Secularism: Western and Indian Models

1. What secularism opposes: inter- and intra-religious domination

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• Why it still matters (Class 11, Secularism): Arab minorities in Israel are left out of benefits that Jewish citizens get. Non-Christians in Europe face quiet discrimination. Minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh are also at risk.
• Inter-religious domination is when one religious community oppresses another and denies its members basic freedoms:
• 1984: more than 2,700 Sikhs were killed. Sajjan Kumar was convicted only in 2018.
• Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley from 1990 (NCERT: "more than two decades"; now more than three).

• 2002: more than 1,000 people were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

• Religion as the opium of the masses is Marx's view (1844) that religion will fade once people's needs are met. NCERT rejects it, because humans can never fully control disease, loss and death. So secularism is not anti-religious.

• Intra-religious domination is oppression inside one religion. Examples: unequal treatment of women, dalits barred from temples, and sects that persecute dissenters (Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974).
• Religious fundamentalism is rigid religion, usually led by its most conservative group, which allows no dissent. It threatens peace inside a country and between countries.
• Secularism is a normative doctrine (an idea of how society ought to be). It seeks a society free of both kinds of domination, with freedom within religions and equality between and within them.
• Do not mix up three terms. Secularisation means religion declining in society. The secular state is how a government is set up. Holyoake coined the word "secularism" in 1851.

2. The secular state: beyond theocracy and established religion

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• Education and brave individuals (Hindus saving Muslims in riots, and the other way round) help. But the modern state has huge power, so how the state works decides whether religious conflict ends.
• Theocracy is a state run directly by priests, with religion and government joined together. Examples: the medieval Papal States, the Taliban (back in power since August 2021), Iran and Vatican City. Theocracies bring hierarchy, oppression and limits on other faiths.
• Separation of religion and state (keeping religious and government bodies apart) is necessary but not sufficient.
• Established religion is an official religion of a state that is not run by priests. Examples:
• England: the Anglican Church since the 16th century.
• Pakistan: NCERT says "Sunni Islam"; in fact Art. 2 of its 1973 Constitution makes Islam the state religion.
• Sri Lanka: Art. 9 gives Buddhism the "foremost place".

• Bangladesh has both a state religion and a secularism clause, and this is under review (verify current).

• The opposite mistake is state atheism, as in the USSR and in Albania, which declared itself atheist in 1967.

• A true secular state has no theocracy and no official religion. It also pursues goals that come at least partly from non-religious sources: peace, religious freedom, and equality between and within religions.
• India's secular state (Class 10, Gender, Religion and Caste):
• It has no official religion.
• Everyone is free to profess, practise and propagate any religion, or none.
• Discrimination on grounds of religion is banned.
• The state may step into religion to ensure equality, for example by banning untouchability.

3. The Western model: mutual exclusion, laïcité and Kemalism

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• Western model of secularism (best seen in the USA) means mutual exclusion: the state and religion each stay in their own area.
• No state policy may rest only on religious reasons.
• The state gives no money to religious schools and also does not block religious groups.

• If a religion bars women priests or throws out dissenters, the state is only a "silent witness". Religion is a private matter.

• Legal basis: the First Amendment (1791), with its Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, and Jefferson's "wall of separation" (1802). Key cases: Everson (1947) and Engel v. Vitale (1962, no official school prayer). The wall was lowered in Carson v. Makin and Kennedy v. Bremerton (both 2022).

• The model is individualist. Rights belong to individuals, so there is little room for minority or community rights, and no room for state-led religious reform. The reason is history: Western societies were mostly of one religion, apart from the Jews.
• Laïcité is France's "assertive" secularism, based on the law of 9 December 1905. The Republic recognises and funds no religion.
• 2004: conspicuous religious symbols banned in state schools.
• 2010: face coverings banned in public.
• 2021: law on respect for the principles of the Republic.

• 2023: the abaya banned in schools.

• Kemalist secularism is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's forced secularisation of Turkey after World War I, which suppressed religion:

• 1924: Caliphate abolished.
• 1925: Hat Law banned the fez.
• Western dress encouraged; 1926: Gregorian calendar.

