My attention has been drawn to the remarks made by His Holiness Shankaracharya of Kanshi Kamakoti, Jayendra Saraswati, where in the Shankaracharya has made a categorical plea (Indian Express, 11 Nov., 1997) that the word 'secular' should be dropped as that expression means irreligiosity.

I urge leaders of various political parties, professing Hindu religion, with a commitment to secular values in politics ... to explain to the Shankaracharya that secularism under no circumstances means irreligiosity. We, as a Nation, have accepted the definition of secularism as given to us by Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad and other heroes of India's freedom struggle. it has also to be explained to the Shankaracharya that if there is anything that gives India prestige within the comity of Nations, it is India's democracy and its commitment to the secular ethos ... There is no substitute set of values that can give us vitality of a forward-looking Nation like our commitment to secularism. For us, secularism is the basis of togetherness and social harmony. For the overwhelming majority of Indians, secularism means equal respect for all religions while the State does not have any role to promote any particular religion. ... Shankaracharya's remarks ... do help one political party, the BJP alone, which he ... may not be aiming ..                                          (Source: The Secular Democracy, December, 1997)