The Nation And Its Soul

Lately, there has been a deliberate attempt to shift the mantle of Indian democracy from 'secularism' to otherwise.

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There are dominant political forces in the country that erroneously equate the concept of secularism to state partisan in favor of minority communities—some of which, in their reading, are a threat to the existence of the majority lot. This flawed thought, and its assertion, is as nonsensical as it could be. As for those who are vigorously arguing to remove the term 'secular'—used as an adjective to India—from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, it is unclear what the bone of contention is: explicit mention of secularism or the very idea it represents. There have been debates in certain parts of the world whether constitutions should explicitly mention secularism or not as an abiding principle. However, one thing is absolutely unambiguous—all the major democracies of the world do not see the principle of secularism as a problem. It is, in fact, a solid and non-comprisable bedrock of peaceful existence and economic efficiency of any given democracy.