Struggle Between Hindu and Secular Nationalisms in India

Struggle Between Hindu and Secular Nationalisms in India

India holds a prominent place in the history of imperialism and decolonization, making recent events in this country of nearly one billion especially important to the current day citizen. India also faces problems associated with accommodating religion and diversity within a large federal republic, making their experience important for Americans concerned with these issues. India faces growing action of governing which invites the use of violence to achieve political objectives. In spite of India's size and importance, it is hard for an American to gain an understanding of the issues and conflicts which have set the stage for the most recent revival of Hindu nationalism. The central feature of this new reform in Indian federal politics is the clash between Hindu and secular nationalists.

The overview of this situation comes from the perspective of an American born Indian student interested in Indian history and federal systems, so the observations are intended as suggestions designed to encourage more progressive work both in India and the United States. While the prominence of Hindu themes affects many levels of Indian government, this paper will focus only on India's central government on Hindu Nationalism. This conflict is crucial to understanding the current situation in India.

Indian democracy and secularism face a menace from the forces of militant Hinduism which hope to turn India into a Hindu state. What is the nature of the present challenge to secularism in India? What do Hindu nationalists hope to achieve by making their government more assertively Hindu? One can begin to answer these questions by examining the large body of writing on secularism recently produced by Indians. Academics, lawyers, journalists, and political citizens have explored the many facets of Indian secularism. These works provide clues to the nature of Hindu nationalism's appeal in contemporary Indian politics. These writings are interesting for what they reveal about India and its versions of nationalism.

Sudipta Kaviraj, a scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, admits that, "among those who consider themselves secular individuals there is an intensifying sense of crisis”. What are the criticisms of secularism which lead to the perception of a predicament? At first glance, the challenge appears minuscule, ...

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...d world", comparisons to the United States may prove more fruitful.

Second, excessive use of historical analogy from other periods in time runs the risk of incorporating outmoded assumptions regarding development stages so prominent in modernization theory. India's current problems relate directly to developments in this phase of world history; one could go so far to say that India's problems foreshadow those the United States is likely to face when the resources used to lubricate the machinery of a diverse federation can no longer be borrowed. Furthermore, those familiar with the constitutional debate over the separation of church and state in the United States and Stephen Carter's recent book The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion understand that questions regarding religion and politics are by no means confined to the so-called "developing" world. Rather than grappling with issues already solved by Western countries, India faces dilemmas associated with the modern state. Understanding India's experience in confronting these problems may provide unanticipated insights into problems faced by federal government in the United States.