The future of Indian secularism(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1: Society 
Prelims level:B.R. Ambedkar
Mains level: Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism and secularism

Context: 

• Our public discourseis resounding with triumphalismon the one hand, and lamenton the other over the death or defeat of secularism. 
• Secularism has paid a heavy price in our country for being at the centre of public and political discourse. It has been persistently misused and abused. 

Respect and critique:

• Constitutional secularism is marked by at least two features. First, critical respect for all religions. 
• Unlike some secularisms, ours is not blindly anti-religious but respects religion. Unlike the secularisms of pre-dominantly single religious societies, it respects not one but all religions.
• However, given the virtual impossibility of distinguishing the religious from the social, as B.R. Ambedkar famously observed, every aspect of religious doctrine or practice cannot be respected. 
• Respect for religion must be accompanied by critique.
• It follows that our state must respectfully leave religion alone but also intervene whenever religious groups promote communal disharmony and discrimination on grounds of religion.
• Therefore, and this is its second feature, the Indian state abandons strict separation but keeps a principled distance from all religions. 
• For instance, it cannot tolerate untouchability or leave all personal laws as they are. Equally, it may non-preferentially subsidise schools run by religious communities. 
• Thus, it has to constantly decide when to engage or disengage, help or hinder religion depending entirely on which of these enhances our constitutional commitment to freedom, equality and fraternity. 
• This constitutional secularism cannot be sustained by governments alone but requires collective commitment from an impartial judiciary, a scrupulous media, civil society activists, and an alert citizenry.

 Advent of opportunism:

• Party-political secularism, born around 40 years ago, is a nefarious doctrine practised by all political parties, including by so-called secular forces. 
• This secularism has dispelled all values from the core idea and replaced them with opportunism. 
• Opportunistic distance (engagement or disengagement), but mainly opportunistic alliance with religious communities, particularly for the sake of immediate electoral benefit, is its unspoken slogan. 
• Today, Indian constitutional secularism is swallowed up by this party-political secularism, with not a little help from the Opposition, media and judiciary. 

Two crucial moves:

• Two crucial moves are needed to kick-start the discourse and practice of secularism. 
• First, a shift of focus from a politically-led project to a socially-driven movement for justice. 
• Second, a shift of emphasis from inter-religious to intra-religious issues. 
• I invoke the name of two great leaders, B.R. Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, to make my point. 
• B.R. Ambedkar dispassionately observed that when two roughly equal communities view each other as enemies, they get trapped in a majority-minority syndrome, a vicious cycle of spiralling political conflict and social alienation. 
• B.R. Ambedkar also claimed that when communities view each other as a menace, they tend to close ranks. 
• This has another debilitating impact: all dissent within the community is muzzled and much needed internal reforms are stalled. If so, the collapse of the syndrome unintentionally throws up an opportunity. 
• As the focus shifts from the other to oneself, it may allow deeper introspection within, multiple dissenting voices to resurface, create conditions to root out intra-religious injustices, and make its members free and equal. 
• After all, the Indian project of secularism has been thwarted as much by party-politics as by religious orthodoxy and dogma.

 Europe’s example:

• Here, Europe’s example helps. The fight against the oppression of the church was as much a popular struggle as it was driven by the state. 
• Europe’s secularism provided a principle to fight intra-religious oppressions. 
• Nehru understood this. For him, secularism was not only a project of civic friendship among religious communities but also of opposition to religion-based caste and gender oppressions. 
• For the moment, the state-driven political project of secularism and its legal constitutional form appear to have taken a hit. 
• But precisely this ‘setback’ can be turned into an opportunity to revitalise the social project of secularism. 
• Since the Indian state has failed to support victims of oppressions sanctioned by religion, a peaceful and democratic secularism from below provides a much-needed internal critique and reform of our own respective religions.
• This will enable their compatibility with constitutional values of equality, liberty and justice. 
• A collective push from young men and women untainted by the politics and ideological straitjacketing of the recent past may help strengthen the social struggle of emancipation from intra-religious injustices. 

 Conclusion:

• The political project of secularism arose precisely because religious toleration no longer worked. 
• Needed today are new forms of socio-religious reciprocity, crucial for the business of everyday life and novel ways of reducing the political alienationof citizens.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Material

Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the Kisan Special Parcel Train, consider the following statements:
1. The country's first Kisan Special Parcel Train or Kisan Rail will start from August 7, 2020 to provide seamless supply of perishable produce.
2. The train will transport material between Maharashtra's Devlali and Bihar's Danapur Railway station.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: A

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Highlights the key features of Indian secularism. How its different from western secularism?