Why India is not a secular state
9 years, 3 months ago

Why India is not a secular state

Op India  

The 42nd amendment to the Constitution of India inserted the word “secular” into the preamble thus making India a “secular” Republic. Here is why I assert that the Indian state is NOT secular : Different laws for Hindus, Muslims and Christians In a truly secular country, all citizens irrespective of religion would be covered by a single set of laws. Different laws for minority schools and “majority” schools Did you know that even though minority schools receive money from the government in the form of grants/aid, they need not comply with the regulations of the Right to Education Act? Unfortunately, incidents like these send the signal that the Indian state & sections of the Indian media value the life of a member of one religious community more than the life of a member of another religious community – hardly something that would happen in a secular country! At the end of the day, India must become a truly secular country where the state treats all citizens equally irrespective of their religious beliefs.

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History of this topic

SC Says Laws Regulating Minority Institutions Don't Breach Secularism, But It's a Complex Case
5 months ago

SC Says Laws Regulating Minority Institutions Don't Breach Secularism, But It's a Complex Case

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court has ruled that laws regulating institutions run by religious or linguistic minorities, for that very reason alone, cannot be accused of breaching secularism. The court observed that a law per se regulating an institution belonging to a particular community does not ipso facto [by the fact itself] offend the principle of secularism.

SC Rejects the Inclusion of 'Socialist' and 'Secular' in the Indian Constitution
5 months ago

SC Rejects the Inclusion of 'Socialist' and 'Secular' in the Indian Constitution

Deccan Chronicle  

The Supreme Court has ruled that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' cannot be included in the Indian Constitution. The court held that the Preamble to the Indian Constitution is a declaration made in 1949 and that the date of adoption is an important part of its interpretation. The court also noted that the Preamble is a living document and that …

SC's Ruling on Preamble: Secularism a Cornerstone of Constitution
Top News
5 months ago

SC's Ruling on Preamble: Secularism a Cornerstone of Constitution

News 18  

The Supreme Court has ruled that secularism is an essential part of the Indian Constitution. The court held that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' were part of the original Preamble and that their inclusion was consistent with the Constitution's basic structure. The court also noted that the Preamble was adopted in 1949, and that any changes to the Preamble after …

SC Rejects Insertion of 'Socialist' and 'Secular' in the Indian Constitution
5 months ago

SC Rejects Insertion of 'Socialist' and 'Secular' in the Indian Constitution

New Indian Express  

The Supreme Court has ruled that the terms 'socialist' and 'secular' are not part of the Indian Constitution's basic structure. The court stated that secularism has always been considered an integral part of the Constitution and that these words were inserted into the Preamble by the Indira Gandhi government in 1976 to reflect the country's changing demographics and political landscape.

Supreme Court Rejects the Removal of 'Secular' and 'Socialist' from the Preamble to the Constitution
Trending News
5 months ago

Supreme Court Rejects the Removal of 'Secular' and 'Socialist' from the Preamble to the Constitution

India Today  

The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that secularism has long been regarded as an integral part of the Constitution's basic structure. The court heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the removal of the terms 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Preamble to the Constitution. The court said that the term 'socialism' should not necessarily be interpreted in the western context and …

Why We Need to Redefine Our Secularism
1 year, 1 month ago

Why We Need to Redefine Our Secularism

News 18  

We are living in a time when the very idea of ‘Bharat’ as a modern nation-state has come under intense scrutiny. There is no gainsaying the fact that India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has seen a marked departure from the Nehruvian idea of secularism, demonstrating a palpable desire to embrace its ancient roots which Nehru once disparagingly referred to …

Secularism does not mean non-religious but equal respect to all faiths, says EAM Jaishankar
1 year, 4 months ago

Secularism does not mean non-religious but equal respect to all faiths, says EAM Jaishankar

Firstpost  

The senior BJP leader said the political and social changes seen in India in the last few years have partly been a reaction “at an intellectual and political level” to this sense of unfairness. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar emphasized that secularism in India entails equal respect for all faiths, dispelling the notion that it implies non-religiosity. Speaking during an …

