“We will not compromise on the principle of secularism. PM candidate should have impeccable secular image.” Thus spoke Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his party Janata Dal (United)’s national executive meet in Delhi.
Secularism is a word that has long been abused and misused in the Indian political context.
For long, we have been fed the falsehood that secularism demands treating all religions as equals. We have been conditioned to believe that secularism means we need to have public policies that tolerate all religions equally. Nothing can be farther from the truth than this definition advocated by vested interests.
Treating all religions equally and fairly is Religious Pluralism and not secularism.
Secularism in fact means “religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education.” It also means “a doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations.”
There is a remarkable difference between “treating all religions as equal” and “rejecting religion and religious considerations”. But as we have it, UPA Government and our politicians are busy exploiting this perverted notion of secularism for their votes, at the cost of hurting the nation.
And it is not just unfair and immoral. It is unconstitutional as well.
The Preamble of the Constitution of India starts thus:
“We, The People of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens:JUSTICE, social, economic and political;LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them allFRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation…”
Per this Preamble, India is obligated to be secular and practice secularism in letter and spirit. This sacred constitution of ours requires that religion should have absolutely no role in framing of public policies. It prohibits Governments from implementing any policies that are based on religious considerations.
But sadly, we see UPA Government consistently violating the Constitution and proposing policies that are solely based on religious considerations. For them, politics and the next election’s vote considerations trump the Constitution. Public policies are devised to influence voters belonging to certain religious groups. Under the pretext of being secular, ill-conceived but vote-grabbing policies are pushed day in and day out.
The most recent case has been the proposal to set up special courts for handling cases involving Muslim youths. The Government argues that in order to deliver speedy justice to Muslim youths, special courts need to be set up. But why create special courts to expedite cases involving Muslims only? What about accused belonging to other religious communities? Why base this policy on religious grounds in the first place? Why not create these special courts to process all the old and protracted cases, irrespective of the religion of the people involved?
That would suffice the Constitutional requirement as well. But no! Why would the Government do anything that is fair to all? It will always implement policies that are appeasing in nature and will generate votes during next election cycle. After all, the mission of this Government is not governance. Instead, it is to latch on to power by hook or crook. Thus, more and more discriminatory policies, attached with unfunded doles and goodies.
In December 2012, answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that data from National Crime Records Bureau shows that as of December 2011, there were 2.41 lakh undertrials in Indian prisons, of whom 51,206 or 21.2 per cent belonged to the Muslim community. So the Government is now thinking of setting up special courts for 21.2 per cent of undertrials without any consideration for the remaining 78.8 per cent undertrials. Why? Isn’t that blatant discrimination and violation of our constitution?
As if the current reservation policies based on religion were not enough, the Government, based on the recommendations of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM), has now carved out a sub-quota of 4.5 per cent effective from 1st January, 2012 for backward classes of minorities from out of 27 per cent quota of Other Backward Classes (OBC). And these minorities are same as defined in the charter of Ministry of Minority Affairs. Quota within quota! Another religion based public policy!
Another example of misusing of secularism tag and violation of our constitution is the establishment of Ministry of Minority Affairs. The Ministry of Minority Affairs was created on January 29, 2006 “to ensure a more focused approach towards issues relating to the minorities and to facilitate the formulation of overall policy and planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory framework and development programmes for the benefit of the minority communities.” As per its charter, it serves the eligible sections among the minorities notified under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis). Now if that is not religion-based public policy, then what is?
Even though, the Ministry is supposed to serve Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) communities, its 2011-2012 annual report reveals a very different picture. It seems that a majority of the programs implemented by the Ministry are geared towards serving Muslim community only.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs has the following constitutional / statutory / autonomous bodies under its purview:
» Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities (CLM).
» National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
» Central Waqf Council (CWC).
» National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC).
» Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF).
» Durgah Khawaja Saheb, Ajmer.
Do we see any specific statutory bodies for Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis? No.
On March 9, 2005, UPA Government also issued the Notification for constitution of the High Level Committee for preparation of Report on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India (also known as Sachar Committee). Has this Government constituted similar high-level committees to report on the social, economic and educational status of other minority communities? No.
And it is OK. Those statutory bodies and committees, if ever constituted, would be violation of the Constitution as well. The ones that exist are unconstitutional and should be shut down immediately. Not only would it save crores of tax-payers’ money, it will also be fair, equitable and Constitutional.
So which secularism was Nitish Kumar talking about? The one that promotes appeasement policies or the one that rejects religion and religious considerations? No prizes for any guesses!
Irrespective of what Nitish Kumar was talking about, the fact remains that it is up to us voters to vote smartly and separate the pseudo-secularists from the true secularists. The nation has already suffered enough at the hands of these pseudo-secular politicians and it is time to show them the door.
Let the true secularists among us stand up and be counted! It is now or never.
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