Secularism in India Under Threat?

It has been the misfortune of our country that we never had a viable alternative to Congress party at the national level. The first non-Congress central government came to power in 1977 followed by several others intermittently till late 1990s for small periods. The total duration of all such governments was ~6+ years. Unfortunately and as matter of coincidence, these governments were made up of ex-Congressmen (Congress being the grand old party) and some other smaller regional parties to plug in and hence the core ideologies were not very different from that of Congress in true sense.

Is there any wonder that a nation seeped with minority appeasement politics at the cost of majority for over 60 years is today talking of societal divide, mistrust between communities and loss of communal harmony?

Was there no societal divide, mistrust between communities and loss of communal harmony prior to 2014? There certainly was enough of these even then but it was not discussed with so much passion for political, intellectual, social or liberal circles. This was because of any mention of the word Hindu or Hinduism or Hindutva was enough to brand a person as anti-secular or a minority baiter.

Secularism

Secularism 

is not only in the Indian Constitution but also in our veins.

We worship Mother Nature too. We believe "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam"

There are three core principles of secularism: institutional separation, freedom of belief and no discrimination on grounds of religion. These conditions allow for ‘competing concepts of the good life’ to be pursued in society.

When secularism is spoken about by the secular brigade, they are talking about a political idea, a way of organising a state and its society in relation to religion and belief. Within this political idea, there are many secularisms, both conceptual and practical. Secularism is the idea that state institutions should be separate from religious ones, that freedom of belief and thought and practice should be an automatic right for all (unless it interferes with the rights of others), and that the state should not discriminate against people on grounds of their religious or nonreligious worldview.

From India to Russia, the US, Europe and the Middle East, secularism is being attacked from all sides: from the left, from the right, by liberal multi-culturalists and illiberal totalitarians, abused by racists and xenophobes as a stick with which to beat minorities in diverse societies, subverted by religious fundamentalists planning its destruction.

But perhaps the biggest enemy of secularism today is ignorance. Although secularism has been of fundamental importance in shaping the modern world, it is not as well-known a concept as capitalism or social welfare or democracy.