The Rise of Nehru and His Secularism

The Rise of Nehru and His Secularism

Religion has been the cause for numerous bloody conflicts in the past, and the present. Whether it was the Crusades in Europe, or the current Israeli Palestinian conflict, religion has been the root cause for many conflicts throughout the world. India has had a long and complex religious history. India is home to almost all of the world’s major religions. Hinduism is the majority religion of India followed by Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. When looking at these religions it becomes apparent that each religion has an extremely different background and history. These differences have lead to many bloody conflicts and deaths in India. Jawaharlal Nehru once stated, “religion in India will kill that country and its peoples if it is not subdued”. Nehru and many others realized that the tensions among the religious groups would destroy their beloved country. This led the Indian people to a crossroads. At this crossroads there were three paths that could have been taken. The first path was to make India a Hindu state, not necessarily in the religious sense but in more of a cultural sense. The second path was to make India a multi-religious state. This state would be structured around the religious diversity of India. The third path was a secular state, that is to say a state in where there is some sort of separation between religion and politics.

The vast majority of prominent Indian leaders were in favor of the third option but they disagreed on what a secular state truly meant. Some people interpreted secularism as an equal respect for all religions. What this meant was that the state would not favor any religion, rather the state would treat all religions equally. To other leaders secularism meant having an indifference to religion. Leaders in favor of this view essentially felt that religion should have nothing to do with the state and it should be kept to individuals. Another way to describe this view is that...