Secularism and Constitution of India: Unity in Diversity

The core ethos of India has been a fundamental unity, tolerance and even synthesis of religion. It
is an indubitable fact that hundreds of millions of Indians belonging to diverse religions lived in
comity through the ages, marred through at times by religion revolts, economic exploitation and
social suppression being often at the bottom of it all.

India is the birth place of four major world religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
Yet, India is one of the most diverse nation in terms of religion. Many scholars and intellectuals
believe that India's predominant religion, Hinduism has long been a most tolerant religion. India
is a country built on the foundations of a civilization that is fundamentally non-religious.

The Preamble of Indian Constitution aims to constitute India a Sovereign, Socialist, Democratic
Republic. The terms socialist and secular were added to it by the 42nd amendment.The whole
constitution is summarized in the preamble. It is the mirror to the spirit of the constitution. The
arrangement of the words in the preamble is also very significant. Indian society iws a multi-
religious society,it is having different csste,religion along with several religion diversification.
So, all these are the divisive factor in some way or the other and if not handled carefully then can
cause a threat to the unity and integrity of the nation.

The constituent assembly has visualized the peculiar situations of the country and a very
arranging the preamble it aims to secure to citizens justice, equality and liberty. The basic aim is
to promote fraternity while assuring unity and integrity of the nation along with individual
dignity. Fraternity is a very significant tool to combat the divisive factor. Religious harmony is a
must to promote fraternity particularly in Indian context. So it's a constitutional mandate upon
the state to combat the factors which curtails religious fraternity. It is also incumbent upon the
state to take positive as well as negative actions to promote fraternity. Art. 25(1) guarantee to
every person the freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice and propagate religion.

Religion in India:

To understand the concept of secularism in respect of constitutional philosophy first we have to

Swami Vivekananda,' It is based on faith and belief and in most cases consist only of different
sect of theories that is the reason why we find all religion quarreling with each other.

Dr.Radha Krishan, ''The main aim of the Hindu faith is to permit image worship as the means to
the development of the religious spirit to the development of the supreme who has his temples in
all beings.

From these definitions we can conclude that no universally acceptable definition as to what
exactly religion is.There appears to be near unanimity that religion, generally,is a belief or faith
in the existence of a supernatural being and the precepts which people follow for attaining
salvation.

Secularism:

India is a secular country but what is secularism?' The secular state is a state which guarantees
individual and corporate freedom of religion deals with the individual as a citizen irrespective of
his religion is not constitutionally connected to a particular, nor does it seek either to promote or
interfere with religion upon closer examination it will be seen that the conception of a secular
state involves three distinct but inter-related sets of relationships concerning the state, religion
and the basic feature of the secularism was explained by the hon'ble supreme court which held
that, secularism means' that state shall have no religion of its own and all persons of the country
shall be equally entitled to the freedom of their conscience and have the right freely to profess,
practice and have the right freely to profess, practice and propagate any religion''. The Hon'ble
Supreme court while upholding the dismissal of four state governments ruled by BJP, on the
ground of religious conduct, held that ''secular not only meant that the state should have no
religion of its own and should be neutral as between different religious, but that political party
which sought to capture the power, the religious would come to capture the power, the religions
would come to acquire a secondary or less favourable position.
 Secularism and Constitution of India:

Secularism as contemplated by the Constitution of India has the following distinguishing

(1) The state will not identify itself with aor be controlled by any religion;

(2) While the state guarantees to everyone the right to profess whatever religion one chooses to
follow, it will not accord any preferential treatment to any of them.

(3) No discrimination will be shown by the state against any person on account of his religion or
faith.

(4) The right of every citizen, subject to any general condition, to enter any offices under the
state and religious tolerance form the heart and soul of secularism as envisaged by the
constitution. It secures the conditions of creating a fraternity of the Indian people which assures
both the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the State has no religion and State has to treat all religions and
religious people equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their
Individual rights of religion, faith and worship.

The objectives and parameters of a secular, socialist, democratic republic had to be expressed in
such flexible, yet firm, fashion that a creative and realistic jurisprudence and complex of
constitutional strategies could be put into operation which would harmonies not antagonize,
religious minorities, integrate not acerbate, hostile strata, abolish not accentuate, the socio-
religious discrimination endured by the weaker human sector and generate a system and society
where secular unity would comport with cultural diversity.
 Indian Model of Secularism:

(1) It has a place not only for the right of individuals to profess their religious beliefs but also for
the right of religious communities to establish and maintain educational institution.

(2) The acceptance of community specific rights brings us to the third feature of Indian
secularism because it was born in a deeply multi-religious society, it is concerned as much with
inter-religious domination as it is with intra-religious domination.

(3) It does not erect a wall of separation between the state and religion. This allows the state to
intervene in religions, to help or hinder them without the impulse to control or destroy them.

(4) It is not entirely averse the public character of religion. Although the state is not identified
with a particular religion, there is official and therefore public recognition granted to religious
communities.

(5) Multiple values and principled distance means that the state tries to balance different,
ambiguous but equally important values.

This type of model makes its secular ideal more like a contextual, ethically sensitive ,politically
negotiated arrangement, rather than a scientific doctrine as conjured up by ideologies and merely
implemented by political agents.

Secularism undoubtedly helps and aspires to enable every citizen to enjoy fully the blessing of
life, liberty and happiness, but in the pursuit of this ideal, those who believes in secularism must
be inspired by a sense of ethical purpose in dealing with their fellow citizens.