BV - May 2015 Yr 2 Issue 6 E

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We Can Make You A Crorepati! Contact us for Free Investment Advise & Personal Financial Planning Mitali Finance & Investments Contact D-307, Shanti Shopping Centre Opp. Mira Road Station, Mira Road(East), Mumbai – 401107, India Email aygaikwad@gmail.com / Phone Nos. +91-9320141819 ● Year – 2 ● Issue – 6 ● May 2015 ● Buddhist Voice ● www.buddhistvoice.com ● Email: indian.buddhistvoice@gmail.com 30
Triumphant and victorious in the 16 th general elections for the Lok Sabha, the Hindu nationalists are attributing their victory as rejection of secularism by the Indian electorate. The election results have unwittingly started sort of questioning on the desirability of using the term secularism. It is true that secularism has become a much abused term in India. Regional parties like the Samajwadi Party in UP and the RJD in Bihar and Indian National Congress misused the slogan of secularism to cover up their mis-governance and corruption. The slogan of secularism was used opportunistically to garner votes of the minority communities. They would not have any policies or programmes to ensure equal opportunities or ensuring fair stake of the minorities in the development. To them, secularism meant ensuring security of minorities, and they failed miserably in this too. There were more than hundred riots in UP during the Samajwadi Party regime and likewise under the Congress in other states. Security and intelligence forces victimized and even staged murders and incarcerated scores of innocent Muslim youth in the name of counterterrorism operations in what has come to be called the cow belt of India and Hyderabad. They failed to check the growth of communal forces and did not counter the stigmatization of the minorities. Opportunistic secularism of the so-called secular parties meant joining hands with fundamentalist forces within the minority community in the hope that they would be able to deliver at the polling booths. The fundamentalist tendencies within the minority communities are as marginal as the cultural nationalists are within the majority community. As well organized and vocal as in the majority. They deftly use media coverage to create their larger than life image on issues like preventing Salman Rushdie from visiting India or problematizing Taslima Nasreen’s visa extension or getting various books, films, websites and artistic expressions banned just like the Hindu nationalists do so (i.e. use media coverage) demolishing Babri Masjid and opposing freedom of expression on the ground that it offends their faith. The Hindu Nationalist Organizations (HNOs) used this opportunistic secularism to their advantage and sought to blame and stigmatize the minorities as a whole as if they were responsible. The HNOs, well organized as they are, mobilized and instilled dislike not Contours of Secularism Irfan Engineer only against the political parties subscribing to opportunist secularism, but also against the members of the minority communities. The HNOs laid the primary blame for opportunistic secularism not on the “secular” political parties but on the very existence of the minorities within the nation, particularly those having their holylands outside. They primarily problematize Islam and Christianity and their presumed separatist mindset rather than opportunistic secularism. HNOs propound that so long as Muslims and Christians exist, there will be parties to benefit politically from opportunistic secularism. The solution desired by the HNO ideologues therefore is either expel the minorities if possible from the nation, or subdue them to second class citizenship without any rights. It is the opportunistic secularism that needs to be problematized rather than locating the problem within any community as all communities are diverse and have diverse traditions, customs and cultures. Cultures are being made and unmade through social, economic and political changes and each individual responds dynamically to the changes occurring. Religious ethos in India The HNOs have problematized secularism itself as a western notion to be discarded. However, one must accept that there is no universally accepted understanding of secularism. While in France, USSR and Turkey, secularism has meant uneasy tension between church and the state. In India the dominant discourse of secularism was more inclusive in its formulation of “sarva dharma sambhav”, where state indulges all religions equally and citizens are at liberty to practice, profess and propagate their religion. State is often called upon to impartially mediate during conflicts between different religious communities. HNOs are also Hindu supremacists though they pay lip service to the Hindu ethos of tolerance. They want privileged status for Hinduism (or rather re-invented and selective traditions of upper caste elite). Golwalkar, the revered ideologue of HNOs, wanted that minorities should dream of nothing but the glory of Hindu rashtra and Hindu traditions and symbols. Even in the Manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2014 elections, it calls for return to “civilizational consciousness” that was lost during the ● Year – 2 ● Issue – 6 ● May 2015 ● Buddhist Voice ● www.buddhistvoice.com ● Email: indian.buddhistvoice@gmail.com 31
Page 1 and 2: ● Year - 2 ● Issue - 6 ● May
Page 3 and 4: Editor’s Voice Greetings on Buddh
Page 5 and 6: Buddhist way and Hindu dominance is
Page 7 and 8: Jainism espoused caste and rituals,
Page 9 and 10: Mahamaya. He was a wealthy person a
Page 11 and 12: (Ilaiah 2001: 11). While Kautilya a
Page 13 and 14: Finally, the new religions were at
Page 15 and 16: Conscience Speaks Doing only one th
Page 17 and 18: Renowned Psychologists like William
Page 19 and 20: psychological change experienced as
Page 21 and 22: James, W. (1890). The Principles of
Page 23 and 24: Buddhist Women As Agents of Change:
Page 25 and 26: and Indonesian case, networking at
Page 27 and 28: to know that Yashodhara delivered a
Page 29: made warrior gods as their own gods
Page 33 and 34: fundamentalists within the minority
Page 35 and 36: Husband and living father cared to
Page 37 and 38: serving in different capacities. Th
Page 39 and 40: people can counter the communal for
Page 41 and 42: Tribute I have always been fascinat
Page 43 and 44: We had several conversations on pho
Page 45 and 46: His two booklets on Mandal Commissi
Page 47 and 48: News Conference of World Fellowship
Page 49 and 50: misunderstanding among the communit
Page 51 and 52: The Buddha's teaching of the Kalach
Page 53 and 54: Buddhist Youth Training Centre in O
Page 55 and 56: International Festival of Buddhist
Page 57 and 58: communities of remote and inaccessi
Page 59 and 60: Mountaineer Anand Bansode Mountaine
Page 61 and 62: International Conference on Teachin
Page 63 and 64: Mrs. Vasundhara Kamble Elected as C
Page 65 and 66: Dr B R Ambedkar National Award 2014
Page 67: Sant Kabir Residential Hostel for B

BV - May 2015 Yr 2 Issue 6 E

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