Is India Secular?

The Western stereotype of India is that it is a spiritual place. Officially, India is a secular country. The Western perception of India is ridiculous and not worth delving deeper, but the question of India's view of itself is pertinent. It is largely a provincial question, but at this point it is more manageable to simply view the issue in general terms.

Much of the tension between India and Pakistan stems from a disagreement over which country rightfully owns the province of Kashmir. During partition, in 1947, the British government did an inadequate job of dividing the two nations, specifically with regards to the disputed territory. While the real reasons for the tussle involve money, land, and power, both sides offer justifications for their position. Pakistan itself is actually an acronym that would be incomplete without Kashmir. Pakistan was created to protect the sub-continent's Muslims and Kashmir is a predominantly Muslim province. India takes a different view. Almost every Indian province is majority Hindu. With control of Muslim Kashmir, India's assertion that it is a secular country carries more weight. It is ironic that, to claim its status as a secular country, India places added importance to the concept of religious identity.

India has two major political parties. The Congress Party was the main political independence movement under the British Raj until the collective took over control of the country in 1947. It is nominally dedicated to a secular government. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) advocates Hindu Nationalism. In recent years, the BJP has gained more power and challenged India's secular identity. One such way is through the symbolic act of changing the names of many cities back to one of their designations before the Raj.

Before I went to India, I practiced saying Mumbai in place of Bombay. The name officially changed in 1995 under the Hindu Nationalist Shiv Sena government, which was aligned with the BJP. As I traveled around India, people asked me which cities I had visited. Every time I mentioned Mumbai, I would receive a subtle correction, something to the effect of, "Yes, Bombay is a lovely city." Some have framed the issue in terms of the name Mumbai representing Hindu nationalism and the name Bombay representing pluralism. That is an oversimplification, but it certainly rings true.

The political debate in some ways represents the tensions within Indian society. It is difficult to walk a major street in an Indian city without confronting religious symbols. One encounters pictures of deities in trees and small shrines on street corners. In Goan cities, the practice is duplicated, but often with Christian symbols in place of Hindu ones. Muslims do not practice idolatry. When taking into account the attendance of religious services, statistically India is one of the most religious societies in the world. In many situations, socio-religious mores last even if they have been outlawed by the secular government. However, popular culture- especially Hindi movies- continues to challenge the religious status quo.

Whether or not India is a secular country is a complicated question. In the case of Kashmir, religion is used to justify political aims. The BJP uses political means to push through a nationalist agenda based on religious fundamentalism. India's initial declaration as a secular nation very well may have been a political tactic in hopes to isolate newly formed Pakistan, a Muslim country, from the secular West. It is clear, however, that it does not define Indian society. The BJP has intended to exploit the rift between the declaration of a secular government and a highly religious society. However, the BJP's philosophy of Hindu nationalism offends not only secular Hindus, but also religious persons of other faiths. But the political phenomenon of Hindu nationalism still exists on a national stage in India.

The political and popular cultures and the secular and religious realms are engaged in a constant dialogue with one another, a dialogue that has turned deadly on occasion. Right now, the people of India are attempting to find a balance between these competing forces and develop an updated identity. (International Affairs Edition)