Are We Secular?

An important question that Bharat Uday Mission needs to ask.

I was at the BM National Convention last weekend. The Convention itself was not what I would call entirely successful but we did end up making and agreeing on some important decisions about the organizational structure. But this questions remains unanswered.
So, are we secular?

I was having a talk with one of my friends the other day when he innocently asked me, “What does secularism mean?” I answered without the slightest hint of what I was getting myself into,” It means not discriminating on the basis of religion”. He then said,” If that is the case, then India was never a secular nation until the Muslims invaded. Before them there was only one religion. So in other words Muslim invaders gave us secularism”. I laughed. But a little later I was left wondering about this question he had raised. There were two questions lingering in my mind. One, What does secularism truly mean? Two, is it just discrimination on the basis of religion or is there something more to it?
The former took me to the latter question and the latter took me to a more profound one of what is religion? To define discrimination on the basis of religion we need to define religion!!!
Religion is a very philosophical topic and to answer that question has been the life’s ambition of many wise men. Are religion and faith the same thing? Or are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, etc. the only religions? What about other things which are also a matter of faith, like casteism? Is each caste in itself a religion? After all even two different castes have different customs and rules. So is discrimination on the basis of caste also non-secular.? I did not attempt to dig any further into this. However I did form a vague opinion that being secular is to not discriminate between two people or groups of people based on
1)religion,
2)caste,
3)or other such faith-based things.

So was India always secular? Prior to the Muslim invasion the whole nation possibly practiced the same religion,’Hinduism’. But within the Hindu structure we had several sub-divisions like castes, within that again there were sub-system and this recursion continued down to the family level. There were Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras each practicing the preached customs. Each followed their own faith. The Brahmin believed in the service of the gods, the Kshatriya believed in the service of the country, etc. There probably was some amount of discrimination among the castes, with the Brahmins being the most respected ones. So was India secular then? The tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata suggest several examples of secularism in ancient India. It is said that in those days the king was chosen based on eligibility rather than on descent. King Bharath had chosen a soldier in his army as his successor over his own children. Somewhere down the line this whole idea of a secular India got lost. Casteism and religion became playthings in the hands of politicians.
The preamble to the Indian Constitution goes,
“We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a soverign socialist SECULAR democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens:………..”
WE have achieved sovereignty, but what about secularism? Are we secular today? I think not. I am sure a lot of people are bound to disagree with me but I don’t think of India as it exists today as being the secular nation its creators had envisioned. As I said earlier in my opinion the idea of secularism rests on religion, castes, faith, etc.
We, and by ‘we’ I mean the Government and the constitution, discriminate on the basis of
1) caste – Reservations
2) Religion – no Uniform Civil Code.
Then in what sense are we secular? I have no answer to that question.
Let us take it one by one.
Reservations were first introduced to bring about a sense of equality among the suppressed and the ruling castes. Today we cannot say that the once oppressed classes are being denied privileges. Then why do we still need the reservation. In fact, in my opinion, it is reservation that is reminding people of a long forgotten system of caste. As if reservation in public institutions was not enough, there’s a demand for reservations in the private sector too!!!! What is going to be achieved with this attitude? Firstly we’ll deprive another deserving candidate the opportunity she deserved. This is a violation of the democratic part of the preamble.
Secondly, with a substandard work force the organizations would not be able to function properly leading to an economic slowdown which can adversely affect the economy.
The political parties continue to entertain such gimmicks so that their vote bank remains intact. I thus feel Bharat Uday Mission can be the first truly secular organization not believing in this whole farce called reservation and caste systems.

Discrimination based on religion is another major issue. No country in the world has a separate law for Muslims and a separate law for others!!! This idea in itself is atrocious. I have nothing personal against them and wish they would use their better judgement and oppose this policy of playing to the minorities. It is important to understand that this is not against Muslims or against any other religion. All I am saying is that when we claim to be a secular nation then we cannot accommodate such provisions in the Constitution. It is really impossible for me to understand how such a provision actually found its way into the Constitution in the first place. A call for a uniform civil code became such an election issue that it actually decided the mandate of parties. This is pathetic. How can we treat a criminal differently just because he belongs to a particular religion? Reservations for the minority communities are another thing I hope BM will oppose. Bharat Uday Mission can be a torch bearer in this regard. We can be the first organization which does not practise such unethical practices. I honestly cannot understand the idea of pleasing the minorities at the cost of the progress of the nation.
We are a country which once was truly secular, but are we now? Obviously, I don’t think so. So one of the most important goals on the agenda of any organization which claims to work for the rise of a great nation(as Bharat Uday mission claims), should be to work for one of the core ideas which the nation once stood for – SECULARISM.