The Siddharthnagar Bhandara Incident and the Debate on Secularism
- What Does Secularism Mean Under the Indian Constitution?
- Justice Markandey Katju's Argument Against "Phoney Secularism"
Private Religious Gatherings and Individual Choice
Justice Markandey Katju examines the concept of secularism in India, arguing that private religious gatherings are not bound by the same obligations as the secular state....
Phoney secularism
By Justice Markandey Katju
Recently, an incident took place during a community feast ( bhandaara ) organized by some Hindus on the occasion of "Bada Mangal" ( ज्येष्ठबड़ा मंगलवार) near the Dumriyaganj block in district Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
In this bhandaara, a Muslim who also wanted to eat there was told to say ''' Jai Shri Ram '' before he was given food.
Some people are saying this demand to say Jai Shri Ram before he would be served food was condemnable and unacceptable in a secular country like India. In my opinion, such persons are not really secular but phoney secularists.
It would have been a different matter altogether if a crowd of Hindus threatened to beat up a Muslim if he did not say, Jai Shri Ram. That would certainly be unacceptable and condemnable.
But here it was a private congregation of Hindus, who had organised a bhandaara. A Muslim who was not willing to say Jai Shri Ram before being served food cannot insist on being served, and that is a matter entirely in the discretion of the bhandaara organizers.
Secularism is the separation of church and state. It means that religion is a private affair, unconnected with the state, which will have no religion. But secularism does not mean that a private religious organisation is obligated to serve people of all religions equally. To do so or not is entirely in its discretion.
To believe otherwise would logically lead to the consequence that the benefits of Muslim waqfs should also go equally to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, etc, and cannot be restricted to Muslims.
This is phoney secularism, or secularism run wild and amuck. But unfortunately, some of our secularists, who have no understanding of the meaning of secularism, are emotional, rather than rational, and try to flaunt their 'secularism' by championing such inane ideas.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. These are his personal views.)
