Secular India

Secularism in India means equal treatment of all religions by the state.

Secularism in India means a state that is neutral to all religious groups.

With the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However, neither India's constitution nor its laws define the relationship between religion and state. The laws implicitly require the state and its institutions to recognise and accept all religions, enforce parliamentary laws instead of religious laws, and respect pluralism. India does not have an official state religion. 

Secularism is a divisive, politically charged topic in India

Indian religions are known to have co-existed and evolved together for many centuries before the arrival of Islamin the 12th century, followed by Mughal and colonial era. Ashoka about 2200 years ago, Harsha about 1400 years ago accepted and patronised different religions.The people in ancient South Asia had freedom of religion, and the state granted citizenship to each individual regardless of whether someone’s religion was Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or any other.Ellora cave temples built next to each other between 5th and 10th centuries, for example, shows a coexistence of religions and a spirit of acceptance of different faiths.

In the United States, religion is seen to not have a prominent place in politics today. Of course politicians make reference to their own personal beliefs and regular church attendance every so often, but overall it is widely agreed upon that to be a secular state is to exclude religion from politics.

India’s concept of secularism is to equalize all religions so that the state neither actively chooses, nor demonstrates through legislation, a preference or prejudice of one religion over others—a definition that in theory could work. We all know, however, that theory and practice are two very different things. 

As individuals we may be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi – or we may choose to be none of these. But as far as the Indian Union is concerned, we are Indians first and foremost, citizens of a secular state, and that should be our primary identity.