Letter Published on 30th March 2025
TEXT OF THE LETTER
Further to Ramu Sharma’s incisive article on March 29 (INDIA Block should realise its grave political misstep), secularism is a bad solution to bring harmony to the country. Thinkers and political leaders, fascinated by the West’s material prosperity at independence, transferred solutions for specific Western problems to Indian soil. Secularism was a solution to a Christian world at a specific time in its history when the various denominations were fighting each other incessantly. The state separated from the church, bringing harmony in a Christian world where everyone knew in the background what religion, Christ, or Christianity meant.
The intention was never to provide a universal solution for all cultures and forms of multiculturalism. Secularism is in a very tight position in Europe today as it struggles to manage the influx of Islam into their population. Despite secularism being the unifying mantra for all parties in India, communal polarisation seems to be increasing. As scholar Jakob De Roover points out, secularism is actually breeding fundamentalism in the country. The peculiar interpretation of secularism in Indian politics is an appeasement of the so-called minorities, much to the unhappiness of the so-called majorities.
The Congress stayed in power for long by appeasing the minorities and not worrying about the divided Hindus. The BJP, simply a child of the Congress, focused on a united Hindu vote to gain power. Democracy, seen merely as a numbers game, raises the question of whether losers can ever find contentment, a point Ananda Coomaraswamy highlighted a century ago. The united Hindus appear to stay with the BJP, because they perceive it as the least of all evils. However, the BJP’s own understanding of Sanatana Dharma, which they are projecting themselves as upholders of, remains problematic.
Bharat and Sanatana Dharma have had far more vibrant multiculturalism, pluralism, and harmony for ages—better than the rest of the world at any time in its history. The solution was not secularism. Our thinkers and political leaders should urgently look into our past and rediscover solutions for harmony which were perhaps always there. Secularism as a principle is only going to be increasingly disastrous in the days to come.
RANDOM MUSINGS 