Secularism in India : The odd one out

Is India truly secular?

Secularism. The term secularism is almost synonymous with India's democratic and constitutional values in Modern Era. India has always remained religion neutral since it's inception as sovereign nation in 1947. However, the term 'Secularism' does not exactly suffice within the Indian version of the term.

Secularism roughly means the principle of separation of the state from religious institutions. It has slowly taken over World Politics over the last century as more and more countries are turning into Democratic Republics after the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Secularism has it's roots in the West in the classical philosophy and politics of ancient Greece, disappeared for a time after the fall of Greece, but resurfaced after a millennium. After Roman Catholicism grew extremely atrocious on the regular masses, the rise of the protestants led to the people calling for separation of Religions and Cults from the State. This particular advent led to the invention of the term 'Secularism'.

Now, how did India inculcate the values of Secularism?

Some of the readers might argue that Secularism emerged as an important political and moral value only during the Pro Indian Anti-British Movements in the early 1900s in the Colonial Era, but for the matter of fact, Secularism has it's roots in India during the Mauryan Dynasty, particularly during the rule of Ashoka (Asoka in Prakrit).

Ashoka allowed all the religions to prosper during his reign which was carried out by his subsequent successors next. Vedic Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism were all allowed to preach their own values without any interference from the State. Despite Ashoka extending patronage to the Jain Religion during his tenure as the Emperor, it is widely believed from the deciphered texts that he stayed largely apathetic to the religious beliefs of the people in his kingdom.

Things in the subcontinental religious background changed drastically when Islam came into the Subcontinent after Sindh was annexed by the Caliphate. The rule of the Sultanate was heavily influenced by the Ulema who were hell bent on extorting the religious tax (jizya) from the non-Muslim subjects during the rule of the Sultanate. The Mughal Empire carried out similar procedures of propagating Islam as State Religion sans Akbar who did not levy religious taxes and sanctions on the people. However, such secular methods were quickly curbed and put out of place after Aurangzeb rose to the throne.

Secularism returned to the Indian Subcontinent after Robert Clive's East India Company defeated the Bengal Sultanate in Siraj-ud-daulah in the infamous Battle of Plassey. The British Government of India levied several laws and policies which curbed the religious dogmatism in the Indian Society. The colonizers reintroduced the notion of equality before the law for Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The British Empire sought commerce and trade, with a policy of neutrality to all of India’s diverse religions. Before 1858, the Britishers followed the policy of patronizing and supporting the native religions as the earlier rulers had done.

However, things took an ugly turn after the native Indians rose in rebellion and started assassinating British Military and Civil authorities and called for the Europeans to leave the sub-continent. To control the native violent rebellion, the British resorted to divisive politics and introduced separate Law Boards for the Christians, Muslims and the Sikhs thus barring the citizens from Equal treatment at the hands of the Law. Amendments to the British Indian Law Board like Succession Act of 1850, Special Marriage Act of 1872 led to several disparities in the functioning of the Judiciary and led to inconsistent trials infused with corruption. Such separate law boards still exist in India and can be considered as the 'stepping stones' to the inconsistency prevalent in the notion of Secularism in India.

The Constitution of India does not state about the state being secular in it's approach anywhere in the voluminous text. The compilation of the mechanism of the country however describes the need of a neutral approach from the state in interfering into the religious and customary traditions of it's citizens. Secularism in India simply does not mean the separatism of religions from the mechanism of the state, but it roughly means the measures expected by the state to ensure no religion is not discriminated and ghettoized against.

In the West, the state has nothing to do with the religious practices of the people and traditions violating the land of law can go unnoticed in the eyes of the state and the judiciary, but traditions violating the sole of the Constitution of India, the fundamental rights are liable to be deemed illegal and a punishable offence if carried out. Traditions like child marriages, sati system, untouchability, death penalties for particular crimes are completely abolished under any circumstances by the Judiciary of India. Such measures might seem judicious and practical for the readers, but the inconsistent approach of the authorities in identifying illegal practices in the name of the religions stands out a big negative point on such policies of the state. The Government of India also provides subsidies to the Hajj and Amarnath Pilgrims in an annual period, thus using the Tax Payer's money for religious pilgrimages of a few thousand people to which millions may have nothing to do with.

Several practices like female circumcision, polygamy, divorce and inheritance in few religious societies still continue at the back drop of religious practices, completely violating the civil rights of the people. Such malpractices being carried out in broad daylight puts a big question mark on the credibility of the Indian Model of 'Secularism'. The Minority aligned Constitutional values of India is yet another aspect which has drawn large scale criticism from the Political Experts spread all over the country and the world. Islam is the only religion in India which has a separate All India Muslim Personal Law Board further bifurcating into Shia and Sunni ones, which has it's own set of laws in accordance with the Sharia (Set of Islamic Laws derived from the Quran and the Hadith), violating the Indian Constitutional values on several occasions. The recent debate on 'Triple Talaq' violating the rights of Muslim Women have been the talk of the town as the Rightist Central Government looks to supercede the Muslim Law Board and bring about change in the nation's laws.

The most popular instance of the Islamic Law Board being highly detrimental to the notion of Equality in the country was the 1978 Shah Bano Case. Shah Bano was a 62-year-old Muslim Indian who was divorced by her husband of 44 years in 1978. Indian Muslim Personal Law required her husband to pay no alimony. Bano approached the Supreme Court asking for justice which was eventually served to her, but the amount of struggles she had to go through, prompted the Judges and the Experts around the country to form a Uniform Civil Code which could address such religious problems without any external pressure from the people. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Indian government enacted a new law which deprived all Muslim women, and only Muslim women, of the right of maintenance guaranteed to women of Hindu, Christian, Parsees, Jews and other religions. Such laws are still put in place and are major shortcomings with the Indian Model of Secularism or in regular terms, 'Pseudo Secularism'.

Apart from the inconsistent laws and Minority alligned ideologues, the Indian constitution has few other blemishes which are eminently criticized Political thinkers. Vote Bank Politics are strongly rooted in the Indian Political System. In the absence of an Uniform Civil Code and the presence of a provision of Affirmative Action allowing Caste based reservation has allowed the leaders to use these provisions to lure voters in their favour promising to expand the impact of the present laws or instill values of Totalitarian Equality in the Constitution.

However, thanks to the highly prized votes, the Ruling Parties at the centre at any point of time have not been able to establish total equality in the society.

The bureaucrats and Politicians need to sit together and chalk out a plan to establish total equality in the Constitution or else the citizens might grow rebellious at some point of time leading to the unforgettable partition of the country followed by heinous communal crimes at both sides of the border.