Secularism is the path followed by most democratic countries today, however many people who masquerade as journalists don’t know the true essence of the word “secularism”. For a matter of fact, the word “secular” does not mean that the entire population, or the head of the state has to shed it’s religious identity. In a secular state, the law has to be indifferent towards all religions and not have any bias, nor restrict individuals from practicing their religion. The constitution permits all citizens- irrespective of their position in the government or private body, to have a right to practice their religion.
In a secular country like India, there is an unnecessary bias towards people of the minority faith. Political parties like the Congress Party have repeatedly been appeasing the minorities by creating schemes specifically for the members of these communities and are ignoring the grievances of the majority Hindu community. In 1970’s, the Congress government of the time had passed an amendment to the Indian constitution in the parliament. This amendment, also knows as the 46th amendment of the Indian constitution, introduced the words “secular” and “sovereign” to the preamble. The words subsequently meant that there should be a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the Republic of India, however for appeasement politics, the Congress party allowed family laws based on religion.
Despite their government amending the constitution to make the country a secular state, the party had not done anything to curb the menace of religious laws. In 2017, a historic ordinance was passed by the President after the advice of Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi to stop a barbaric practice of the Islamic law towards Muslim women in general- the Triple Talaq.
-Nivan Sadh