My View of Secularism

I believe that Pandit Nehru was a true secularist in the right sense of the word. Oxford dictionary says that the meaning of the word secular is "not concerned with religion or religious belief". I referred to Cabmbridge International Dictionary of English also. As per this dictionary ‘secular’ means "not having any connection with religion" and secularism is the belief that religion should not be involved with the ordinary social and political activities of a country. Pandit Nehru was a true secularist who believed in the western concept of secularism.
              We in India give an entirely different meaning and interpretation to secularism. We believe that secularism is giving equal consideration and equal encouragement to all religions and allowing them equal say in the social and political activities of the nation. This is a wrong notion which has done a lot of irreparable damage to Indian polity.
             One of my Hindu friends sympathetic with Hindutvavadis argues that Congress Party and the so-called secular brigades made Indian secularism "Muslims first, Muslims next and Muslims last". I beg to disagree with him and, on the other hand, believe that the so-called secular parties have placated the minorities and the majority alternatively for their political gains.
              My firm opinion is that the Shah Bano case of 1985 is a watershed in the history of Indian secularism. A poor Muslim woman, mother of five children, was divorced by her husband in 1978 and was subsequently denied alimony for her and her children’s maintenance. The Supreme Court of India ordered that the poor Muslim lady be given alimony. There was considerable debate and controversy across the country at that time and Muslim fundamentalists opposed this judgment of Supreme Court and described it as violating their personal law, Shariat. To dilute and annul the secular judgment of the Supreme Court, the Congress Government at the Centre headed by Rajiv Gandhi, with its two-third majority in Parliament,  passed Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce Act, 1986) with retrospective effect to deny the right of alimony to a destitute divorced Muslim woman from her former husband. Paradoxically enough, Muslim Women’s Protection of Rights on Divorce Act was not intended for the protection, but destruction of the rights of  Muslim women .  Right minded Muslims should have opposed this bill more vehemently than persons belonging to other communities, but voice of the secular Muslims was feeble and was drowned in the hue and cry of the Muslim fundamentalists.
             RSS, which was lying low after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, caught hold of this God-given golden opportunity and whipped up Hindu sentiments and emotions on account of this constitutional amendment. With the ulterior motive to consolidate Hindu vote bank they poured oil in the simmering dispute about Babri mosque in the vicinity of mythological Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.  Then the Congress lost its courage and was anxious of the Hindu backlash in the Lok Sabha election of 1989.  So they wanted to placate Hindu communalists and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (Whatever his lapses and failures, nobody can brand him a communalist.) allowed Hindu communalists to perform Shilanyas in Ayodya. He also started his election campaign of 1989 General Election from Ayodhya. This was a calculated risk on the part of the Congress which estranged the Muslims in North India. The Congress lost the gamble and was defeated in the election.
              What I want to say is that the so-called secular political parties woo Hindus and Muslims alternatively for their electoral gains wherever and whenever it suits them. But BJP is an exception which placates only the Hindu Majority. The true secularists must see through the game. Dear friends, I claim to be a true secularist and not a pseudo secularist. My idea of secularism is more akin to western concept of secularism that stipulates, politics should not have any connection with religion and religion should not involve in political activities and policies and administration of the State. I will stand like a rock to defend my faith in the idea of secularism and fight to the last against all evil forces and political parties that harm the secular ethos of this great Nation. I will have no regret even if I have to sacrifice my life for this great cause.

P.S. The above article is a reply sent to one of my Hindutvavadi friends who criticized my stand against Narendra Modi and fascist RSS.