• 1928: Latin-based alphabet.

• NCERT's question: can a secularism that controls your name, dress and script respect freedom? Turkey later reversed course: the headscarf ban was eased in 2013, and Hagia Sophia became a mosque again in 2020.

4. Roots of Indian secularism: tolerance, Nehru and the Constituent Assembly

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• India had deep religious diversity long before modern Western ideas arrived. It also had a tradition of tolerance: Ashoka's Rock Edict XII, Akbar's sulh-i-kul (peace with all) and the Bhakti-Sufi saints.
• Religious tolerance means putting up with other faiths. NCERT warns that tolerance can exist alongside domination and gives only limited freedom. It is useful after a civil war, but in peacetime people want equal dignity.
• Western modernity strengthened ideas of equality inside communities and equality between communities. As a result, Indian secularism cares about both kinds of domination.
• Gandhi said religion cannot be separated from politics. By religion he meant the moral values shared by all faiths, not any one religion (Class 10).
• Nehru's idea of secularism was "equal protection by the State to all religions". The state favours none and adopts no state religion.
• Nehru was not religious, but unlike Ataturk he was not hostile to religion.
• He backed reform laws against caste discrimination, dowry and sati, and the Hindu Code Bills (1955-56).

• He firmly opposed all communalism, especially that of the majority, and saw secularism as the guarantee of India's unity.

• Constituent Assembly: K.T. Shah's 1948 amendments to add the word "secular" failed, but the design was secular (Arts. 14-15, 25-30).

• 42nd Amendment, 1976: added "secular" to the Preamble, along with "socialist" and "integrity". Balram Singh v. Union of India (November 2024) rejected the challenge to these words.

5. The Indian model: principled distance and state-supported reform

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• Indian model of secularism treats religion as more than a private matter. It differs from the Western model in three ways (Class 11, Secularism):
• It is equally concerned with domination within religions (dalits and women) and between them (threats to minorities).
• It protects the freedom of individuals and of minority communities, including their culture and their own educational institutions.

• It allows state-supported religious reform.

• State-supported religious reform means the state may step in to end oppression inside a religion. Examples:

• Art. 17 (untouchability abolished).
• Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, now the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006.
• Special Marriage Act 1954 and Hindu Marriage Act 1955 (inter-caste marriage).

• Art. 25(2)(b) (Hindu temples of a public character opened to all).

• Principled distance (Rajeev Bhargava's term) means the state keeps a distance from all religions but may step in or stay out, help or hold back, depending on what best serves freedom, equality and peace.

• Negative engagement: fighting religious tyranny, such as untouchability.
• Positive engagement: giving aid to minority schools (Art. 30(2)).

• "Distance" does not mean treating every religion identically.

• Equal respect for all religions is a popular slogan that NCERT calls inadequate. Mere coexistence is too little, and the state need not respect every practice, such as caste hierarchy. It even allows "equal disrespect".

• Let's Think cases: the Haj subsidy (the Supreme Court in 2012 ordered it phased out; it ended in 2018) and religious rituals in government offices.

Exercise Q1 item	Compatible with secularism?
No domination of one group by another	Yes
State religion	No
Equal state support to all religions	In principle
Mandatory school prayers	No (Art. 28)
Minority institutions	Yes
Government-appointed temple boards	Contested
State action for dalit temple entry	Yes

6. Secularism in the Constitution and the courts

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• Main provisions:
• Preamble: "secular" (added 1976) and "liberty of … belief, faith and worship".
• Art. 14: equality before law.
• Art. 15(1): no discrimination on grounds of religion.
• Art. 16(5): posts in religious bodies may be kept for followers of that religion.
• Art. 25: conscience, and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health. Explanation I protects the kirpan. Explanation II counts Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists as Hindus for Art. 25(2)(b).
• Art. 26: religious groups may run their own affairs.
• Art. 27: no tax to promote any religion.
• Art. 28: no religious instruction in fully state-funded schools.
• Arts. 29-30: minority rights. Art. 44: Uniform Civil Code. Art. 51A(e): duty to promote harmony.

