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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (6045)	8/29/1999 3:34:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 12475

LAST WORD On Strange secularism by T.R. Gopalakrishnan Isn't it strange that at a time when words like "spirituality" are cropping up so often in areas like stress management, personal development and corporate management seminars, a large section of the Indian political establishment, notably the Left and its opportunistic bedfellows, should continue to harp on secularism. For a generation or more, the Indian political elite, with the Congress in the forefront, have been shouting themselves hoarse that religion is irrelevant, and even subversive, to national progress. In the process, these secular champions, over the years, so enlarged the once narrow definition of what constitutes the establishment of religion that instead of government equidistance and even-handedness on religion and religious issues and questions, we today have an atmosphere created by a few political parties that can only be described as aggressive secularity. A brooding and pervasive devotion to the supposedly secular and at times an active hostility to religion. It is a strange secularism indeed in India, where the taxes you and I pay go to subsidise a pilgrimage to Mecca but not to Tirupati. It is a strange secularism indeed where political leaders start their election campaigns with visits to religious centres. It is a strange secularism indeed that condemns an invocation to the goddess of learning at a conference on education. It is a strange secularism indeed that your religion can get you a college admission or job while your performance in school or other tests of ability cannot. But, in this 1999 election campaign, apparently, the secular gig is up. Hindutva and Ayodhya are no longer an issue for the BJP or their opponents. And the cloak of secularism being worn by most parties is wearing extremely thin. How else is one to explain their alliance with obviously religious and communal outfits. And their unabashed wooing of religious minorities with promises of quotas and other special privileges. To be sure, battles for religious freedom and expression will continue to be fought at the hustings, in courts and legislatures. But the belief that society can really progress without religion is definitely under attack. Some Western thinkers are even talking about a worldwide religious revival as we approach the new millennium. I am not saying that secularism is dead or is a bad policy (after all it is in our Constitution). Only that it has been regressive in the way our politicians have implemented it. Which is one reason why its efficacy is being questioned increasingly. (The word secularism is taken from the Latin word "saecularis" meaning worldly or earthly, as opposed to religious or supernatural. There is another meaning of the term though not relevant here: Occurring or observed once in an age or a century). At the same time, religion and its adherence and manifestations too are changing. If fundamentalism, often based on a literal interpretation of holy books and ancient scriptures, is spreading alarmingly among certain peoples and regions, in some other parts of the world people are turning to the bizarre, what once would have been dismissed as the fringe cults. The only thing in common between the two is that they have little room for ideologies and doctrines that preach tolerance. But the tug of war between secularism and religion has created an unwelcome vacuum when it comes to social mores and values. Today's youth is being bombarded, thanks to television, by a pop culture that is blatantly transgressive, dedicated to undermining all available norms, authority and established values, which is profoundly at odds with religious convictions. Not surprisingly, India's present cultural confusion is evident, a nation with one foot in the disco and the other hanging in the air looking for a place to plant itself. Unfortunately, our brand of secularism does not believe that religion can be an important tool in confronting social problems. It is considered the height of political incorrectness these days to talk of the relevance of religion in training our youth or of considering formal religious education in public schools. As a result, social justice is today a matter of cynical, vote bank politics and expediency. While morality has become a matter of public opinion and majority vote. Just witness the number of criminals in our legislatures. the-week.com