Defining Secularism: The Indian Experience
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120160203 |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| Author | Manish Kumar Govil |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DEFINING SECULARISM: THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE
MANISH
KUMAR
GOVIL
The
meaning
of
the term secular when seen in the context
of
democratic practices and the affairs
of
the state cannot
simplistically be non-religious.
The
argument regarding the
compatibility
of
secular states with democratic practices
and
the fact that some religious beliefs may undermine the process
of
democratisation may require the understanding
of
the
term secularism and the multi-voca/ity
of
various religious
traditions. India, with its pluralistic society
and
economic
underdevelopment, has been considered as an oddity in the
study
of
modern democracies as it has been an exception to
many
of
the prevailing theories regarding the preconditions,
introduction
and
sustainability
of
democracy. India as
democracy has now been fanctioning successfully there
for
nearly
70
years with established institution
of
democracy
both at the Centre and the state level. But there have been
some fault lines. A few
of
the arguments
put
forth to define the
existing relationship between the state
and
religion have been
discussed
in
the Indian context and the historical experience
to establish the fact that existing relationship between religion
and democracy may have a positive, negative or neutral effect
on the nature
and
quality
of
democracy.
INTRODUCTION
THE
QUESTION that whether a secular state is compatible with dem-
ocratic practices will depend to a large extent
on
how we define the
term
'secularism'.
The
dictionary meaning
of
secular denotes, attitudes,
activities and other things that have no religious or sacred meaning. When
seen from the point
of
view
of
the affairs
of
the state, 'secularism' means
that the affairs
of
the state are carried out on the universal principles
of
equality and liberty and fundamental human rights
of
individuals and do
not derive from their sanctity any religious order
or
text. Even, within this
wide definition there are several different ways in which 'secularism' is
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