• Art. 325: one electoral roll, with no exclusion on grounds of religion.

• Minority rights protect the core interests of minorities that majority voting must not override. They include the right to run their own schools and colleges.

• St. Xavier's College (1974): secularism is "neither anti-God nor pro-God".
• T.M.A. Pai (2002): minority status is decided state by state.

• National Commission for Minorities Act 1992: six notified minorities (Jains added in 2014).

• Kesavananda Bharati (1973): Sikri CJ listed secularism among the basic features of the Constitution.

• Rev. Stainislaus (1977): the right to propagate a religion is not a right to convert others. Challenges to today's anti-conversion laws are pending (verify current).
• Bijoe Emmanuel (1986): standing in respectful silence during the national anthem is protected.
• S.R. Bommai (1994, nine judges): secularism is part of the basic structure (the core of the Constitution that even amendments cannot change). A state government that acts against secularism can be dismissed under Art. 356 (President's rule).
• Aruna Roy (2002): teaching about religions is not religious instruction.
• Abhiram Singh (2017, 4:3): under RPA 1951 s. 123(3), asking for votes in the name of religion is a corrupt practice.

7. Essential religious practices and the courts

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• The essential religious practices (ERP) doctrine says Arts. 25-26 protect only the practices that are essential to a religion, and courts decide what is essential.
• It began with Shirur Mutt (1954), which said a religion is to be judged by its own tenets.

• Durgah Committee, Ajmer (1961) left out "superstitious" additions.

• Criticism: judges end up acting as theologians. Suggested alternatives are an anti-exclusion test and "constitutional morality" (the values of the Constitution).

• The Ismail Faruqui case (1994, 3:2) upheld the Ayodhya Acquisition Act 1993, except the clause ending pending suits. It said a mosque is not essential to Islam, so the state may acquire one like any other property. In 2018 the Court (2:1) refused to send this view to a larger bench.
• The Sabarimala case (IYLA, 28 September 2018, 4:1) held that barring women aged 10-50 from the temple violated equality and religious freedom.
• Chandrachud J. saw the bar as a form of untouchability.

• Indu Malhotra J. dissented: courts should not test faith by reason.

• Kantaru Rajeevaru (14 November 2019, 3:2) sent wider questions to a larger bench: entry of women into mosques, Parsi women's rights, and Dawoodi Bohra female genital cutting. The Bohra excommunication question was added in 2023.

• A nine-judge bench framed the questions in 2020 and heard arguments in April-May 2026. The verdict is awaited (verify current).

• The hijab case (Aishat Shifa, 13 October 2022) was a split verdict on Karnataka's hijab ban in government pre-university colleges.

• Gupta J. upheld the ban.
• Dhulia J. struck it down on grounds of choice and girls' education, and said the ERP test was irrelevant.

• The case went to a larger bench (verify current).

• Shayara Bano (2017, 3:2) set aside instant triple talaq as arbitrary. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019 followed.

8. Personal laws, reform and the uniform civil code

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• Personal laws are religion-based laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption.
• NCERT's dilemma: personal laws can be seen as community rights that shield minorities, or as domination within a religion that is unfair to women.
• NCERT's answer: reform them so that both minority rights and gender equality survive. Reform should not be forced, and the state should not stay fully away either. The state should be a facilitator that supports liberal voices within each religion. Class 10 adds that the women's movement says the family laws of all religions discriminate against women.
• The legal map:
• Hindu Code: Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and Hindu Succession Act 1956. Under the 2005 amendment daughters are coparceners (joint heirs to family property) (Vineeta Sharma, 2020).
• Muslim law: Shariat Application Act 1937 and Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939.
• Christian and Parsi law: Christian Marriage Act 1872 and Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1936.

• Civil option: Special Marriage Act 1954. Goa has a civil code dating from 1867.

• Maintenance cases:

• Shah Bano (1985) led to the 1986 Act.
• Danial Latifi (2001) read that Act to require fair provision for divorced women.

