“I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry

 “Look back, therefore, as far as you can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that look forward, march forward, and make India brighter, greater, much higher, than she ever was.” Swami Vivekananda

(NOTE: This is Part 1 of three parts article)

On August 15, 2013 the Prime Minister in his Independence speech observed that,"There can be no place for narrow and sectarian ideologies in a modern, progressive and secular country. Such ideologies divide our society and weaken our democracy. We should prevent them from growing.”

Ever since the Prime Minister and his party assumed the leadership of the country, it is hard to remember and count the steps they have taken, laws they have passed, measures they have taken to curb the Muslim atrocities, and methods they have adopted to serve all the people, that could be construed as bringing unity among all sections of the nation. They have done everything to divide the country and weaken the democracy.They have favored the minorities and brought shame to the concept of secularism itself. They do not have the courage to do self-examination and self-introspection of their own activities and ideologies. What is it Prime Minister and his party have done over the last six decades for strengthening the traditions of our country “which teach us to promote tolerance and respect for thought processes different from ours.”They attribute blame on others for their utter doddering and absolute failing of their policies.Since independence morals have deteriorated; ethical compass broken; dharma disregarded; corruption skyrocketed; vote bank politics multiplied; sectarianism rampant; communal feelings swelled; and appeasement spreading like virus. Do the Prime Minister and his party practice even an iota of what he was addressing in those three sentences? Does he know what is meant by, “I would appeal to all political parties, all sections of our society and the public at large to work in this direction”? Is he or his party working to strengthen the traditions of the country and to promote tolerance and respect toward all religions? Their record is dismal, despicable, detestable, miserable and obnoxious.

Let us remember the words of eleventh century Muslim writer Al Beruni:“Hindus believe that there is no country like theirs, no nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs.” People held their heads high with pride, self-respect, dignity, and majesty. The question is what happened to cause this moral decay and rampant shoot of corruption in our country.

Let us start with the Indian Constitution. During the dark days of Emergencyin 1976‘Sovereign Democratic Republic’was changed to ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’.

Sovereign means self-governing, our governments have replaced it with selfish governing; socialist means collective, now it is replaced by corruption; secular means irreligious while our government uses it as anti Hindu.These three deadly S’s are destroying the country and chipping away the fundamental freedom of Hindus. Their life is in persistent danger and their future is in perennial gloom.

Secularism – What does it mean?

According to Thomas Jefferson “Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”

Dr. Radhakrishnan, former President of India, observed: “When India is said to be a secular state, it does not mean that we reject the reality of the unseen spirit or the relevance of religion to life or that we exalt irreligion. It does not mean that secularism itself becomes a positive religion or that State assumes divine prerogatives. We hold that not one religion should be given preferential status.”

Donald E. Smith, Professor of Political Science in Pennsylvania University provided what he regarded as a working definition of a secular state. This was in his book, “India as a Secular State.”“The secular State is one which guarantees individual and corporate freedom of religion, deals with the individual as a citizen irrespective of his religion, is not constitutionally connected to a particular religion, nor does it seek to promote or interfere with religion.”

Wikipedia the web encyclopedia defines the concept thus: “Secularism is generally the assertion or belief that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief….In the extreme, it is an ideology that holds that religion has no place in public life.”

It is clear from all these definitions that secularism demands neutrality, non-interference with religious matters, impartiality towards all religions, non-involvement in the practices and management of their religious affairs and strict separation of religion from the state. But in practice the government is doing exactly the opposite. Without ever defining the concept, the government is stretching the meaning of secularism to hurt Hindus and dole out all kinds of favors to Muslims and Christians.Hinduism and Hindu institutions have become whipping boys. The government interferes in Hindu Temples, takes decisions to hurt the sentiments at every chance it gets, passes any law to loot the Temples’ treasury, transfers Temple money to other religions, denies the existence of Hindu Gods, and fails to implement ban on cow slaughter.

India is considered as a secular country. The word Secular was not even included in the Constitution in 1950.In1976 when the word “Secular” was made part of the preamble, it was never defined. According to any scholarly and rational individual, a Secular State means the one that treats and protects all religions equally and does not give preferential treatment to one religion over the other.The state is expected to be neutral and impartial towards all religions. It is not expected to provide incentives and inducements for any one religion for political or other reasons, and also not wanting, to only prevent one religion from preserving and managing their institutions. Former Chief Justice A M Ahmadi could not define it: “The term ‘secular’ has advisedly not been defined, presumably, because it is a very elastic term not capable of a precise definition and perhaps best left undefined. By this amendment what was implicit was made explicit”.

