‘Development is intrinsic to a secular project’
10 years, 11 months ago

‘Development is intrinsic to a secular project’

The Hindu  

Arch rivals the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continue to trade accusations against each other of playing the communal card in the campaign to the general elections. Model of Indian secularism Indian secularism advocates a particularly distinct stance of separation between state and religion, which Dr. Bhargava dubs the model of principled distance. On Dr. Bhargava’s reading of Indian secularism, the actions of neither Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, nor Ms Gandhi would be legally liable to the charge of communalism. Indian secularism, within the Constitution, does not encourage any public expression, or any pursuit of interest of any community which is necessarily at the expense of another community; which articulates its interests in a way which deliberately causes harm to another community; which offends another community in a serious way which will be upheld by the judges of the courts and so on.” The ongoing election campaign is replete with examples that Dr. Bhargava would bracket as cases when the communitarian turns communal. Secularism as political theme Dr. Bhargava offers a strong rebuttal of the secularism versus development binary that has come to dominate the current electoral debates.

Secularism Religious Development Constitution Congress Party Bjp Muslim Bhargava Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Indian Secularism Indian Secular  religious  bhargava  sri  society  secularism  development  intrinsic  state  project  indian  secular  dr  party

History of this topic

Religion and politics: Navigating the fine line
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Religion and politics: Navigating the fine line

Times of India  

By Sonal Srivastava Should politicians use religion to garner votes from their constituencies in secular democracies? While it is challenging to separate religion from politics, politicians could aim to help their constituents gain a deeper understanding of their core religious beliefs, which will foster harmony between followers of different faiths. This separation is well-entrenched in modern western philosophy and was …

The pitch for subaltern secularism
10 months, 2 weeks ago

The pitch for subaltern secularism

The Hindu  

In the shifting sands of politics, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Lalu Prasad Yadav are two politicians who have remained steadfast on one question of principle — Hindu-Muslim harmony. Mr. Aiyar thinks and speaks in English; Mr. Yadav does so in Hindi, in fact, in Bhojpuri. Mr. Aiyar is 83, and Mr. Yadav is 75, but their paths have never crossed, …

INTERVIEW| BJP uses Ram's name, spreads Nathuram's agenda: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar
11 months, 3 weeks ago

INTERVIEW| BJP uses Ram's name, spreads Nathuram's agenda: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: In the name of Ram, the ruling BJP is spreading the communal agenda of Nathuram, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar has said, asserting that vyaktivaad" is more "dangerous" than "parivarvaad". Kumar claimed that the BJP was making an attempt to reduce the greatness of the Hindu religion, asserting that in Ram's concept there is no scope of hatred towards …

Secularism has become pejorative for those now in power: Sonia Gandhi
1 year, 2 months ago

Secularism has become pejorative for those now in power: Sonia Gandhi

The Hindu  

Describing secularism as a foundational pillar of India's democracy, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said the word secular is being used as a "pejorative" by those now in power, resulting in increased polarisation in the society. A clear understanding of these terms will help every citizen better understand India's history, the challenges of the present, and the path to the future," …

CPI(M) in Kerala says Congress’s ambivalence about attending Ayodhya Ram temple consecration will subvert secular ideal of INDIA bloc
1 year, 3 months ago

CPI(M) in Kerala says Congress’s ambivalence about attending Ayodhya Ram temple consecration will subvert secular ideal of INDIA bloc

The Hindu  

A meeting of the Communist Party of India State secretariat on December 29 reportedly drew a bleak political inference that the Congress’s alleged ambivalence about attending the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya would subvert the anti-Hindutva politics that lay at the secular heart of the broad anti-Bharatiya Janata Party INDIA bloc. Govindan said the Congress’s backsliding on secularism, …

Congress Upholds Secularism, BJP Indulges in Polarisation, Says Kharge
1 year, 4 months ago

Congress Upholds Secularism, BJP Indulges in Polarisation, Says Kharge

News 18  

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of indulging in polarisation and appeasement politics, and claimed that the grand old party upholds secularism. Asked about the BJP complaining to the Election Commission against Rahul Gandhi and him, the Congress chief said he would give his response on the issue directly to the poll panel. The EC …

