Citizens heavily rely on the Preamble of the Indian Constitution atleast when it comes to the "secular nation" issue. Actually thats all they have to rely on, to be honest. Gujarat and its 2002 genocide surely does not help the secular argument and nor does the recently passed Karnataka Anti Cow Slaughter Bill. Infact the presence of right wing parties like that of BJP in the Indian Parliament itself is enough to portray how secular India is.
But unfortunately for pseudo secularists even the Constitution shys away from talking about any secular principle elsewhere apart from the non binding part that we have already exaggerated much due to lack of alternatives. Rather it would be interesting to study Article 290A of our Constitution which obligates certain States to reserve funds for Trusts taking care of Hindu Temples. OH I AM SO SORRY!!!! Thats supposed to be ok, because according to practice in the Indian Courts a Hindu would mean a Jain, Sikh and Budhists too. Who cares if they dont like being tagged under another religious identity just because they are not comfortable, ultimately no one will dare raise their voice against our practice and even if they do it will just be another of those ruthless suppressions of freedom of speech and expression which would highlight the headlines of certain dailies for a few days untill the issue loses its sensationalising aspect with time.
So much for the love of our Constitution and its principles of equality and non-discrimination on religious grounds. After all we are supposed to be a "Secular Nation" .
I so agree with you.
ReplyDeleteAll these democracy boasting words are used by the govt either during elections or during passing a bill, that is more of for their party benefit than people.
Secularism is individual right,solely for politicos to fill vote bank.