New Delhi : A statement by Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has sparked a new debate on secularism. He said that India does not need secularism, it is a concept of Europe. His statement has been condemned by all opposition parties including the Congress. CPM leader Brinda Karat criticized him and said that this statement is 'worrisome' and shows that 'the Constitution has no special significance for him.' However, it is also true that the word secularism was not mentioned anywhere in the original Indian Constitution. Pandit Nehru himself was against it, but the word secular was added to the Preamble of the Constitution by his own daughter Indira Gandhi.
What did the Governor of Tamil Nadu say?Now let's see what Governor Ravi said, which has created controversy. During an event, the Tamil Nadu Governor said that secularism is a European concept. He said, 'Many frauds have been done with the people of this country, one of them is the wrong interpretation of secularism that they have tried to do. What does secularism mean? Secularism is a European concept, it is not an Indian concept.'
Ravi further said, 'Secularism came to Europe because there was a fight between the church and the king…how can India stay away from religion? Secularism is a European concept and it should be left as it is. There is no need for secularism in India.'
There was a debate in the Constituent Assembly on the word secularism
When the Indian Constitution was taking shape, there was a heated debate in the Constituent Assembly. The debate was what the Constitution would be like? What would be its form? There was a debate over the word secular. On 15 November 1948, Constituent Assembly member Professor KT Shah formally demanded that the word secular be added to the Constitution. The words secular, federalist, socialist should be added. But his proposal was not agreed upon. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar were also against adding the word secular.
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Nehru and Ambedkar were also opposed to the inclusion of the word secular
In the Constituent Assembly debates, Pandit Nehru and Dr. BR Ambedkar were the most vocal opponents of making the word 'secular' a part of the Preamble of the Constitution. Both were staunch supporters of secularism, but were equally strongly opposed to the inclusion of the word secular in the Constitution. Dr. Ambedkar argued that there was no need to include the word 'secular', because the entire Constitution is based on the concept of a secular state, which means that there is no discrimination of any kind on the basis of religion and all citizens have equal rights.
Ambedkar had said, 'What should be the policy of the state, how should society be organised in its social and economic aspects, these are matters on which people should decide themselves according to time and circumstances. This cannot be kept in the Constitution itself because it is completely destroying democracy.' The result was that the word secular was not included anywhere in the Constitution but to enhance the spirit of secularism, the Constituent Assembly added Articles 25, 26 and 27. Overall, the spirit of the Constitution remained secular but the word secular or secularism was not mentioned. Anyway, equality means no discrimination of any kind. If all citizens have equal rights, it also means that everyone should be treated equally, everyone should get equal rights without any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, region, colour or any other kind.
Nehru was against it but his own daughter added these words in the preamble
Look at the irony that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was against adding the word secular in the Constitution, but later his daughter Indira Gandhi made this word a part of the Preamble of the Constitution. When the Emergency was imposed in the country, Indira Gandhi added the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976. However, it cannot be denied that in the name of secularism, the trend of opportunistic politics and appeasement of a particular class has increased. Some critics have also been expressing concern that the word secular can be misinterpreted and misused.
