Being Indian I am proud that I belong to a secular nation. A democracy that allows me the freedom to choose my religion, my belief without any infringement. In fact vis-Ã -vis the western model of secularism where the word ‘secular’ implies freedom of religion, equal citizenship to each citizen regardless of his or her religion, and the separation of religion and state.
In India on the other hand, the state gives equal rights to all individuals regardless of which religion they belong to, however there is an overlap of religion and state, through Concurrent List structure. This has given various religions in India, state support to religious schools and personal laws. In fact our democracy and law is such that the state would fund any institutions without bias. Additionally, Indian law permits every religious group to implement their religious law if the religion so dictates, otherwise the state laws apply.
What is interesting about such overlap is that Secularism in India, thus, does not mean separation of religion from state. Instead, secularism in India means a state that is neutral to all religious groups. We can proudly boost that we are a people where traditions and cultures mix together with each other giving all the various religions some form of local flavour.
For every Indian religion is important no matter what religion one may belong to. Tolerance and respecting each other’s religion is thus of crucial relevance for harmony amongst Indians. The easiest and surest way to create disharmony amongst the people is to target their belief. Indian history has shown time and again that religion has been the cause of some of the worst blood sheds and agitations in our country.
It is crucial hence, that to maintain harmony in the country, there has to be sensitivity shown to all religions. We have been lucky in Goa that this harmony has always prevailed. While rest of India burned due to religious tensions, Goans showed peace and unity amongst its people.
While for many this was something that they envied and could not understand, I knew that the peace experienced by the people had to do with our thresholds for tolerance and respect. The vibe that is Goa is anything but arrogant. For Goa’s unique history speaks of a special relationship that is shared between the Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Before the existence of religion itself were the gaunkars who lived in total harmony with each other, the land sipping through their bones, making them all a bit more relaxed more approachable.
My own experience while studying in the UK, when people presumed that I was either Hindu or Buddhist made me realise how lucky I was to practice my own beliefs and yet keep the flavour of being Goan and Indian.
We cannot remove religion from our identity as Indians and so the Indian constitutions allows that the religious laws prevail over the state laws.
That is exactly why being Catholic for me is as important an aspect of my identity as being Goan- Indian. That is also the reason why when the church and archdiocese are targeted I feel violated upon.
I truly appreciate that the present government is trying hard to root out corruption and black money. In fact the 27-page affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court said one of the chief reasons for demonetisation of over Rs 14 lakh crore was to flush out counterfeit currency, estimated to be Rs 400 crore, used to fuel terrorism, anti-national activities and communal riots.
If the church was given only a short notice, in 6 days to furnish records of all their 200 churches, either the state had to belief that there was some leak of the illegal currency that the church is hoarding, or that they believed that the church is in some way fueling terrorists and wanted to catch them off guard.
Unless of course the intention is something else. Could it be just a lack of sensitivity or is there an undertone of intolerance to minorities!. Or it is an old bully trick, a chess move in the game of politics.
Whatever might have been the intentions, the move was not in good taste and an unfair urgency. Picking on religious houses at this juncture would only imply a provocation. Hitting at the sensibility of a peace loving people. Are we trying to make Goa into a riot zone?
Secularism is not the battle of ‘which God is the true God or that my God is better than yours. Such idiosyncratic ideas are the mindset of egocentric people who live in perpetual denial about life.
Secularism it is about human rights. History teaches us valuable lessons from events of the past. The charge against the earlier ruling party was about corruption, where our resources were looted. But right now our whole sense of self is being looted. Our silence shouts out loud at the corruption we face. Heads rolling for speaking up and against is a shame that our democracy has reached. It sure seems that history is repeating itself and while we can, lets save democracy.
