Secularism
-noun
Meaning
1. Secular spirit or tendency, especially a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship.
2. The view that public education and other matters of civil policy should be conducted without the introduction of a religious element.
Questions:
- How secular India really is?
- Can religious spirit be ripped away from an individual, simply because one is a politician?
- It is possible to be a member of a majority religious faith, while carrying the minorities well too?
- Is it necessary for political leaders of Hindu faith to sport dresses like skull caps, or hijabs to exhibit their concern for minorities?
- Is political leaders posing as if in prayer in the tradition of religious minorities not communal?
- Is calling oneself Hindu a matter of expression of communalism?
Never before, in Independent India, secularism has been selectively chosen to attack common belief in God and in age-old religious traditions. I am largely a tolerant liberal, and not personally greatly religious, but do not question the existence of God, many Hindu Gods at that, as well the wisdom of our great ancestors, which have been inculcated from an orthodox parents and family elders.
I have exchanged visits to homes of every religious minorities in Kolkata, where I live, as well as wherever I travel around the globe. In my lifetime, I must have visited countless Mosques, Churches, Synagogues, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Taoist religious shrines, apart from Hindu temples and I do not feel the difference, when it comes to Godliness, reverence and the aura surrounding all these places.
The rhetoric of being communal, reserved for Hindus alone, is however not digestible by me, and could be, by many like me.
In the process of electioneering, raising the already ugly pitch of communalism, the fragile poor communities are fragmented and the divide would be deeper in the future, requiring great statesmanship of politicians to usher a new beginning and foster understanding and trust between communities.
I do not know much about Jews, but know that they also are a minority in India. Will any political leader dare to pose for photographs with a Jewish ‘Kippah?’
Dear politicians, do pose with skull caps, Hijabs, niqabs or whatever else, if that is the only way to show solidarity with the minorities. Do not call one with a mark on the forehead, communal. This could be the first step in rebuilding the burnt bridges!