Secularism has come to mean that the government has a right to take over Hindu Temples, manage their property, transfer donations received in the temples to the state treasury unlike Muslim and Christian places of worship and appoint non-Hindus to oversee sacred shrines and events like the KumbhaMela!

“Excessive secularism, which feeds the fire of people who like to present India as a country that does not respect its majority, is just as dangerous as religious fundamentalism,” Mark Tully said. (Dec 14, 2011). Prime Minister’s assertion is more than excessive secularism when he said:“"We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably the fruits of development. These must have the first claim on resources."This statement in itself is a combination of divisiveness, deception, communalism, sectarian thought, undemocratic, unethical, partisan and discriminatory. Poverty, sickness, economic needs do not discriminate based on caste, creed and religion. The most deprived in society irrespective of religion should benefit from the government.Benefits should be provided to individuals in need instead of communities based on religion.

Unfortunately, every action the Prime Minister has taken and the party he represents is doing nothing but promoting sectarianism favoring Minorities and stabbing Hindus, ignoring the very basic pillar of the Constitution known as “SECULAR.”

He and his party are negating the very Constitution they have drafted, approved and is being implemented. Every chance they get, they pass laws undermining the rights of Hindus, humiliating their faith, discriminating them in education and employment opportunities.They are breaking the Constitution of India and subverting the justice system. The whole government machinery is sabotaging the very essence of secularism.

Secularism is nothing more than self-degradation, self-defeating, self abomination, self-disgrace, self-destruction and self-suicide. The present government is effectively using Secularism to undermine, undercut and weaken individual freedom, independence, intelligence, innovation, morals, ethics, fairness, equal opportunity, democratic principles, human dignity, decency, universal values, peaceful coexistence, uniform civil code, and justice system.

Without ever defining the concept of Secularism, the government uses it to encompass everything and anything to justify their actions. Instead of using Secularism to strengthen time tested traditions and eternal values that brought harmony and tolerance for millennia in Bharath, it is being used to promote discrimination, casteism, religious discord, preferential treatment, dependency, hatred, communalism, torture, terror, bombings, killings, looting, and vote bank politics. India has always been secular whereby it has always invited, hosted, accommodated, guarded, and protected other religions only to be stabbed, conquered and destroyed by the very people they hosted. Hindus are naïve, innocent and trustworthy in thinking that all the religions are same. They never thought Christians and Muslims believe that their religion is the only true religion and all the Hindus are condemned to hell. They are either sinners or kefirs to be either converted to their respective religion or be killed.

The Prime Minister and his party never talk about it because their power, name, fame and wealth are more important than their country.They will do any thing to appease the Christians and Muslims, work against their own constitution where all religions are supposed to enjoy equal rights and freedom. Secularism is the word coined to weaken, belittle, and insult Hindus and Hindu Gods.They also use the term to deny Hindus freedom and liberty, and bleed them until they their values and ethics are unrecognized by Hindus themselves.

Hindus are being cornered in every sense.

Hindus have to wake up! They must be vigilant, be watchful, and be protective of their precious liberty and freedom with as much passion as they can muster. Let the past history be the guide for future survival of Hindus.Whenever Hindus give up their liberty and freedom, they are paving the way for their own demise. The short-term advantages such as political seats, financial gains, political power, and craving for recognition should not chain the future of Hindus. The Hindu leaders should be the spokesperson for the inclusive nature of Hindu religion, its accommodative spirit, its love for peaceful coexistence, its disposition to respecthuman life and its rich heritage. The Hindu politicians should not mortgage the liberty of all Hindus, surrender the jewel of independence, and pave the way for subjugation and slavery.

The present government is hostile to Hindus, chipping away Hindu religious freedom, usurping the individual rights of all Hindus, appeasing openly to the Minorities – Muslims and Christians – by providing first preference to the assets of the government, and delivering educational and employment opportunities with reservations based on religion and caste. The Government has been playing politics with the rights and freedom of Hindus, with their religious institutions, with their religious sentiments and with their future. By passing Article 370, Muslims have been granted unprecedented privileges. If India is secular, why should Kashmir continue to operate as a separate independent State? Why Secular India is not able to stop the daily bomb blasts, stone pelting, destruction of Hindu Temples, killing of Hindus, and burning of Hindu houses? Why Secular India has not provided protection for nearly 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to flee because of Muslims government’s ethnic cleansing over the last half a century? Why is the government not taking appropriate actions against Muslims who are the enemies of Secularism?Why is the government accusing Hindus who have embraced the principles of secularism, as weakening democracy?Hindus have always been the supporters of secularism, democracy, rule of law, Equal Justice, equal opportunity, religious freedom, meritocracy, scientific investigation, peaceful coexistence, and tolerance of all religions.

(Part 2 of 3 part article will be posted soon)

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