Why Amit Chaudhuri’s slim book ‘On Being Indian’ is his manifesto of hope
1 year, 5 months ago

Why Amit Chaudhuri’s slim book ‘On Being Indian’ is his manifesto of hope

Live Mint  

On Being Indian, which is author, poet, and musician Amit Chaudhuri’s latest book, can be described as a reflection of an intellectual’s fearful journey through a period in India which has seen dissent being labelled as anti-national. Through the book—the second in the Literary Activism series, a collaboration between Ashoka University’s Centre for the Creative and the Critical and the …

‘To be secular is to belong fearlessly’
1 year, 9 months ago

‘To be secular is to belong fearlessly’

The Hindu  

Published : Jun 19, 2023 19:40 IST - 38 MINS READ In the Introduction to her brilliant book, Hurt Sentiments, Professor Neeti Nair of the University of Virginia recalls that, at the instance of Mahatma Gandhi, the All-India Congress Committee passed a resolution in December 1947 affirming that independent India would be “a secular state where all citizens enjoy full …

Rahul Gandhi says Muslim League a 'secular party', BJP retorts 'it's his compulsion to remain acceptable in Wayanad'
1 year, 9 months ago

Rahul Gandhi says Muslim League a 'secular party', BJP retorts 'it's his compulsion to remain acceptable in Wayanad'

Firstpost  

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that Muslim League is a completely secular party and there is nothing non-secular about the outfit, drawing a sharp condemnation from the BJP Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that Muslim League is a completely secular party and there is nothing non-secular about the outfit, drawing a sharp condemnation from the BJP. …

The Great Indian Secularism: Why We Need an Indigenous Model That Recognises Bharat - News18
2 years, 8 months ago

The Great Indian Secularism: Why We Need an Indigenous Model That Recognises Bharat - News18

News 18  

The Muslim clergy, representing the gargantuan chunk of one among the six notified minorities on TV debates, claim to believe in the neologism of Ganga-Jamni Tehzeeb. With the backing of the Nehruvian establishment, academics, ideologues and activists with political agendas and communist proclivities have cleverly advertised secularism and reduced it to having odious and pejorative opinions about the majority — …

Mohan Guruswamy | How Hindus and Muslims misunderstood secularism
2 years, 10 months ago

Mohan Guruswamy | How Hindus and Muslims misunderstood secularism

Deccan Chronicle  

Pakistan, the so-called “land of the pure”, was carved out of India as a homeland for Muslims, a fact that was doubly ensured by the “cleansing” out of most of the non-Muslims who were living within it. Even those Hindu nationalists who for long took a simplistic view of the 1947 Partition as India for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims …

India needs stronger, constructive Opposition: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
2 years, 10 months ago

India needs stronger, constructive Opposition: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Hindu  

Observing that the national Opposition in the country is weak, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said he believes that for a healthy democracy, it is essential that India has a stronger Opposition, one that is constructive as well. "We are proud to honour and thank Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's humanitarianism, spiritual leadership and commitment to peace here in …

A new pole in Indian politics
3 years ago

A new pole in Indian politics

Hindustan Times  

For decades, Indian politics was analysed by caste and faith with 2014 — which witnessed the first full majority government in a generation — marking an inflection point where mobilisation based on religion trumped caste-based aggregation. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that in the last eight years, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been able to create a new pole, …

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray | Identity politics threat to social cohesion in India
3 years, 2 months ago

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray | Identity politics threat to social cohesion in India

Deccan Chronicle  

Nothing could expose the bankruptcy of India’s public life more convincingly than the reported announcement by the Uttar Pradesh government spokesman, Sidharth Nath Singh: “There is one biggest OBC leader with us and his name is Narendra Modi.” Reducing the Prime Minister of 1.3 billion Indians to the level of a mere sectarian chief in order to woo voters highlights …

BJP’s UP playbook takes religious tone to counter caste divide
3 years, 2 months ago

