The Statesman, India
Jan 11 2005

SECULAR PRINCIPLES-II: Need To Remove Distortions And Contradictions

By DIPAK BASU

In Germany the state collects taxes for two Christian groups, while
other religious or atheist groups have to collect their membership
fees without the help of the state. Furthermore, there are religious
lessons at school given by the state, but only for those two
Christian groups. Communists are not allowed to teach in school or a
university. A large number of teachers and professors of the former
East Germany were fired after the unification of Germany in 1989.
Thus, there is neither secularism, nor non-discrimination.
Since the sixth century until 1934, Buddhism was the state religion
of Japan. In 1934, after a military coup in which the elected Prime
Minister of Japan was killed, Buddhism was banned and Shinto, the
original Japanese religion, became the state religion. After 1945, in
the new constitution of Japan, religion and the affairs of the state
were separated.

Anti-Hindu discrimination
However, Shinto priests still preside over all inaugurations of
public ceremonies, even the inaugurations of an industrial plants or
a new machine. Buddhists have their own political party, New
Komentai, which collaborates with the ruling Jiminto party. Thus the
Japanese state system is not secular or religion neutral.
Turkey is supposed to be the only secular Muslim country, but it is a
specific kind of secularism, which excludes all non-Muslims. During
1915 to 1925, the Ottoman Empire and particularly Kamal Ataturk have
committed genocide against the non-Muslim Armenians and Greeks, in
which about 2.5 million Armenians were killed and the rest escaped to
the Soviet Union. As a result, there are hardly any non-Muslims today
in Turkey. After getting rid of non-Muslims, Turkey has started
persecutions of the ethnic minority Kurdish people, although they are
Muslims.
In so-called secular Turkey, all religious affairs are carried out by
a central government organisation called the Department of Religious
Affairs established in 1924. The function of this organisation is to
carry out tasks related to the beliefs, divine services and moral
principles of Islam, and to enlighten citizens on religious matters.
This is hardly a great example of secularism.
Muslims in India are the most vocal supporters of secularism. Even
members of religious groups like the Babari Masjid Action Committee,
Syed Sahabuddin, and Prof Irfan Habib, claim to be secular and
Marxist. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) even justifies the
existence of Sharia laws in India as the basic ingredient of
secularism. However, secularism has no support in Islam.
India is not secular if we accept the true meaning of the term. The
existence of different legal systems for different communities and
reservation systems based on caste make India non-neutral towards
religions. India also discriminates against the Hindu religion and
Hindu ideals.
What should be done to remove these gross distortions and
contradictions is the fundamental question. The basic motive of the
founding fathers of the Indian Constitution was to create a liberal
nation tolerant towards all regions and all ideas. They wanted to
remove all discriminations based on religions, castes, tribes,
colour, or racial origins. However, the effects of the so-called
secularism on Indian society are quite different.

Highly immoral society
Absence of religious learning in the schools in India in the name of
secularism has the effect of creating a new generation who are
without any moral values, as they see the politicians and the
business community are prospering because they have no moral values
at all. The judicial system in India has ceased to function in any
practical sense. Even the government officers and politicians ignore
the directive of the court and the court is powerless. The law of the
jungle is already prevailing in vast area of the country,
particularly in Bihar and in the north-eastern states. Along with the
economic reforms of the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh regime, the
doors of India are now open to all kinds of provocative material
encouraged by relaxed censorship. Sexual attacks on women and
children are very frequent. This is the result of lack of any moral
and religious teaching in schools and lack of proper censorship of
the popular media, films and television.
Moral education was an essential part in the USSR through a number of
organisations like Young Pioneers, Youth Komsomol, and Youth
Communist League. In Japan, in both in its school system and in
industrial management moral education is maintained through the
learning of Bushido, the code of conduct of the Samurai warriors and
the `Japanese culture of the rice fields’, which puts emphasis on
social interests. In India, after Independence there was an
opportunity to maintain the idealism of the freedom movement.
However, that opportunity was wasted. As a result, we now have a
highly immoral society in India.
India should, like the UK or Russia, accept religions originating in
India as state religions. The state should promote and look after
these religions and promote religious and moral education. As
religious tolerance is the part of the Indian tradition or Sanatan
Dharma, people following other religions will not be discriminated,
if India is going to have official religions.
In Bhagwat Gita, Sri Krishna said very clearly, `Even those who in
faith worship other gods, because of their love they worship me,
although not in the right way’. That is the reason Swami Vivekananda
has declared that Hinduism is the only religion that respects other
religions. To ensure that there would not be any religious
persecutions or differentiations, just like in Britain, there should
be very strict laws against discrimination. That would automatically
demand a number of significant changes in the legal and political
system.
Just like in UK, USA, Germany, and France and indeed in other
developed countries, the legal system in India should have uniform
criminal and civil laws for all religions, tribes, castes, and races.
When millions of Muslims in the USA, UK, France and Germany can live
under unified legal systems, Muslims in India cannot raise any
objection.

No more special status
All system of positive discriminations or reservations based on
caste, languages, tribes, must be removed. Positive discrimination
for the disadvantageous groups should be based on poverty and
physical disability only, irrespective of religion, caste, tribe, or
language. This would benefits both Christians and Muslims, as they
can, if poor or disabled, take advantage of these positive
discriminations as well. Similarly, all citizens must be allowed to
take up employment or to live anywhere in India. Special status of
Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal
Pradesh must be removed as well so that every citizen can move freely
within the domain of India.
Communal political parties with past crimes against humanity and
parties with direct links with the anti-Indian terrorists, violent
tribal organisations in Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, and
violent Hindu organisations must all be banned, no matter what the
reaction.
Secularism itself is not superior to any alternative system that
exist in various countries of the world. There is hardly any country
which is really secular. It would be absurd for India to claim to be
morally superior just because it is supposedly secular, when all
kinds of discrimination and social evils exist in India at the same
time. The time has arrived to get rid of false secularism, and make
Indian society and the political system free of any discrimination.
(Concluded)