This presentation is melange of different aspects of secularism in which every aspect is explained properly.

1. I. Historical Evolution of Secularism
II. What is secularism about?
III. Different Interpretation
IV. Secularization and Secularism
V. Western Secularism
VI. Indian Secularism
VII. Secularism and Indian Constitution
VIII. Diverse understanding of secularism
IX. Debates on secularism in political theory
X. Conclusion
SECULARISM

2. Historical Evolution Of Secularism
• The earliest documentations of secular thought is seen in the
“Charvaka system” of philosophy in India, which held perceptual
realism and empiricism as the proper source of knowledge and sought
to reject the prevailing religious practices of that time.
• Secularism in the west first appeared in the classical philosophy and
politics of ancient Greece but disappeared after the fall of Greece.
• It resurfaced after the millennium and a half during the Italian
Renaissance and reformation through the reason and enlightenment
and science marks the secularization of education and society.
• The term ‘secularism’ was first introduced by British writer ‘George
Holyoake’ in 1851 to describe a social order separate from religion
without criticizing religious beliefs.

3. What is Secularism about?
• There is no any universally accepted definition of secularism. Broadly
secularism has been defined as system of belief that essentially provides
equal respect to all religion keeping distance from the affairs of state.
• The idea aims at creating a social system which respect all religions
equally. It does not allow the discrimination on the basis of religion.
• The decade of 1980s witnessed the onset of debating and texturing what
secularism is about.
• The ambiguity of secularism was at one point considered as its strength
but now its vagueness has become its weakness for public policies.
• Sometimes, secularism go beyond the constitutional structure which
creates tension.

4. Different interpretations
• There are two different interpretations of secularism:
1.Secularism as the separation between state and religion
The first interpretation holds that
I. the state shall not interfere in any religious affairs;
II. the religious practices also shall not interfere in the affairs of state;
III. the state itself shall not be associated with a particular religion.
This understanding comes to us form Western Europe but particularly
it has come to us from US in the formulation of Thomas Jefferson, former US
President, as the “wall of separation” between state and religion. His aim
was to guarantee that government shall not establish a national religion
and shall not give preference one religion over another.

5. Different interpretations
2. Secularism as the equality of all religions
The second interpretation holds that
I. the state shall interfere in religious affairs when it’s needed but
II. it shall not discriminate on the basis of religion.
It has been shaped through Indian historical experience and it is about
the state shall treat all religious groups equally.
Some political leaders and reformers such as Ramakrishna, Vivekananda,
Gandhi, Nehru, etc, have played important role in shaping whole notion of
Indian secularism.

6. SECULARIZATION AND SECULARISM
• Secularization is an essential prerequisite for secularism as state policy. It
is a process through which aim of secularism could be achieved.
• Many scholars have argued that secularism is inappropriate for the
deeply religious country like India.
• But, the extent of religious belief or unbelief does not necessarily
correlate with the extent of state separation from or control over religion.
• The secularization of society holds some important implications:
I. Rational individuals are able to either balance religious and non-
religious considerations, or subordinate the former to the latter.
II. The state no longer requires the sanction of religion to legitimize its
power.
However , secularism in a secularized society is based upon the separation
of public and private spheres of life. Therefore, it easy to assert the
dominance of the secular over the sacred In public life.

7. Secularism:TheWesternWay
• The western notion of secularism separates religion from state through a
‘wall of separation’ which was formulated by former US President
Thomas Jefferson.
• In this notion of secularism, the state shall not interfere in the affairs of
religion and vice-versa as well as the law for every individual is the same
regardless of different religions. It is non-interventionist in nature.
• This model focuses more on religious homogeneity rather than focusing
on religious conflict as well as focuses on individual liberty and equality
among them but doesn’t give religious freedom.
• The state cannot aid any religious institutions. It neither interfere in
religious institution, give financial support nor hinder the activities of
religious communities until they cross the limit the law of the land.

8. SECULARISM:THEWESTERNWAY
• Indian secularism is also different from the French understanding of the
term. The French notion of secularism which is called ‘laicite’ demands
that the government and its institutions such as schools should have
complete absence of religion and vice-versa. In contrast, Indian
secularism diverges from this form of clear separation.

9. INDIAN SECULARISM
• Indian secularism is the idea of equal treatment to all religions. There are
some key features of Indian secularism:
1. Every citizen has freedom to choose their religion and faith.
2. The state cannot discriminate on the grounds of citizen’s religion.
3. State gives right to religious minority to establish educational
institutions of their choice.
4. The state cannot discriminate in matters of giving fund to religions.
5. In matters of employment and of admission into educational
institutions, the state cannot discriminate against citizens on grounds of
religion.
6. The state cannot use public revenues to promote any religion.
7. No religious preaching can be given in the schools run by state.

10. INDIAN SECULARISM
• Indian society is very diverse and multi-religious, the acceptance of all
religions makes the Indian politics multi-cultural and pluralistic.
• It has not clear separation of religion and politics but it has ‘principled
distance’ between them.
• This concept of “principled distance” is given by Rajeev Bhargava. He
talks about contextual secularism which is adopted in India and it implies
principled distance or absolutist separation between the state and
religion.