BJP’s UP playbook takes religious tone to counter caste divide

Hindustan Times  

As it moves closer to the assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s pitch to retain power in Uttar Pradesh has acquired a religious undertone to counter caste-based differences that the party fears can adversely impact its political fortunes. Party functionaries aware of developments in the state said even as the BJP is banking on the Modi-Yogi duopoly of a “decisive …

Gandhi, Secularism, And Cultural Democracy
4 years, 5 months ago

Gandhi, Secularism, And Cultural Democracy

ABP News  

One might put it differently: any serious discussion of ideas in the public sphere is becoming increasingly difficult, and in this respect it is not Gandhi alone who has suffered—and similarly it is not in India alone that a frightening ethno-nationalism is now unabashedly on display. Some days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to read that India’s Minister of External …

Secularism is a western concept, India must reconsider its inclusion in preamble: RSS ideologue
5 years, 2 months ago

Secularism is a western concept, India must reconsider its inclusion in preamble: RSS ideologue

India TV News  

"Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic" is how India is referred to in the preamble of the Constitution. However, J. Nandakumar, a key RSS leader and All India Convenor Prajna Pravah, a Sangh offshoot, wants India to reconsider the inclusion of the word "secular", claiming secularism is a "western, Semitic concept". He argued that India does not need a secular ethos …

Are the foundations of India’s secular democracy crumbling?
5 years, 3 months ago

Are the foundations of India’s secular democracy crumbling?

Al Jazeera  

Gov’t says the controversial citizenship bill will protect minorities, critics say it discriminates against Muslims. The lower house of India’s parliament has approved a controversial law that the government says offers a home for people fleeing religious persecution but which opponents say undermines the country’s secular identity. The bill, which still must be approved by Parliament’s upper house, would bring …

Congress’ biggest mistake was its insistence on secularism: Mark Tully
5 years, 6 months ago

Congress’ biggest mistake was its insistence on secularism: Mark Tully

Hindustan Times  

Veteran journalist and writer Mark Tully said insisting upon ‘secularism’ while neglecting the country’s devotional religions was a ‘mistake’ made by the Congress and which helped the Bharatiya Janata Party. Addressing a gathering during an event in Goa, Tully said on Thursday evening that Congress’ ‘mistake’ allowed the BJP to rise and impose its version of Hinduism in the country. …

India’s Prime Minister Modi pursues politics of Hindu nationalism – what does that mean?
5 years, 10 months ago

India’s Prime Minister Modi pursues politics of Hindu nationalism – what does that mean?

Associated Press  

Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University Almost immediately after winning a second term in office on May 23, India’s Prime Minister Modi gave a speech making light of parties and individuals who had espoused secularism over the past five years. The creation of the All-India Muslim League caused some serious misgivings on the part of some segments of the Hindu population, leading …

Patel statue and pillage of history
6 years, 3 months ago

Patel statue and pillage of history

The Hindu  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Hence, borrowing from Ernesto Laclau, the political theorist, it would not be wrong to characterise the terms “Hindu” and “Indian” as competing empty signifiers that could seek to produce nationalist ideology and the attendant populism. Hence, “Hindu” is more of a demographic locative appellate than a substantial attribute to a …

Religion not inheritance of any party; should not enter the domain of politics: Jyotiraditya Scindia
6 years, 3 months ago

Religion not inheritance of any party; should not enter the domain of politics: Jyotiraditya Scindia

India TV News  

Religion not inheritance of any party; should not enter the domain of politics: Jyotiraditya Scindia "It is the BJP’s habit to say 'mandir hum wahi banayege lekin tareek nahi batayege'. Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said religion is a personal matter and not the inheritance of a party. His remarks came amid war of words between political parties in …

Congress weakened secularism, says Asaduddin Owaisi
6 years, 5 months ago

Congress weakened secularism, says Asaduddin Owaisi

Deccan Chronicle  

Hyderabad: Citing the arrogance, politics of entitlement and arm-twisting tactics of the Congress as the reasons for the weakening of the spirit of secularism, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said, “Muslims have high representation only in prisons, just as Dalits are represented adequately only in manual scavenging. In every institution and on all crucial criteria, they are lagging so far behind, …

