Secularism - Bane of Bharat!

Secularism is yet another experiment of Indian society that failed to prove any tangible value so far. The cruel joke it played on India is that even after 40 years of its inclusion in constitution of India by an emergency government without any due process, no one in India knows for sure what it means and what value it meant to provide to its stakeholders.

There are three angles to this Secularism question in the context of this election.

The first dimension of Secularism is religious dimension and it influence on definition and vision of India’s identity. Secularism gives equal say to all three major systems Hinduism, Christianity and Islam in defining and pursuing Indian Interests. This means Indian Christians with their minuscule 3% population and Indian Muslims with their 15% population will get equal vote in defining Indian Interests same as the Hindus that make 80% of the nation. Another aspect of this equation is the disproportional international power links Christianity and Islam bring in to bear upon India. This is where definition of Indian Interests gets hijacked by Christian and Islamic interests leaving 80% of Indians high and dry in protecting their native civilization.

The second dimension is economic and civic infrastructure. Secularism, by definition, gives into the sway of more organized and disruptive faith systems. One type of these forces is what we have seen in Kudankulam protests. This anti-nuclear agitation was aimed at partnerships with Russia (alone), were majorly funded by Western Christian organizations and were conducted by internal Evangelical organizations. Another type of these forces is what India has seen in JK terror attacks and 11/26 Mumbai attacks. In both cases the national economic and civic infrastructure was held hostage by religiously motivated group while secularism failed to resolve these challenges in the national interests.

The third aspect of secular debate is Law and Order. Secularism does not have any well-defined role and mandate when it comes to law and order issues involving religiously motivated groups. This causes a paradox for Indian minorities as their religious demands and social vision often contradict with that of Hindu majority leading to distortions in national posture and power projection. Recent episode of an Indian diplomat getting arrested on false charges and cavity searched in the United States is an example how the internal secular dynamics can be exploited by external powers. The witch hunt for Saffron terror and meddling of NIA investigations into terror attacks by Indian Mujaheddin amply demonstrated how the state Law & Order machinery is intentionally subverted to keep the facade of secularism by various political parties and governments. The proposed Communal Violence Bill takes this aberration to the extreme by protecting the minorities irrespective of cause and perpetrator of the crime, thus making the Law and Order apparatus subservient to religious identity of the people involved in the issue.

On one side of this debate stands BJP. This party recognizes the incorrect application of Abrahamic social issues on Indian society and wants to remove this aberration. This party promises to provide equal socio-economic opportunities to all Indians with its ‘equal opportunities for all, appeasement to none’ position. This political stand automatically removes the external handles (and their influence) on India’s internal social, economic and religious debates.

Congress and its allies, on the other hand, demand that the nation must give special treatment to followers of Abrahamic faith even at the cost of social, economic, national security and in some cases even democratic implications to the entire nation. This means Indian interests will be permanently mortgaged to Abrahamic faith systems whose core power system is outside Indian control/influence. This effectively means indirect colonization of India using Secularism for/by Abrahamic faiths. 

Notes: This piece was written as part of another post on this blog: The Fight - 2014 Elections in April 2014.