Dharma Files | This is how secularism has failed India
2 years, 7 months ago

Dharma Files | This is how secularism has failed India

Firstpost  

The government should immediately get out of the business of running Hindu temples, as by not doing so it violates one of the basic tenets of secularism This question can no longer be dodged. Is it a tenet of Indian secularism, that it is only the Central government which will stay out of religion, and not the state governments? According …

If Britain’s Christian roots don’t turn it theocratic, how will India’s Hindu identity make it less secular, democratic?
2 years, 10 months ago

If Britain’s Christian roots don’t turn it theocratic, how will India’s Hindu identity make it less secular, democratic?

Firstpost  

At a time when the country is debating the Uniform Civil Code — though it would be ideal to call it the Common Civil Code — an important book, Unmasking Indian Secularism, by veteran journalist and writer Hasan Suroor, has hit the shelves. Sai Deepak explains, “Clearly, this is attributable to the Indian State’s embracing of colonial assumption that the …

Strengthen secularism, save the republic
2 years, 11 months ago

Strengthen secularism, save the republic

The Hindu  

The High Court of Karnataka has not been able to settle the hijab issue. Another crucial factor which makes a theocratic state impossible in India is the complex, inegalitarian, hierarchical and oppressive social structure of the majority religion. A theocratic state functions on the basis of religious laws, which in India means the Dharma Shastras according to which only a …

Indians, how they get ‘secularism’ so horribly wrong and how the atmosphere changed after Islam and Christianity entered India
4 years, 7 months ago

Indians, how they get ‘secularism’ so horribly wrong and how the atmosphere changed after Islam and Christianity entered India

Op India  

Indians are generally highly intelligent. Now the idea that reason, and not blind belief in one ‘revealed truth’, should guide society, took root in Europe and this lead to the demand for separation between State and Church. Though Hindu Dharma survived and never dictated terms to its followers nor to the state, ‘secular’ was added to the Constitution of India …

The unique goals and challenges of Indian secularism
5 years, 1 month ago

The unique goals and challenges of Indian secularism

Hindustan Times  

Dr Jaime Torres Bodet Director General of UNESCO Jawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad arriving at Parliament House for the session of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO. Most commonly, “Indian secularism” is understood to mean something like the equal treatment of all religions. However, virtually all commentators agree that India is secular—which seems unarguable given the word’s …

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 …

The return of the secular
5 years, 2 months ago

The return of the secular

The Hindu  

It was both touching and comforting to hear the reply of Nikhil, a young student from Jamia Millia Islamia, to an unexpected question put to him last week by a TV anchor — “What does Jamia mean to you?” After a long pause, he said, “It has given me tehzeeb, an understanding of the samvidhaan and taught me to read, …

CAA, NRC, Article 370 protests have called into question idea of India's secularism; answers lie beyond the Constitution
5 years, 3 months ago

CAA, NRC, Article 370 protests have called into question idea of India's secularism; answers lie beyond the Constitution

Firstpost  

Saying India is secular because the Constitution says so is an appeal to authority. The people of India deserve the dignity of an argument for secularism When the government abrogated Article 370 this year, there was a lot of conversation around the fact that the people of Jammu and Kashmir should only join India with their consent. The re-election of …

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 …

‘India is Secular despite Hindus,’ Aakar Patel claims in Congress mouthpiece National Herald but is India really secular?
5 years, 10 months ago

‘India is Secular despite Hindus,’ Aakar Patel claims in Congress mouthpiece National Herald but is India really secular?