11. Secularism and the Indian Constitution
• The term secularism was not added in the Indian constitution originally. It was
added in the preamble of the constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1975.
• Three political values citizen’s rights, liberty and equality, lies at the core of the
constitution and religious harmony is one such idea that goes along with fraternity.
• There are many articles which were present in our constitution. Some of them are:
1. Art. 25: Freedom of conscience, free profession, practice and propagation of
religion,
2. Art. 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs,
3. Art. 27: Freedom to make payments of taxes for promotion of any particular
religion,
4. Art. 28: Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in
certain educational institutions.

12. DIVERSE UNDERSTANDING OF SECULARISM
1. SARVA DHARMA SAMBHAV
It is often believed that Indian secularism is associated with the principle of
‘Sarva Dharma Sambhav’. This principle of secularism is shaped by
Ramakrishna,Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi. But mainly it is shaped by
Gandhi. He used this principle to bring people of different faith to forge a mass
movement against Britishers.
‘Sarva Dharma Sambhav’ means ‘equality of religions’ or ‘all religions should
be treated equally’. According to Gandhi, it was a normative principle that
recognized the value of religion in people’s lives. This principle neither separate
religion from private sphere nor from public sphere of people.
2. DHARMA NIRPEKSHATA
Nehru was uneasy with the principle of ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’ and
preferred the notion of ‘Dharma Nirpekshata’ which literally means that the state
would not be moved by religious considerations in enacting policy.

13. DIVERSE UNDERSTANDING OF SECULARISM
According to Nehru, this notion of secularism carried three meanings:
i. Freedom of religion or irreligion for all;
ii. The state will not only recognize all faiths but it also treat all religions
equally;
iii. The state shall not be attached to one faith or religion or does not
recognize any state religion.
3.PSEUDO SECULARISM
Another understanding of secularism in India is that the policies have
been made to appease minority. The term ‘Pseudo Secularism’ is used to
describe such policies. Congress is often charged with such allegations.

14. DEBATES ON SECULARISM IN POLITICALTHEORY
• Secularism is hotly debated issue in the last four decades. Different
political thinkers proposed different understanding on secularism.
1. Upadhyay and Robinson in ‘Revisiting communalism and
fundamentalism in India’, writes about the four strands of debates of
secularism in academic discourse in India : classical, soft-hindu state,
hard-hindu position and beyond secularism and religion.
(i) The classical determines those who want to be secularized in the
terms of modernity. Akheel Bilgrami has taken stand of classical by arguing
that Nehruvian Secularism is ‘Archimedean’ which is prior to all and beyond
the socio-political fray.
(ii) T. N. Madan forward an argument about attachment and
acknowledgement of religion in public sphere. Such position can be
understood as soft-hindu position.

15. DEBATES ON SECULARISM IN POLITICALTHEORY
(iii) Hard-hindu position is taken by Ashis Nandy. Nandy calls
‘Secularism is dead’. He argued that secularism provides an impoverished
public sphere which devoid the entry of religion which resulted into narrow
and partisan ends.
(iv) Finally, Upadhyay writes about Sarva Dharma Sambhav that “ the
challenge of actualizing it through concrete social, economic, political and
educational measures is an enormous task.
2. Partha Chatterjee and T.N. Madan have talked about ‘Positive
Secularism’. Chatterjee questions positive secularism by arguing that it
deflects being anti-secular and rationalizes intolerant interventions by
state which is against religious, cultural and ethnic minorities.
3. Nandy agreed on what Chatterjee has argued. He criticises Nehruvian
Secularism as Nehru sought to impose Western rational scientific
secularism on Indian society.

16. DEBATES ON SECULARISM IN POLITICALTHEORY
4. Amartya Sen defends the idea of secularism and sees it as a point of a
more comprehensive idea. The project of secularism according to him is
a recognition of heterogeneity in India. The commitment to secularism
includes symmetrical treatment to every religion and religious
communities as well as balanced political treatment.]
5. While Neera Chandhoke believes that secularism is an important part of
historical, constitutional and political practices of democracy, equality,
freedom and rights. She writes, “Secularism is not an autonomous
concept. Therefore, in order to unravel the meaning of secularism, we
should first try to unravel the implications of the attendant concept that
give it meaning- equality, freedom and democracy.

17. CONCLUSION
• The idea of secularism cannot be abstracted from the historical
context of the practice of secularism. It has to be evaluated vis-
à-vis the ideas which are formulated in other contexts as well
as recognizing the Indian way of secularism in practice and
theory. The idea of secularism embedded in the Constitution is
quite close to what Chandhoke writes; the practices of
democracy and the core political values of equality, freedom
and rights. Secularism doesn’t need to be followed, we can
simply give allegiance to the provisions of the Constitution.

18. Thank You
Prepared by NIVEDAN