SECULARISM
Views of Prime Minister Gujral
On Secular India:
India cannot survive without secularism. It is necessary not to give room to an anti-secular force. All secular forces together have to think of how to defend secularism. We must understand that the secular front is incomplete without the Congress(I).
The unity of all secular forces is necessary to protect India. What form it should take and other details can be considered. In this context V.P. Singh's proposal is very reasonable.
On Urdu
People tell me that in my speech I use Urdu more and Hindi less! What can I do if that is my language, I have revived the Urdu Promotion Council. I am considering the proposal for establishing an International Urdu Centre. I had requested Khaliq Anjum and others to list the recommendations of Gujral Committee which have not yet been implemented but nothing was done.
We have planned to open schools and colleges in which Urdu is specially taught.
On Minorities Welfare:
We are introducing compulsory elementary education. We have initiated a scheme for girl child. Logically the minorities would benefit. I assure you that we shall not allow the minorities to be deprived.
(Source: Nai Duniya)
A Letter on Secularism
It is not enough to say that every Indian ought to uphold secularism. The real question is, given our past history and the response to it of the present political leadership, can secularism in fact be "maintained by us all?"
In this, both the Hindu and the Muslim communities are culturally handicapped in as much as both are completely uncritical about the past. Let alone their respective scriptures, they have totally disavowed the need to critically evaluate any of their leaders, be it Shivaji, Gandhiji, Ambedkar, Lohia, JP or anyone else. The neglect for 50 years of the job of developing a scientific temper that accepts nothing uncritically, is costing this society dear; liberalism Indian style is an additive methodology that uncritically adds on and accepts the myths, superstitions and dogmas of all the communities. If that is the Indian version of a tolerant society, then we are in serious trouble.
The first step in damage control is the hardest. Political and religious leaders have to find the moral courage to define what is of the essential and eternal in their respective culture and religion, and what is bigoted and strictly temporal. They must then justify their claims in humanistic and logical terms. But instead, what we constantly get are veiled calls for vendetta a against the upper castes if you are a Dalit, against the Muslim if your temple was broken a thousand years ago, against the kafir and so on, ad infinitum. Every Indian child must be first told what did actually happen as far as history can faithfully record so that they can then figure out and understand which of the past mistakes must not be allowed to recur.
Ours is a society that will simply not survive the revenge movements and the conflagration that they will cause. We need a sensible agenda for the future. Just mouthing "secularism" is not enough.
(Source: Badal Mukherji's Letter in The Pioneer, 23 October, 1997)
SJP Leader Chandra Shekhar's Views on Friday Prayers, 27 August, 1997(Translation)
The slogan of secularism is being raised somewhat endlessly. So much concern for one religion and no concern at all for another religion. It cannot be accepted that if a Hindu fundamentalist exploits religion, he is wrong but when a Muslim fundamentalist exploits religion, he is right.
The problem of the minority community, to deserve attention, must focus on the social and the economic. Not that on Fridays, the House will adjourn at 1.30 PM because they have to perform Namaz. Then Bajrang Dal people would say that the House should not sit on Tuesdays. That question can be raised. Is this House constituted for this? Secularism needs to be redefined. Secularism is that the religious sentiments of Hindu or Muslim, should not be hurt. But Parliament is not the place for this.
Gandhiji on Role of Police in Communal Conflict (10 August, 1947)
At the request of friends, I have postponed my departure for Noakhali. All my life I have served the Hindus and the Muslims without any reservation and to the best of my ability. When I find today, on the very threshold of the country's freedom, that the two communities are going mad, the utmost I can do is to place my life in the hands of God. For, believe me, I would not like to live and go on seeing such madness. Regarding the police I am told that they are behaving communally. If such a wretched state of affairs continues, the prospect is bleak indeed. I do hope that the police will perform their duties impartially and, in all their actions, do everything that they can to uphold the dignity of their profession and make the administration strong. May God be with us".
(Source: The Hindu, 10 August, 1997)