Op India  

In an article for the National Herald, Congress party’s mouthpiece, Executive Director of Amnesty International India, Aakar Patel, makes a rather bold assertion. If all of this wasn’t enough, we have the Hindu Charitable and Religious Endowments Act which grants the ‘secular’ government of India the right to administer and control Hindu Temples. However, it’s only Hindu Temples that the …

Secularism is the core safeguard India needs
6 years, 2 months ago

Secularism is the core safeguard India needs

Deccan Chronicle  

As the sands of 2018 trickled away, Naseeruddin Shah’s snub to Imran Khan for daring to comment snidely on India’s minority position reminded us that Sudip Ranjan Sen, the Meghalaya judge, had the logic of numbers on his side in claiming India “should have been declared a Hindu country”. A Hindu state may not have raised much cavil if it …

Watch: Is the Indian state really secular? No, according to this Supreme Court advocate
6 years, 4 months ago

Watch: Is the Indian state really secular? No, according to this Supreme Court advocate

Op India  

UpWord, a not-for-profit knowledge platform co-founded by Ashish Dhar and Ajaey Sharma, produces well-researched content in the form of short videos. It published a new video on YouTube today, featuring Supreme Court advocate Kanu Agarwal elucidating the manner in which certain articles of the Constitution discriminate against the majority faith in the country. In the video, Mr Agarwal asks the …

Remove 'secular' from Constitution as it puts Hindus at disadvantage, says Sanatan Sanstha
6 years, 6 months ago

Remove 'secular' from Constitution as it puts Hindus at disadvantage, says Sanatan Sanstha

Firstpost  

Although the Sanatan Sanstha claims to be a spiritual organisaton, it is currently facing massive criticism for being allegedly linked to terror activities. Amid a debate over banning Sanatan Sanstha, the radical Hindutva outfit made a demand on Monday to exclude the word “secular” from the Preamble. Elaborating on the demand at a press conference, Sanatan Sanstha spokesperson Chetan Rajhans …

68 years of India's Constitution: Repeated amendments have meant document today is fundamentally different from the one enacted
7 years, 1 month ago

68 years of India's Constitution: Repeated amendments have meant document today is fundamentally different from the one enacted

Firstpost  

It is almost treason in the eyes of some to even suggest that the Constitution of India may not be the best Constitution in the world. But given that so much time has passed since it was enacted, it is perhaps a question that is worth examining Editors Note: As India celebrates its 69th Republic Day on 26 January, this …

Venkaiah Naidu says secularism is in India's DNA, calls India the best model of religious harmony
7 years, 3 months ago

Venkaiah Naidu says secularism is in India's DNA, calls India the best model of religious harmony

Firstpost  

Secularism is “safe” in India because it is in the DNA of its people, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday and stressed New Delhi: Secularism is “safe” in India because it is in the DNA of its people, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday and stressed on telling the new generation about Indian culture of living …

Inventing history to inculcate hatred
7 years, 7 months ago

Inventing history to inculcate hatred

The Hindu  

When 70 years ago India obtained freedom it also got divided on religious grounds. It may here be mentioned that much before the term “secularism” came into use, the United States Constitution of 1787 and, particularly, the French Revolution of 1789-94, by barring religious influences from all conduct of state affairs, had already produced fair models of a secular state, …

Debating secularism
7 years, 8 months ago

Debating secularism

The Hindu  

JUSTICE VIKRAMJIT SEN, A RETIRED JUDGE of the Supreme Court, once observed during the hearing of a case in 2015: “India is a secular country, but I don’t know how long it will remain so.” A sense of exasperation might have been behind his observation, but events since then could make one wonder whether the judge’s remark was meant to …

UNHRC: 'India a secular country with no state religion'
7 years, 10 months ago

UNHRC: 'India a secular country with no state religion'

India TV News  

UNHRC: 'India a secular country with no state religion' India on Thursday said it is a secular state with no state religion and safeguarding the rights of minorities forms an essential core of its polity. Rejecting Pakistan's criticism over treatment of Muslims, India on Thursday said it is a secular state with no state religion and safeguarding the rights of …

State vs Hindus – how Indian politics has destroyed the notion of ‘secularism’
8 years, 1 month ago

State vs Hindus – how Indian politics has destroyed the notion of ‘secularism’

