Why Equality, Democracy, and Social Justice Are Essential for a Secular Society
I have known Prof. Romila Thapar for about 45 years, most of it as a colleague at the Centre for Historical Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Nehru told Malraux that the secular project in India was not limited to the creation of a "secular state in a religious society, but the creation of a secular state in a multi-religious society".-N. THIAGARAJAN Looking back from the vantage point of 63 years’ experience, the practice of Indian secularism presents a mixed bag of achievements and failures. The Indian form of secularism struck roots in this space dominated by religious ideologies, the formation of which was partly aided by the socio-religious reform and partly by the intervention of the colonial state. The assumption of Indian secularism that the tensions arising out of religious pluralism can be overcome by harmony is unreal because of the cultural and social hierarchies that exist within religion. The meaning of the Indian form of secularism, beyond inter-religious harmony, which the Constitution had sought to implement through practice, has not been internalised by state and society.
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