'Who's Rahul Gandhi to decide India's religious systems?': RSS' Indresh Kumar on separate religion for Lingayats, politics and Ayodhya
6 years, 11 months ago

'Who's Rahul Gandhi to decide India's religious systems?': RSS' Indresh Kumar on separate religion for Lingayats, politics and Ayodhya

Firstpost  

Indresh Kumar spoke to Firstpost about his take on triple talaq, Ram janmabhoomi, and politics. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s senior functionary, Indresh Kumar is vehemently opposed to the idea of a separate religion for the Lingayat community. After a group of Lingayat seers urged the community to support Congress in Karnataka elections, Kumar — a margdarshak of RSS-affiliate Muslim Rashtriya Manch …

Book review: When Dalai Lama backed VHP formation and other stories
7 years, 2 months ago

Book review: When Dalai Lama backed VHP formation and other stories

Deccan Chronicle  

Chennai: The rise of the ‘Hindutva’ ideology on the wings of the ‘Vishva Hindu Parishad ’ since the mid-1980s’, its expansive phase in the ‘Ram Janma Bhoomi Movement’ tagged with other ‘Sangh Parivar’ outfits, which eventually brought the BJP to power in several States and then at the Centre, first as heading a coalition led by Shri. In this new …

UP election results will herald a funeral of 'counterfeit' secularism in India
8 years ago

UP election results will herald a funeral of 'counterfeit' secularism in India

Firstpost  

The counter-secularism forces have registered a decisive victory in UP and this trend is likely to continue through the 2019 elections and beyond. On Saturday, when the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results were announced, I had argued in Firstpost Decode – the website’s live election day coverage – that BJP’s landslide victory will herald in the “funeral of secularism”, whose …

The secularism debate: Here's why mixing politics with religion is a bad idea
8 years, 5 months ago

The secularism debate: Here's why mixing politics with religion is a bad idea

Firstpost  

Mixing up religion and politics can be disastrous for a country – Pakistan is an example. And that is why the BJP leaders who willingly give full play to religion in politics should be extremely careful. In a submission before the Supreme Court, three BJP-ruled states have said that religion can always be used in any sphere of society in …

As India Turns 70, Shashi Tharoor Reflects on What Makes Us Indian
8 years, 7 months ago

As India Turns 70, Shashi Tharoor Reflects on What Makes Us Indian

The Quint  

But what is that idea? Jawaharlal Nehru articulated it as pluralism vindicated by history, seeing the country as an “ancient palimpsest” on which successive rulers and subjects had inscribed their visions without erasing what had been asserted previously. Amid India’s myriad problems, it is democracy that has given Indians of every imaginable caste, creed, culture, and cause, the chance to …

Why, in order to revitalise itself, Congress must make liberalism and defence of personal liberties its USP
8 years, 9 months ago

Why, in order to revitalise itself, Congress must make liberalism and defence of personal liberties its USP

Times of India  

The results of the recent assembly elections have set off another spate of Congress-mukt Bharat opinion pieces. More than just the secular challenge to BJP’s communalism – which many would-be PM aspirants also claim – it is only the Congress party which presents a liberal alternative to BJP’s parochialism and bigotry. By now it is evident that for all of …

India is secular, only country where people of all faiths live: Rajnath Singh
9 years ago

India is secular, only country where people of all faiths live: Rajnath Singh

Firstpost  

All major sects of all religions, including Islam and Christianity, are found here, which is not the case with any other country, said Rajnath Singh New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said India is the most secular country in the world despite its diversity and the fact that people of all faiths live here. “If there is …

An open letter to Rajdeep “IAmAntiNational” Sardesai
9 years, 1 month ago

An open letter to Rajdeep “IAmAntiNational” Sardesai

Op India  

Dear Rajdeep, It seriously doesn’t matter to me what’s your self-image: Nationalist or anti-nationalist. That’s how India was divided between organized and funded club members of a ‘Secular India’ and unorganized, simple, honest and truly secular Indians. You started calling Modi supporters as ‘sanghis’, bhakts, and pseudo patriots, without even realizing that these people love Modi for he is a …

