom to practice one’s religion is not carped at and any infraction, indulging in violence and vigilantism, criminalizing belongingness to minority religions are unconditionally a violation of fundamental rights. History and dictionary meaning of the word ‘secularism’ offers itself to a lot of quibbling, rhetoric and jeopardy to peace. In a spirit of real participatory democracy, we have to organize our politics, policies, agenda and elections so that harmony and camaraderie prevails among all sections of people. Any hurdle to this ideal is inventively discovered and remedied by the government and civil society through laws and civilized conscientious conventions, public opinion and action. The practice of secularism has high political and social priority.
Secularism is a legacy even from ancient India, though the word is from the vocabulary of recent centuries. Emperor Ashoka, known for his extensive edicts carved on pillars and tablets, said, “other sects should be duly honoured in every way on all occasions; they all deserve reverence for one reason or another.” He also said, “he who reveres his own sect while disparaging other sects, wholly from attachment to his own sect, in reality inflicts, by such conduct, the severest injury on his own sect.” Even as Europe was seething with intolerance and practiced inquisition, Giordano Bruno, philosopher and independent thinker, was declared an impenitent heretic and was burnt at the stake (one of many to suffer that fate), in India, Emperor Akbar was making official pronouncements on religious tolerance in the 1590s. He arranged systematic dialogues between Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Parsees, Jews and others, and said no man should be interfered with on account of his religion. Taking note of religious diversity of his people, he required the State to be equidistant from different religions and to not treat any religion with special favour — a four-century-old practice of secularism. Though the word is prejudicially despised as un-Indian and is unpalatable to votaries of majoritarian politics, the idea is very much Indian and canonical.
After the advent of the British, India was set to become politically one regarding the needs, aspirations, sufferings and social, religious and cultural practices, which in turn consolidated as a part of the anti-British platform through the freedom movement. Parallel to this was the inexorable dawn of the idea of religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism; move towards scientific, technological and political modernism; and liberal democracy lent the idea of secularism or non-supremacy of any particular or majority religion in thinking about the affairs of the country, its administrative norms and constitutional make up. Life appurtenances became decisively freed from considerations of ritual/religious belonging. And Queen Victoria’s 1858 Proclamation resolved that the government abstain from all interference in religious practices and beliefs.