• Mohd. Abdul Samad (2024): Muslim women can claim maintenance under s. 125 CrPC (now s. 144 BNSS).

• Uniform Civil Code (UCC) debate (Art. 44):

• The Law Commission's 2018 consultation paper said a UCC is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage" and urged reform within each law.

• The 22nd Law Commission reopened consultation in 2023.

• Uttarakhand UCC Act 2024, in force since 27 January 2025, requires registration of marriages and live-in relationships, bans polygamy and halala, and exempts Scheduled Tribes. Other states are moving towards similar laws (verify current).

• The two sides:
• For a UCC: gender justice and national unity.
• Against: community autonomy and fear of majority-imposed uniformity. Tribal customary law is protected by the Sixth Schedule and Arts. 371A and 371G.

9. Criticisms of Indian secularism and the responses

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• NCERT examines six criticisms of Indian secularism and answers each one.
• Anti-religious? No. Secularism opposes institutionalised domination, not religion. It weakens only violent and exclusivist identities, which do not deserve to survive.
• A Western import?
• Shallow reply: India uses trousers and the internet, and Europe uses the zero invented in India.
• Deeper reply: Western states became secular by challenging church power, and mutual exclusion is not the only form of secularism. India's secularism has Western roots (church-state separation) and Indian roots (coexistence of communities).

• Scholarly debate: T.N. Madan (1987) and Ashis Nandy (1988) are critics; Bhargava and Amartya Sen (2005) defend it.

• Minoritism is the charge that minorities get special privileges. NCERT's replies:

• Train example: an asthmatic passenger's health cannot be put to a vote, so core interests need constitutional protection.

• Ramp example: a ramp for wheelchair users gives equal respect, not a privilege.

• Interventionist? Principled distance also allows the state to stay out, and stepping in need not mean force. NCERT admits personal-law reform has been inconsistent.

• Vote bank politics mobilises a group to vote as one block, as if all its members had the same interests (the term is traced to M.N. Srinivas, 1955).
• It favours emotional issues and short-term gains over development, and it deepens divisions between groups.
• Minority appeasement puts a minority's interests above the equality of all citizens. Ironically, it has increased the group's alienation and blocked reform within it.

• Class 10 adds that caste "vote banks" are rarely solid.

• Impossible project? No. Indian history and the Ottoman millet system show that people of different faiths can live together. Critics reply that this worked only under hierarchy. NCERT's answer: migration is making the West as diverse as India, so the world is watching India's experiment.

10. Communalism and the secular state in practice

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• Religion in politics is not wrong in itself (Class 10). Gandhi's ethics, demands to protect minorities and reform of family laws are all fine, as long as every religion is treated equally.
• When it becomes communal: communalism treats religion as the basis of the nation. It claims that one religion is superior, that followers of one religion form a single community with the same interests, and that people of different religions cannot be equal citizens. This is flawed, because people have many identities and every community has many voices.
• Four forms of communalism:
• Everyday prejudice and stereotypes.
• A drive for political dominance (majority rule over others) or separatism (a minority's demand for its own state).
• Political mobilisation through religious symbols, religious leaders and fear.

• Riots and massacres, from Partition onwards.

• A secular Constitution is necessary but not enough. Prejudice must also be fought in daily life and in politics.

• Religious demography (Census 2011): Hindus 79.8%, Muslims 14.2%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jains 0.4%. The Sachar Committee (2006) estimated that the Muslim share would rise only 3-4% over 50 years. Census 2027 data are due (verify current).
• Legal tools:
• Election law: RPA ss. 123(3), 123(3A) and 125, and the Model Code of Conduct.
• Criminal law (BNS 2023): ss. 196, 197 and 299, and s. 103(2) on mob lynching.

• Courts: Tehseen Poonawalla (2018) gave guidelines against lynching.

• The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 freezes the religious character of every place of worship as it was on 15 August 1947 (s. 4) and bars any conversion (s. 3).

