Secularism In Modern India

1302 Words6 Pages
“I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance. I want nothing to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach people that they are capable of becoming happier and civilized, on this earth capable of becoming true man, ‘master of his faith and captain of his soul’.” - Jawahar Lal Nehru, Tryst with Destiny If we turn the pages of history, the secular spirit of modern India dates back to as late as the Motilal Nehru Committee Report which explained the principals of the constitution of India as late as in 1928. Though, there is no direct reference to the word ‘secular’ but the central idea of the Report was entirely secular which was closely followed…show more content…
Since secularism is basically a western term formed by the European Enlightenment thought, it is difficult to adjust it to an Asian people group. It is even hard for Western nations to depict secularism; whether it implies presence of a state treating every single religious gathering fairly, or a state whose activities are totally isolated from religion. Secularism in India can't be just inspected by utilizing Donald Smith and Charles Taylor's definition as partition between chapel (religion) and the state. Nor would it be able to be analyzed as private-open circle qualification as José Casanova characterizes since religion is diffused into both private and open circles in India. Likewise, it is not only "private conviction" as in John Locke's terms. Or maybe, it may be depicted as an optimism comprising of resilience and conjunction that empowers different religious gatherings living…show more content…
But, in India, “secularism” has a whole new identity which means ‘equal treatment of all religion’ and religion stays to assert political authority in matters of personal law. In conclusion, in its adjusted structure, secularism resembles the most reasonable, despite the fact that not the best, strategy for Indian State to keep national consistency, request and peace; and a nexus tying up all religious and ethnic

More about Secularism In Modern India

Open Document