The need for a new agenda
9 years, 8 months ago

The need for a new agenda

The Hindu  

Secularism is often understood in the narrow confines of religious tolerance. However, inter-religious harmony and tolerance are an important element of the larger concept, which concerns us today, of the “idea of India”. Indeed, for this very reason, given the Left’s visionary commitments to the long struggle for freedom, its role is absolutely central to the realisation of the idea …

Rewriting the nation state
10 years ago

Rewriting the nation state

The Hindu  

Days after Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj >called Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, a “patriot,” the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, an ideological affiliate of the Sangh Parivar p >etitioned the government to provide space for installing busts of Godse at public places across India. Describing him as ‘an irreplaceable asset to the intellectual discourse of Hinduism’, the …

BJP promoting 'Hindu Nation': Congress
10 years, 2 months ago

BJP promoting 'Hindu Nation': Congress

India TV News  

Shillong: Congress today alleged that the BJP led NDA government was trying to make the country a ‘Hindu nation' subverting the Constitution. “Secularism is the key word in the Constitution but the BJP led government at the Centre is trying to totally subvert it by using the hardline Hindu groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and openly wanted people from …

India First - Who is afraid of Narendra Modi's definition of secularism?
12 years ago

India First - Who is afraid of Narendra Modi's definition of secularism?

India TV News  

‘Secularism' basically is a western concept that separates government institutions and functionaries from religious institutions and dignitaries.It basically means that the state has no religion of its own and that it will neither influence religious institutions nor will get influenced by them.The constitution that India adopted post independence did not include ‘secularism' in its Preamble. After the country was partitioned …

India First - Who is afraid of Narendra Modi's definition of secularism?
12 years ago

India First - Who is afraid of Narendra Modi's definition of secularism?

India TV News  

New Delhi, Mar 14: Narendra Modi, fast emerging as the BJP's choice for the post of Prime Minister, has reignited the fierce debate over the meaning of ‘secularism' in India with his latest take on what, according to him, is the definition of secularism. The Congress party reacted sharply by asking Modi to first “demonstrate” in Gujarat that he was …

Secularism the basis of India's existence: Bhardwaj
12 years, 2 months ago

Secularism the basis of India's existence: Bhardwaj

India TV News  

Bangalore, Jan 26: Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on Saturday said secularism was the basis of the country's existence and highlighted the importance of a disciplined democracy. In his address after hoisting the national flat at the Republic Day celebrations in Bangalore, he reminisced Mahatama Gandhi's comparative message of disciplined and prejudiced democracy.“Democracy disciplined and enlightened is the finest in the …

‘India, a living example of secularism’
12 years, 2 months ago

‘India, a living example of secularism’

The Hindu  

It was the first time that His Holiness the Dalai Lama participated in the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival since its inception in 2005. Historian Faisal Devji, who was moderating a parallel session on “Afghanistan in transition” at another venue right opposite the front lawns, amusingly asked his audience to sit down “in a non-violent way, as opposed to all the …

Backing Modi, RSS takes on Nitish
12 years, 9 months ago

Backing Modi, RSS takes on Nitish

The Hindu  

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s recent statement that the Bharatiya Janata Party should project a person with ‘secular’ credentials as prime ministerial nominee, has escalated into a full fledged war of words between the sangh parivar and the Janata Dal. JD general secretary Shivananda Tiwari, a confidant of Mr. Kumar, said on Wednesday that if the BJP were to project …

Rising Communalism and Religiosity, a Threat to Secularism in India
15 years, 1 month ago

Rising Communalism and Religiosity, a Threat to Secularism in India

The Hindu  

Secular India has undergone several convulsions during the past 60 years, so much so that doubts about its survival were entertained by many. With the decline in the commitment of the state to secularism during the post-Nehru era, secular space in society became progressively smaller, which was eventually colonised by communalism. What affected the secular character of Indian society most …

Discover Related