Author: Charti Lal Goel
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 23, 2004
As per its preamble, the Indian
Constitution stands for a secular state. The state has no official religion.
Secularism pervades its provision, which gives full opportunity to all
persons to profess, practice and propagate any religion of their choice.
It also ensures freedom for one
who has no religion and it scrupulously restrains the State from discriminating
on the grounds of religion. Dr S Radhakrishnan, former President of India,
writes in his book Recovery of Faith (p 184), "We hold that not one religion
should be given preferential status." Prohibition against discrimination
on grounds of religion is incorporated in Articles 15 and 16 of the constitution,
as quoted below.
Article 15(1): The State shall not
discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, cast,
sex, place of birth or any of them.
Article 16(2): No citizen shall,
on grounds only of religion, be ineligible for, or discriminated against,
in respect of any employment or office under the state.
It is very strange and also unfortunate
that the constitution of India itself has harmed its sanctity by making
a discriminatory and contradictory provision under Article 30 in the name
of the protection of minority interests. Article 30 reads: "Right of minorities
to establish and administer educational institutions: (i) All minorities,
whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish
and administer educational institutions of their choice." Under these Articles
certain privileges and special rights have been given to religious minorities
to establish and administer their educational institutions. Why have these
very rights and privileges not been given to all religions? Heaven would
not have fallen if all religions had been treated alike. Followers of all
religions want to protect their culture and establish and administer institutions.
I do not think that the framers of the constitution desired that only the
religions of minorities should flourish and that those of the majority
should be slowly extinguished.
In my opinion this is where the
seeds of divide and separatism have been sown between religions in India.
Hindus have many ways of worship and are divided into many sects. There
are Jains, Buddhists, Radha soawmi, followers of Ram Krishna Paramhans,
etc. Due to the special privileges given to religious minorities by the
Constitution, a number of Hindu sects have started claiming a status of
minority. It has resulted in creating a schism and bad feelings among the
different sects. It should be a cause of concern for every person interested
in the unity of the country. This has also given birth to the idea that
in discriminating in favour of a minority you still remain secular as per
the Constitution.
There is an other very illogical
and disturbing development in the country with regard to secularism. The
rights of every citizen need to be protected. If some individual or organisation
comes forward for the protection of any right or situation concerning Hindus
then it is called communal. But if anything is said in protection of any
right or situation pertaining to Muslims then it remains a perfectly secular
cause. So much so that a Muslim defending a hard-core Muslim terrorist
retains his image of a perfect Secularist. If political parties have an
alliance with the Muslim League, which under its constitution accepts only
Muslims as members, then they are called secular. But the BJP, which has
Muslims as its All India office bearers, is still termed communal.
The Human Rights Commission is also
very quick to ask for immediate reports when Muslim terrorists are killed
by the police or armed forces in an encounter. Sadly, the same Human Rights
Commission does not take suo motto notice if Hindus are killed either in
Kashmir or anywhere else. The Commission is also not bothered if Muslim
women are treated treacherously and cruelly by their husbands who can renounce
them by saying "talak" three times for fear of antagonising the Mullah.
This shows an obvious bias and discrimination
all around. If the Shahi Imam issues `fatwa' calling upon Muslims to vote
in favour of political parties, it is not communal. If Sadhu-Sanyasis suggest
voting for a party which looks after Hindu interests they are termed communal.
If MF Husain, the renowned painter, shows disrespect to Hindu gods and
goddess in his paintings, it remains an art. Conversely, The Satanic Verses
is banned because some Mullahs objected to the book.
Such a lopsided development is possible
because of the discrimination initially laid down in the Constitution under
Articles 29 and 30. If the country wishes to take the path of genuine and
truthful secularism, there must be an amendment in the constitution - either
by deleting the provision of Article 30, or by giving the rights and privileges
contained therein to people of all other religions as well.
(Charti Lal Goel is a former Speaker
of Delhi Vidhan Sabha and Member of the Central BSP Intellectual Cell)
