Keeping religion out of politics
Should religion be kept out of the constitution?
Its not realistic keep religion and communal life out of politics in a society where
people’s identity and character are shaped in large part by those identities.
The Indian state and Constitution do try to do that — it outlaws untouchable status and
aspires to create a more egalitarian state and that’s also one reason the state sought to
reform religion in India.
The real question is, how should the state interact with it?
That’s quite difficult, especially where you have a substantial religious minority, like
Muslims who experience themselves as vulnerable and a history of Partition which
involved real debate about whether Muslims are a national minority, of the kind that
needed its own separate country.
The Indian public is very mature from a constitutional perspective. Today, they are not
satisfied with a top-down approach and that can be very uncomfortable for the elites
trying to guide the public. I don’t think India is committed to a national identity based on
religion, very far from it. But it is a factor in political discourse and there’s very little the
old elites can do to change that or stop it from happening.
What about a secular state prohibiting the right to eat what you want?
In the classic Western-style secular state, you couldn’t pass a law prohibiting some food
solely on religious grounds.
They say it’s for the promotion of the rural economy which is obviously not true.
If religion requires me, say, to have wine for certain religious reasons, that country
should respect religious liberty and allow to do so. But if they want to prohibit from
having a cocktail, they can do that and I don’t think it violates my fundamental rights
(Similarly) If a country were to say it would outlaw the slaughter of all animals, or even
just cows, it wouldn’t necessarily be secular but I don’t think it violates the fundamental
rights of people who want to eat meat.
How does that fit in with safeguarding the rights of minorities?
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The state has to take a strong stance…the state has to protect somebody from a mob
who wants to kill him. If it’s not doing that, it’s not treating citizens equally and it’s not a
functioning state, because it’s mob rule.
Speaking of the right, is Donald Trump’s rhetoric gaining currency in the
mainstream in the US?
I haven’t seen that in the short-term because most mainstream politicians still actively
reject Trump’s approach. But the effect of spending an entire election season talking in
an extreme, ridiculous way about immigration will have to have some negative drag and
some effect on mainstream politicians, especially among Republicans.
Do you see a change in the US strategy to counter ISIS taking place, such as more
boots on the ground?
the US political class feels the public is strongly opposed to boots on the ground and
that’s all that matters.That said, none of the countries in the region seem prepared to
put ground troops in and as long as there is none, it’ll be difficult to defeat ISIS.
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