India, according to the preamble of it's constitution is a secular state.The term 'secular' has different meanings in different nation-states. In United States of America, it means the dichotomy of religion and politics.It separates the two. While in India, it means that no discrimination will be done based on religion. In the eyes of the constitution, all religions are the same.That is the secular India we dream of.
India has majority of Hindus(84%). Then there are Muslims(11%),Christians(2.4%),Sikhs(2%) and so on.The remaining portion consists of Buddhists, Jains,Jews and Zoroastrians in that order. We are probably the most diverse state in terms of religion.Our constitution provides equality for all and the freedom of religion.But any minority is always bound to be exploited and deprived of certain rights.For that we do have a National Commission on Minorities which is very much needed.We can see how beautifully balanced the constitution is.
Some idealists though have been craving for a uniform civil code in India and lately these cravings have intensified and resulted in lobbying to pressurize the government of India to legislate for the same. Now, uniform civil code is an excellent idea.But we need to understand here that for that to happen first we have to get all the religious communities on the same page.Both in economic and social scales.To add to that, there are issues like separatism and communal violence that need to checked.It's quite obvious that such a move would attract harsh opposition from the minorities. With the 'minority' tag, they are entitled to various benefits and a sense of security which they would not want to give away for a uniform civil code.Some fractions of minorities who are well off might agree to it.But their numbers are infinitesimally small.They are the minority within the minorities.
Those who are pushing for an uniform civil code thus should wait for the right time.There is nothing wrong with it but the timing is always very crucial in such sensitive cases.
1 comment:
no-one (not the majority in any case) in his/her right sense of mind would want to give up what makes his/her life easier... the trouble with the safeguards/upliftment opportunities in india are that they are given base on irrelevant things like religion/caste. this is why caste/religion prop up so often in heated discussions in politics. all these things allowances should be made on economic basis only. and the right time for this was maybe 60 yrs ago.
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