Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development, drove many up the wall when he said that while he is happy when anyone identifies themselves as Hindu, Muslims or Christians, he doesn't know what to call people who call themselves secularists.
We would like to ask Mr Hegde then, what he will call Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mohammed Iqbal, Mahatma Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BR Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, Dara Shikoh and others?
All of them either strongly identified themselves as secularists or had policies which reflected tolerance. This, in spite of their faith and in the Indian context. A deep dive into Akbar's reign during the 16th century to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's in the 20th century shows us how the idea of secularism has evolved over the years.
Jalaluddin-Mohammad Akbar (1542-1605)
Akbar is considered to be the greatest ruler of the Mughal era, under whom the empire was at its most stable. Towards the end of his reign Akbar introduced a new religion, Din-E-Ilahi, which aimed at unity between those with different faiths. Literally, it means the ‘religion of god’.
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Dara Shikoh (1615-1659)
Akbar's grandson and Shah Jahan's heir-apparent was a scholar in many languages, including Sanskrit. His work on and interest in religion other than Islam showed his secular tendencies. He wrote many books, including one called Sirr-I-Akbar in which he translated 50 texts from the Vedic Upanishads. He translated many other Sanskrit works, including the Bhagvad Gita. He enjoyed the process thoroughly and this made Sanskrit texts accessible to European intellectuals and reformers.
He had regular conversations with the Hindu saint Baba Lal Bairagi, which he recorded in a book entitled Mukalama Baba Lal wa Dara Shikoh. The text focused primarily on similarities in the teachings of Hindu and Muslim mystics. Shikoh was declared a heretic and beheaded by his brother, Aurangzeb.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)
In a famous speech made in September, 1893, at the Parliament of Religion in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda spoke about how Hinduism inherently taught tolerance and universal acceptance.
Vikvekananda is known for his role to revive Hinduism and create awareness about it on the world stage.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915)
Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, actually referred to Gokhale as his political guru. Gokhale was a leading moderate thinker of pre-independent India.
In a speech at Fergusson College in Pune, Gokhale spoke to the students about the importance of having a secular purpose in life.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Much like Gokhale, Mahatma Gandhi was also a through and through secularist. Strongly against the partition of India, he has made several statements insisting on imbibing secularism in individuals and in the foundations of a state.
On 20 January 1942, while discussing the idea of a separate Pakistan, Gandhi remarked:
Allama Iqbal aka Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)
To those who are interested in Urdu literature and shayari, Iqbal is synonymous with rhymes of a long-forgotten India. His most famous poem, which is considered a national song in India, has a very clear message in support of secularism.
In these lines of the song, published in 1904 , you can see how Iqbal discounts the use of religion as a divisive force and urges everyone to see themselves as belonging to Hindustan.
Later in life there was a shift in Iqbal's outlook. He left to study in Europe in 1905 and came back three years later to focus more on the issue of Muslims.
In 1930, when he was president of the Muslim League, he said that while it was unfortunate that attempts for unity between Hindus and Muslims were failing, he wanted a ‘Muslim India within India’.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
Days before India and Pakistan’s independence – on 11 August, 1947 – marred by partition - independent Pakistan’s first governor-general Muhammad Ali Jinnah said it didn’t matter which community you belonged to.
Jinnah said you might belong to any religion and it has nothing to do with the 'business of the state'.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
From independent Pakistan’s first governor-general, we move to independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was against the term secular being included in the Preamble of the Constitution only because he believed that the spirit of secularism was all-pervasive in the Constitution.
In the debates of the Constituent Assembly he sides with Ambedkar, who is our next prolific thinker.
Dr BR Ambedkar (1891-1956)
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, fondly known as Baba Saheb, believed secularism was explicit in the spirit of the Constitution. He was staunchly opposed to the caste system, as a Dalit himself, and focused on the need for everyone in this country to see themselves as Indians.
Jayprakash Narayan (1902-1979)
JP Narayan, also called Lok Nayak, is most popular for leading the agitation in the mid-1970s against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi leading up to the Emergency.
In spite of being against the Congress, he believed it was important to preserve secularism in our Constitution. He said it was not religion, but its politicisation which engendered violence in the modern state.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1924-
One of the founding members of Mr Hegde’s party, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, wouldn’t agree with Hegde today.
In 2003, on The Hindu’s 125th anniversary celebrations, former Prime Minister Vajpayee clarified that there was no reason to be be sceptical about Indian secularism.
All these men speak of preserving secularism and respecting diverse religions, which shows the idea’s its inherent embodiment in our society during the last four centuries. All their perspectives call for unity in spite of varying faiths.
Coming back to Hegde, he still doesn't know what to call people who identify themselves as secularists. Maybe if he reads up some Indian history, he won’t find the idea of secularism so alien.
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