Secularism - The Ideological Confusion of India

What is secularism? Frankly, people who keep blabbering about secular values in India get my goat. I am fed up of the continuous rant that I have been hearing about 'secular' values of India. Our concept of secularism is so warped that we should be rightfully declared laughing stock of the world. We are a nation of minorities, since everybody is an aggrieved minority in India.
Why on earth is there so much confusion about minority-ism in India? Our political class has failed this nation due to its inherent confusion with the understanding of what and who exactly constitutes a minority in India. Are Sikhs a minority in Assam? Yes. Are they a minority in Punjab? Hell no! Similar situations arise in states like Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland, and yet, our political class is pandering to votebank politics, thinking that people vote en masse in India. Apparently, they think India is a nation of cattle (since we do have our fair share of holy cows, goats, pigs, buffaloes etc. etc.), the only probable explanation to the herd mentality our political leaders think our people possess.
Secularism is not a principle to be practiced. It is a pier that lays foundation to what a State fundamentally stands for. The inability to separate affairs of the State from religion is a failure of our Constitution. While protection of minorities is perfectly valid, why are we not standing to the intertwining of state's affairs with religions? Why is religion or community brought into the identity of a citizen? If we are so rooted into our multiple identities why are we even claiming to be secular? It is time we dispensed off with this term from our Constitution if we cannot follow it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

मुबारक मंडी की कहानी, जम्मू प्रति सौतेले व्यवहार का प्रतीक

The Kidnapping of Nahida Imtiaz - The incident that caused a spike in terrorist kidnappings in Kashmir

Of Free Televisions and Outcomes - How We Miss the Woods for the Trees