IS INDIA A SECULAR COUNTRY?

India is a diverse nation with a lot of cultures,

traditions, languages and religions. It is a world in
itself.
Managing and uniting such a huge country is a
humongous task for any government even more
so staying in a neutral and secular position.
According to the constitution of India, India
is a secular country with no state religion and a
country with freedom of religion. There have
been many instances throughout history where
India has remained secular despite the difficulties.
DO I BELIEVE INDIA IS A SECULAR COUNTRY?
Yes, I believe that India is a secular country.
There are many cases that could testify this claim
in history. One such case is the case of Shah Bano
in 1978. The case was filed in the court by Shah
Bano begum on the grounds that her divorced
husband should pay her maintenance for the rest
of life. At that time it was constitutionally
mandatory for the husband or ex husband to
provide financial aid to his divorced spouse in the
form of maintenance. But despite being a
renowned lawyer himself, her husband Mohamed
Ahmed Khan refused to do so on the grounds of
the Muslim personal law which dictated that the
husband only had to provide maintenance for the
period of iddat which was a period of three
months which a wife had to observe after being
divorced or her husband’s death before she was
allowed to remarry.
This incident sparked a huge controversy
between the Muslim extremists and the Hindu
right wing which threatened the secularity of the
constitution of India.
The supreme court in the end ruled that the
maintenance should be given throughout the life
and not for a measly period of three months.
Another such instance is the kesavananda
Bharati case in 1973. The case was about the land
reforms initiated by the governments of various
states across India at that time.
The government of Kerala was undergoing
land reforms which meant that the property of
the mutt headed by Swami Kesavananda Bharati
was under threat. He filed a case in the supreme
court in the year 1973, stating that the land
reforms violated the fundamental rights to
property granted by the constitution to every
citizen of the nation.
It involved the power of government and the
power of judiciary on the amendment of
constitution. Despite being a religious
organization concerning the Hindu majority the
decision on this case was made in a secular way.
After five months of discussion on this issue
the supreme court made one of the most
landmark decisions in the history. Barely making it
with a 7:6 majority of the 13 member panel, the
supreme court ruled that the government cannot
make any amendments that changed the basic
structure of the constitution despite being given
the unlimited power to do so in the article 368.
This established the power of parliament in
making amendments and the fact that the court
reserved the right to decide the basic structure of
the constitution and the right to perform judicial
review on the amendments. This also established
the basic structure doctrine in India.

Apart from these two there have been many

decisions made in the past that had ensured the
secularity of the nation. In the year 2022, there
was yet another instance where the plea was
made to restore the Jain temples in Qutub minar
complex which meant destroying the current
complex. Once again India was in the spot
between two most widespread religions of India
and yet the court decided that it is a historical
monument and would not be altered for the
protection of historical monuments and was in
that state when it was listed as a historical
monument, hence remaining secular.

Another such incident was the Ayodhya Ram

Mandir case which divided the Hindu and Muslim
communities for a long time was finally concluded
in the year 2019, Stating that the land should be
used to build a Hindu temple for worshipping Lord
Rama and that the land was used for Hindu
worship before it was converted to a mosque as
per the studies shown. The Muslim community
was allocated another piece of land to construct a
new and modern mosque.

Ram Mandir Ayodhya mosque

Conclusion
In this way India has remained secular in
almost all the cases and hence I believe that India
is a secular country .
Name:M.MOHITH
Reg.no.:RA2211028010058
Section: O1
Department: CSE W/S IN CLOUD COMPUTING