"India's secular state is in a state of slow-motion collapse. The contours of a new theocratic dystopia are already evident."
The betrayal of secular India in Jaipur, though, is just part of a far wider treason: one that doesn't have to do with Muslim clerics alone, but a state that has turned god into a public-sector undertaking. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Salman Rushdie & India's new theocracy: Few Indians understand the extent to which the state underwrites the practice of their faith. The State's subsidies to the Kumbh Mela, Haj pilgrimage, education funds committed to teaching pseudo-sciences like astrology, among them. In 2006-07, these kinds of activities accounted for Delhi's budget allocation ahead of environmental protection and civil defence.
"India is a country that most needs a decline in the scope of religion in civil society for it to turn its constitutional promise of secular democracy into a reality. But, India is a country least hospitable to such a decline". The real costs of India's failure to secularise: among them, the perpetuation of caste and gender inequities, the stunting of reason and critical facilities needed for economic and social progress; the corrosive growth of religious nationalism. India cannot undo this harm until god and god's will are ejected from our public life.
The time has come for Indian secular-democrats to assert the case for a better universe: a universe built around citizenship and rights, not the pernicious identity politics the state and its holy allies encourage.
You were right, Pradeep. I loved the article. In fact, I loved it more for the reason that it was hard-hitting and forceful, and not a victim's last attempt at just "showing up" for the heck of it.
ReplyDeleteReligion needs to start talking if it needs to ring sense in the minds of people. Such religious prejudiced debauchery should not be tolerated.