Indian secularism refers to the separation of religion from the state in India. The Indian Constitution mandates that the Indian State be secular, and only a secular state can realize its objectives to ensure justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for all citizens. However, Indias secularism does not completely separate religion and state. The Indian Constitution has allowed extensive interference of the state in religious affairs, such as constitutional abolition of untouchability, opening up of all Hindu temples to people of lower caste etc. . The degree of separation between the state and religion has varied with several court and executive orders in place since the birth of the Republic.
Indian secularism is not simply the invention of Indias post-1947 political leaders; the concept has a longer, distinguished place in the history of Indian civilization. For millennia, some rulers have promoted the coexistence of India’s religious communities. Emperor Ashoka did so, in spite of his zealous adherence to Buddhism, and the Mughal Emperor Akbar went even further by initiating a syncretic creed—a tradition that culminated in Gandhism.
In recent years, the practice of secularism in India has been increasingly under attack, and a range of religious minorities have been subjected to discrimination and violence. Despite this adverse trend, it is still too early to ring the death-knell of Indian secularism. The growing electoral strength of hitherto disenfranchised groups, the existence of institutions committed to secularism, and the continuing secular constitutional dispensation offer some hope for sustaining the secular order in India.
