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 is a sign of the times we live in. By far special government schemes offered by the State to minorities were accepted by most Hindus all along, our “Secular” State notwithstanding. When demanding equality in a “secular” country has begun to be deemed as “communal”, what hope does this largely peaceful community have, in the face of blatant appeasement driven politics?

India Rights Minority Equal Rights Hindu Muslims State Hindus Rti Situation Equal Large Secular  notion  state  politics  hindus  statements  destroyed  large  secularism  muslims  minority  rights  equal  vs  indian  situation  hindu

History of this topic

The Constitution on minority rights
3 months ago

The Constitution on minority rights

The Hindu  

The debate on minority rights should be lifted from its current framework of communalism versus secularism and placed in the theoretical field of democracy and substantive equality. Recognising the importance of minority rights, the UN General Assembly adopted a declaration on the ‘Rights of Persons Belonging to National, or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities’ on December 18, 1992. Origin of …

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 …

‘Secularism is also to protect Hindus from their own orthodoxies’
1 year, 5 months ago

‘Secularism is also to protect Hindus from their own orthodoxies’

The Hindu  

Multi-religious India’s founding ideals are fast being reshaped by a majoritarian formulation of the relationship between the state and religion. Rajeev Bhargava, political theorist and author of Reimagining Indian Secularism, analyses the strengths and failings of India’s sui generis secularism. On the other hand, Indian secularism was born in response to India’s phenomenal diversity. Borrowing from the title of your …

Hindus are under attack in Bangladesh: Why it is right time for Indian Muslims to stand up and protest
2 years, 7 months ago

Hindus are under attack in Bangladesh: Why it is right time for Indian Muslims to stand up and protest

Firstpost  

Last week, barely eight months after the 2021 Durga Puja violence, Bangladesh was again rocked by anti-Hindu protests — this time over an allegedly offensive Facebook post about Islam In its issue of 6 November 2021, The Economist carried a piece headed, “Bangladesh’s religious minorities are under attack”, commenting on widespread anti-Hindu violence a few weeks earlier during which rioters …

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 …

Hindus must uphold unequal secularism via continued concessions while Muslims get the licence to use violence as leverage
2 years, 11 months ago

Hindus must uphold unequal secularism via continued concessions while Muslims get the licence to use violence as leverage

Firstpost  

Regardless of their actions, Muslims have a monopoly on victimhood while Hindus are the perpetual perpetrators because their very existence is provocative The anti-encroachment drive by the BJP-led civic body in Delhi on “illegal structures” on Wednesday has triggered apoplectic rage in liberal circles. Since Mehta enjoys papal authority over India’s ‘public intellectuals’, let’s examine his assertion of Hindus’ “raw …

Nehruvian secularism places Muslims not as equals but as a permanent minority to Hindus: Arif Mohammad Khan
3 years ago

Nehruvian secularism places Muslims not as equals but as a permanent minority to Hindus: Arif Mohammad Khan

Firstpost  

The Kerala Governor says that the kind of secularism pursued in India creates distrust among Hindus and Muslims, placing one against another as competitors for national resources Since the early 1980s, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has been consistently fighting against the fundamentalist forces of the country, whether it was in the Shah Bano case during Rajiv Gandhi’s regime or …

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 only thing that Indian 'secular liberals' have ever truly supported is Islamist patriarchy
4 years, 9 months ago

The only thing that Indian 'secular liberals' have ever truly supported is Islamist patriarchy

Op India  

In America, the outpouring of public anger and outrage continues. How much more is needed before Indian society comes to accept the reality of the oppression faced by Hindus? Whenever the painful history of Hindus is brought up, the Indian intellectual elite has another diversionary arrow in its quiver: talking about the caste oppression in Hindu society. The Indian elite …

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 …

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 …

‘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 …

The outrage over Amit Shah’s statement on infiltrators shows how ‘liberals’ simply can’t treat Hindus as victims
5 years, 11 months ago

The outrage over Amit Shah’s statement on infiltrators shows how ‘liberals’ simply can’t treat Hindus as victims

Op India  

How did that become so controversial when discussing NRC? Recently, BJP President Amit Shah set the proverbial cat among the pigeons by promising that if voted to power, the BJP government would send every illegal immigrant out of the borders of our country. Here is another reason in the Indian context why ‘liberals’ who object to special treatment for Hindus …

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 …

Preferential treatment to minorities is fostering a sense of disenchantment with ‘secularism’ among Hindus, it is time to stop
6 years, 11 months ago

Preferential treatment to minorities is fostering a sense of disenchantment with ‘secularism’ among Hindus, it is time to stop

Op India  

Senior Counsel Rajiv Dhawan, arguing in favour of Babri Masjid at Ram Janambhoomi, made an argument that reveals the institutionalized minority appeasement in the country. Same is the case with preferential treatment to minorities.” The intriguing thing about the argument is that Mr Dhawan is not merely asserting that minorities in the country have rights guaranteed to them by the …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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. …

The need for a new agenda
9 years, 7 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 …

Hindus don’t always have equality with minorities
10 years ago

Hindus don’t always have equality with minorities

Live Mint  

An article written by former police officer Julio Ribeiro, initially headlined I am on a hit list, has ignited a debate concerning India’s Christians and their security under the Narendra Modi government. Even today, top ranked institutions like St Stephen’s College, Christian Medical College in Vellore, St Xavier’s College and countless missionary schools across India clearly declare themselves to be …

Is religious conversion really a fundamental right, or can we ban it?
10 years, 6 months ago

Is religious conversion really a fundamental right, or can we ban it?

Firstpost  

By Jaideep A Prabhu To most observers, India appears a paradox - teeming with diversity of cuisine, dress, language, pigmentation, and faith under one flag, yet simultaneously simmering with communal tensions. As Jakob de Roover of Ghent University argues, the liberal principle of religious freedom implicitly endorses the Abrahamic view of the world that religion revolves around doctrines and truth …

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 …

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