Op India  

A wise man once said “When you are used to privilege, equality seems like oppression.” Was reminded of this brilliant quote yesterday when a speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi evoked hysterical outrage by the so-called left-liberals. That the “Idea of India” gives precedence to an imaginary puppy over actual flesh and blood Hindus killed in firing by the State …

What the courts miss in the Constitution
8 years, 1 month ago

What the courts miss in the Constitution

The Hindu  

Indian secularism continues to be misunderstood. Citing S. Radhakrishnan and several court judgments, Justice Thakur then expounds the meaning of secularism: a secular state must not identify with any one religion or be controlled by it. In short, a state is secular if religion and state power are ‘kept apart’, strictly separated from each other and when this separation is …

Why Supreme Court favours nationalism over democracy
8 years, 2 months ago

Why Supreme Court favours nationalism over democracy

Live Mint  

India’s constitutional democracy has always struggled to tame the country’s religious and caste divisions, especially during elections. A narrow reading restricting the ban to the candidate’s own background would make it harder to overturn electoral results and allow greater range to candidates’ speech. The dissenters acknowledged India’s official secularism, but noted that the Indian constitution itself “recognizes the position of …

Supreme Court should clarify the Principles of Secularism ; Vice President Hamid Ansari [Video and Text]
8 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court should clarify the Principles of Secularism ; Vice President Hamid Ansari [Video and Text]

Live Law  

Is it therefore bold to expect that the Supreme Court may consider, in its wisdom, to clarify the contours within which the principles of secularism and composite culture should operate with a view to strengthen their functional modality and remove ambiguities that have crept in?, He askedThe Vice President, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has underlined the centrality of the judiciary …

Supreme Court should clarify the Principles of Secularism ; Vice President Hamid Ansari [Video and Text]
8 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court should clarify the Principles of Secularism ; Vice President Hamid Ansari [Video and Text]

Live Law  

Is it therefore bold to expect that the Supreme Court may consider, in its wisdom, to clarify the contours within which the principles of secularism and composite culture should operate with a view to strengthen their functional modality and remove ambiguities that have crept in?, He askedThe Vice President, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has underlined the centrality of the judiciary …

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 …

Constitution and secularism
9 years, 2 months ago

Constitution and secularism

The Hindu  

UNION Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks on November 26 during the Lok Sabha debate on “commitment to the Constitution” and Dr B.R. He argued that Ambedkar had never thought of putting the term in the Constitution “but the word ‘socialist’ and ‘secularism’ were incorporated in the Preamble through the 42nd Amendment. The Supreme Court has also held that secularism is …

When Secularism Hasn’t Served Its Purpose, Will ‘Areligious’ Do?
9 years, 3 months ago

When Secularism Hasn’t Served Its Purpose, Will ‘Areligious’ Do?

The Quint  

The inability to do or find something could, at times, be the mother of transcendence. The need arose when discussions on the Constitution, held in Parliament on 26-27 November 2015 – to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the father of that great piece of literature B R Ambedkar – took place. Speaking in the Lok Sabha on that occasion, …

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 …

Saving secularism from the ‘secularists’
10 years, 11 months ago

Saving secularism from the ‘secularists’

Live Mint  

In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed the Sachar committee to study the social and economic condition of India’s Muslim community. In January 2014, in an astounding display of New Delhi’s executive interference in the functioning of states’ police and judiciary, Shinde wrote to all chief ministers asking them to set up special screening committees to look at cases where …

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 …

For me, secularism means India First, Modi tells Indian disaspora in the US
12 years ago

For me, secularism means India First, Modi tells Indian disaspora in the US

India TV News  

Washington, March 10: Denied a visa to visit US, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today took to video conferencing to address Indian-American community, saying his idea of secularism is "India First". And if this happens, secularism will automatically run in our blood," the Gujarat Chief Minister said.Modi was denied US visa on the issue of human rights violation.Last week, the …

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