Abstract
The endeavour of this chapter is to examine dichotomy surrounded on secularism and secularisation constructed through Gandhian philosophy of secular state. An attempt has been made to scrutinise Gandhi’s religious experiment with secularism and how it differs with classical description of the western bravura of tolerance, coexistence and pluralism since Gandhi was not considered as secularist in the common Western sense of term. The classical Western interpretation of “secularism” and “religion” almost negating to each other due to some historical events which created two opposing centres of power vested in the political organisation and the ecclesiastical order, respectively. Gandhian political thought on secularism and minorities’ rights are really astonishing where he paradoxically distinguishes between state and religion but insists on secularism with good blend of religion and spirituality. Gandhi believed that it is irrelevant to divorce religion from politics in Indian context as both have concomitant effects. That unique interpretation of secularism where religion plays a pivotal role in state politics puts him an illustrious philosopher of our time who described secularism virtually in a different arena. Gandhi proudly claimed that he could not see politics without spirituality and religion; nonetheless, he also pitched for the secularisation, multiculturalism and diversity of Indian society, hence stalwartly advocates the protection of religious and cultural rights of minorities. In such peculiar contradictory thoughts, it is desirable to decode the Gandhian view of secularism and the duty of the state to promote this ideal.
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Notes
- 1.
Panikkar Raimundo, Myth, faith and hermeneutic: cross-cultural studies, Asian Trading Corp., Bangalore (1983).
- 2.
M. K. Gandhi, What is truth. Navjeevan Publication, Ahmedabad, p. 474 (1984).
- 3.
- 4.
Iyengar AS, All through the Gandhian era, Hind Kitab House, Bombay, p. 223 (1950).
- 5.
K. N. Tiwari, World religious and Gandhi, Classical Publishing Company, New Delhi, p. 76 (1988).
- 6.
SN Balagangadhara, Jakob De Roover, “The secular state and religious conflict: liberal neutrality and the Indian case of pluralism”, 15 Journal of Political Philosophy 1: 73–74 (2007).
- 7.
Moin Shakir, Gandhi’s concept of secularism, In: Secular democracy, Monthly, New Delhi, p. 17 (1969).
- 8.
The Publication Division, The collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 55 (April 23–Sept 15 1933), The Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, p. 443.
- 9.
Friedrichs Jorg, Hindu-Muslim Relations: What Europe Might Learn From India, Routledge Pub, India, South Asia Edition, pp. 62–64 (2019).
- 10.
Dipankar Gupta, Secularisation and Minoritization: the limits of heroic thought, In: Sheth DL and Mahajan Gurpreet (ed.), Minority identities and the nation-state, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 38–44 (1999).
- 11.
Chandhoke Neera, “Rethinking pluralism secularism and tolerance”, Sage Publication, New Delhi, pp. 156–160 (2019a).
- 12.
Rajeev Bhargava, “What we owe to Gandhi” The Hindu (2019) Available at https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-we-owe-to-themahatma/article29955342.ece (last accessed 10 May 2020).
- 13.
Kumar Arun, Cultural and educational rights of minorities under Indian constitution, Deep & Deep, New Delhi, p. 28 (1985).
- 14.
Mustafa Faizan, Minorities, too, are fed up with this facade of secularism, The Indian Express (2020a) Available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/narendra-modi-govt-6324468/ (last accessed 15 June 2020).
- 15.
Chandhoke Neera, “Secularism is caught in a crisis”, The Indian Express (2019b) Available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/discrimination-hindutva-muslims-rss-alls-not-well-with-secularism-6147422/ (last accessed 05 April 2020).
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The Publication Division, supra note 8.
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The Publication Division, supra note 8.
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Gandhi Rajmohan, “CAA does not carry mahatma Gandhi wishes, it brazenly defies them”, The Indian Express (2020) Available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/caa-secular-nrc-minorities-pakistan-narendra-modi-amit-shah-rajmohan-gandhi-6236881/ (last accessed 22 April 2020).
- 23.
Bharatan Kumarappa (ed.), M K Gandhi: my religion, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, p. 29 (1955).
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- 25.
DG Tendulkar, Mahatma, vol 3 (1930–34), Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India, Patiala House, New Delhi, p. 244 (1951).
- 26.
Gandhi, supra note 2.
- 27.
Radhakrishna S, Muirhead JH (eds.), Contemporary Indian philosophy, 2nd Revised edn., Allen and Unwin, London, p. 21 (1952).
- 28.
Gupta Charu, “Gandhi on cow, Ram Rajya and Hinduism”, National Herald (2019) Available at https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/gandhi-on-cow-ramrajya-and-hinduism (last accessed 15 May 2020).
- 29.
M. K. Gandhi, Dharma and self-purification, Navjeevan Publication, Ahmedabad, p. 81 (1986).
- 30.
Godrej Farah, Nonviolence and Gandhi’s truth: A method for moral and political arbitration, 68 Review of Politics (2): 287–317 (2006); Raghavan Iyer, The moral and political thought of Mahatma Gandhi, Oxford University Press, London, p. 160 (1973); Chatterjee Margaret, Gandhi’s religious thought, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, p. 67 (1983).
- 31.
Bipan Chandra, Communalism in modern India, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, p. 1 (1984).
- 32.
Romila Thapar and Neeladri Bhattacharya, “Romila Thapar on the secular view of Indian history (and its differences with the communal one)”, Scroll.in (2019) Available at https://scroll.in/article/936085/romila-thapar-on-the-secular-view-of-indian-history-and-its-differences-with-the-communal-one (last accessed 18 August 2020).
- 33.
Mukul Kesavan, “India’s embattled secularism”, 27 Wilson Quarterly 1: 61–67 (2003).
- 34.
Nehru Committee Report (1928). The committee consisted of Motilal Nehru, Chairman, Sir Ali Imam, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Annie Besant, M R Jaykar and Jawaharlal Nehru was the secretary of the committee. The committee was given the charge to consider and determine the principles of the Constitution of India along with problem of communalism and issue of dominion status.
- 35.
Chandhoke, supra note 14 at p. 209.
- 36.
AIR 1973, SCC.
- 37.
Mahmood Tahir, Minorities commission: minor role in major affairs, Pharos Media, New Delhi, p. 12 (2001).
- 38.
Mustafa, supra note 14.
- 39.
Mustafa, supra note 14.
- 40.
- 41.
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- 43.
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- 44.
Nehru Jawaharlal, An autobiography, Allied Publication, New Delhi, 1962, p. 136.
- 45.
Moin, supra note 8.
- 46.
Kaviraj Sudipta, Languages of secularity, 48 Economic and Political Weekly 50, 2013, pp. 93–102.
- 47.
Milton JR and Milton Philip (eds.), John lock: an essay concerning toleration, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 140.
- 48.
Bhatia Mohita, “Secularism and secularization—a bibliographical essay”, 48 Economic and Political Weekly 50, 2013, pp. 103–110.
- 49.
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- 50.
Chandra Bipan, “Gandhiji, secularism and communalism”, 32 Social Scientist 1/2, 2004, pp. 3–29.
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Nagarwal, N. (2022). Secularism and Secularisation of the State: Decoding Gandhian Philosophy in Contemporary India. In: Mittal, R., Singh, K.K. (eds) Relevance of Duties in the Contemporary World. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1836-0_16
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