• Exemptions: the Ayodhya site (s. 5) and ancient monuments protected under the AMASR Act 1958.
• M. Siddiq (2019) said the Act protects India's secular character.
• Challenges to the Act are pending. A 12 December 2024 Supreme Court order stopped new suits and surveys over mosques until the Court decides (verify current).

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Articles:
• Art. 25: conscience; profess, practise, propagate; 25(2)(b) temple entry; the kirpan; Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists counted as Hindus.
• Art. 26: denominations. Art. 27: no religious tax. Art. 28: no religious instruction in fully state-funded schools.
• Arts. 29-30: minorities. Art. 16(5): religious posts for followers. Art. 17: untouchability. Art. 44: UCC. Art. 51A(e): harmony.

• Art. 325: single electoral roll.

• Amendment: the 42nd Amendment, 1976, added "secular", "socialist" and "integrity". Balram Singh (2024) upheld the additions.

• Cases:
• Shirur Mutt (1954): origin of the ERP test.
• Stainislaus (1977): no right to convert others.
• St. Xavier's (1974): "neither anti-God nor pro-God".
• Bijoe Emmanuel (1986): silence during the anthem.
• Bommai (1994): basic structure; Art. 356.
• Ismail Faruqui (1994): a mosque is not essential.
• Aruna Roy (2002); Abhiram Singh (2017, 4:3); Shayara Bano (2017, 3:2).

• Sabarimala (2018, 4:1, Indu Malhotra dissenting); hijab (2022 split, Gupta vs Dhulia).

• Western vs Indian model: non-interference vs principled distance; individuals only vs individuals and communities; no reform vs state-supported reform; no aid vs aid to minority institutions.

• Dates: Caliphate abolished 1924, Hat Law 1925, Gregorian calendar 1926, Latin alphabet 1928; laïcité laws 1905 and 2004; US First Amendment 1791.
• Established religions: England (Anglican), Pakistan (Islam, Art. 2, not "Sunni Islam"), Sri Lanka (Buddhism's "foremost place"). Theocracies: Papal States, the Taliban.
• Places of Worship Act 1991: cut-off date 15 August 1947; Ayodhya exempt; ancient monuments excluded.
• Traps:
• "Secularism is anti-religious": FALSE.
• "Equal respect for all religions fully captures Indian secularism": FALSE.
• "Tolerance rules out domination": FALSE.
• "Separation alone makes a state secular": FALSE.

• "The Indian state cannot aid minority institutions": FALSE.

• Class 10 Q9: communal politics rests on statements A and C (one religion is superior; followers of one religion form one community).

Mains — GS-II themes

1. Principled distance vs mutual exclusion: is Indian secularism coherent or inconsistent? (Also GS-I: communalism and secularism.)
2. The ERP doctrine: should judges decide what is essential to a faith? Constitutional morality vs religious autonomy in the Sabarimala, hijab and nine-judge reference.
3. Personal-law reform and the UCC: gender justice vs minority rights; the Uttarakhand model vs reform within each law.
4. The six criticisms, weighing minoritism, vote-bank politics and majoritarianism evenly.
5. Communalism: its forms, causes and remedies, including hate-speech enforcement, the Places of Worship Act and even-handed policing.
6. The state and religious bodies: temple boards, pilgrimage subsidies, rituals in government offices, anti-conversion laws.
7. Essay and GS-IV: tolerance vs equal dignity; Gandhi's religion as ethics; Nehru's secularism as the guarantee of unity.

Current-affairs hooks

• The nine-judge bench verdict on the Sabarimala reference, and the hijab larger bench (verify current).
• Places of Worship Act challenges and the mosque-survey suits (Gyanvapi, Mathura, Sambhal).
• The UCC: how Uttarakhand is applying it, other states' codes, and Law Commission work (verify current).
• Anti-conversion laws, and litigation over the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 (verify current).
• Hate-speech enforcement after the April 2026 judgment; religious appeals during elections and Election Commission action.
• Abroad: France's laïcité measures, Bangladesh's debate on secularism, and US cases on religion.