3
Continuing

In India, Hindu obscurantists, of which mercifully there are only a few, view the rigid caste system, untouchability, the low status of women as even defensible, but take any Muslim practice to be fit for condemnation. For such extremists, the universal brotherhood practiced in Islam, is not worthy of emulation; but in fact is viewed as further evidence of the desirability of the caste system.

The fundamentalists among Muslims in India however are the preachers of a double standard. They are believers in Reactionary Secularism. They justify the discriminatory treatment meted out to the Hindus in Islamic countries, but want in the name of secularism all kinds of safeguards and guarantees for Muslims in India. For example, in Saudi Arabia, if any migrant worker is caught praying to any idol, or even celebrating Diwali, he is promptly arrested and cruelly sentenced. This, Muslim fundamentalists in India justify on the grounds that Saudi Arabia is an Islamic State. But the smallest curb on them in India, even in the name of secularism (e.g. the Supreme Court judgement in the celebrated Shah Bano case) brings the most violent protest from the Fundamentalists. Such double standards practiced by Muslim fundamentalists have now discredited the concept of secularism itself in the eyes of the Hindus and thereby strengthened reactionary and communal forces. That is why, I would label this as Reactionary Secularism.

But the spirit of secularism is good, and is consistent with our ethos. India’s experience with theocracy in history was only during the Buddhist and Mughal periods. Generally, Hindu kings practiced the principle of secularism, different from the Aggressive Left and Reactionary varieties.

However, at the present juncture of our history, secularism conceptually needs to be redefined in the light of the experience of the last nearly six decades of Independence. Secularism cannot be used as a device to dissociate ourselves from the past, both good and bad. We must learn to cherish that which is glorious, and learn from that which was shameful. Such a secularism is based on a commitment to the brotherhood of religious communities, on their respect for and pursuit of truth.

to be continued..