What are the different senses in which ‘secularism’ has been understood in India?
Answers
Answer:
the idea of secularism arose in the west primarily with the publication of the Prince by Machiavelli. In the book, he advocated that the king should be driven by the practical aspects of statecraft rather than indulging in the moral qualms. The medieval europe was largely characterised by the tug off war for power between the monarchy and the roman catholic church. hence a concept of secular state arose, where it was stated that the state had no religion. in short, the idea was state vs one religion(christianity). on the other hand, india's struggle for independence was marred by communal clashes which were encourage by Britisher's devide and rule policy. Also there were communal organisations with vested interests who wanted to lay claim to the country. Hence india's idea of secularism arose in response to the communal hatred and clashes that charecterised the pre-independence era. In Gandhiji's words, secularism meant Sarv Dharm Sambhav meaning equal respect for all religions. It is difficult to comment if the term has been misunderstood because that would be denying the fact that India is a diverse nation in its own right with its own specific conditions that led to the said connotations that have come to be attached with the word secular. India has rather been like a salad bowl where different ingredients have come together to make the wonderful amalgmation called india. The development of the concept of secular should be seen in this light in the context of india which was an interesting innovation in order to keep the assimilating culture of india intact.
Explanation:
Answer:
There are different senses in which Secularism has been understood in India.
Explanation:
In India, a secular state refers to a state that doesn’t believe in favoring one religion over another. It respects the beliefs and values of all the religions and doesn’t intend to hurt sentiments of any.
As part of secularism that is followed in India, public holidays are granted for festivals of all the religions in the country. There is no state religion in India. It is one of the basic features of Indian Constitution.