RELIGION AND POLITICS IN INDIA

TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL

( A STATE UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHED BY ACT NO.9 OF 2012 )

Navalur Kuttapattu, Srirangam (TK), Tiruchirapalli – 620009, Tamil Nadu

PROJECT ON

“RELIGION AND POLITICS IN INDIA”

SUBMITTED TO

Dr.SUBBA RAO M.A.B.L.,Ph.D.,

(Assistant Professor in Political Science)

BY

S. VIJAY LESHANTH

I year B.Com.LL.B (Hons)

(Reg No.BC0150032)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the outset, I take this opportunity to thank my Professor Dr.SUBBA RAO from the bottom of
my heart who has been of immense help during moments of anxiety and torpidity while the
project was taking its crucial shape.

Secondly, I convey my deepest regards to the Vice Chancellor Arun Roy and the
administrative staff of TNNLS who held the project in high esteem by providing reliable
information in the form of library infrastructure and database connections in times of need.

Thirdly, the contribution made by my parents and friends by foregoing their precious time
is unforgettable and highly solicited. Their valuable advice and timely supervision paved the way
for the successful completion of this project.

Finally, I thank the Almighty who gave me the courage and stamina to confront all hurdles
during the making of this project. Words aren’t sufficient to acknowledge the tremendous
contributions of various people involved in this project, as I know ‘Words are Poor Comforters’. I
once again wholeheartedly and earnestly thank all the people who were involved directly or
indirectly during this project making which helped me to come out with flying colours.

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DECLARATION

I, S. VIJAY LESHANTH (Reg No:- BC0150022) do hereby declare that the project entitled
“RELIGION AND POLITICS IN INDIA” submitted to Tamil Nadu National law school in
partial fulfillment of requirement of award of degree in undergraduate in law is a record of
original work done by me under the supervision and guidance of Professor Dr.SUBBA RAO,
Department of Political science , Tamil Nadu National law school and has not formed basis for
award of any degree or diploma or fellowship or any other title to any other candidate of any
university.

S. VIJAY LESHANTH

1ST YEAR B.COM, LL.B (Hons)

ROLL NO :- BC0150022

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This project studies about the religion and politics in India. This project is done with the help of
the secondary sources like newspapers, magazines, articles , books and website sources.

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INTRODUCTION

There are one billion people in India, the second most populous country in the world. This
means every sixth person in the world is an Indian. About 450 million Indians live below the
poverty line. Suppression of religious minorities and its nuclear blasts have made India visible to
the world. One of the messages that India sent to the world was that it needs to be reckoned with.
The Hindu nationalist leadership on the whole sent this message. While each country needs
dignity before others, many ask why such a poverty-ridden country should invest massive
amounts in nuclear devices and why it persecutes a Christian religious minority that has made
bold attempts to empower the poor of India. For the development of religious several scheme are
implemented by the political party so for the development of religion is mainly depend on the
politics so the politics and religion is interrelated.

Religion in India

Religious in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. The indian
subcontinent is the birthplace of some of the world’s major religious namely Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Throughout India’s history, religion has been an important part
of the country’s culture. Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the
country by the law and custom; the constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of
religion to be a fundamental right.

The western and northern part of India have been the home of one of the most ancient
civilization of the world called Indus valley civilization. Most of the shires, ancient temples of
Hinduism and the birthplace of Hindu saints are in India. Allahabad hosts the biggest religious
festival kumbhamela, where Hindus from all the world come together to take a bath in the
confluence of three sacred rivers of India: Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswathi. It is also home of
around 90% world population of Hindus. The Indian diaspora in the west has popularized by
aspects of Hindu philosophy such as yoga, meditation,Ayurvedic medicine, divination, karma, and
reincarnation. The influence of Indian religions has been significant all over the world. Several
organizations, such as the Hare Krishna movement, the brahma Kumaris, the Ananda marga, and
others have spread Indian spiritual beliefs and practices.

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According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism and 14.2%
adheres to Islam, while the remaining 6% adheres to other religions (Christianity, Sikhism,
Buddhism, Jainism and various indigenous ethnically-bound faiths). Zoroastrianism and Judaism
also have an ancient history in India, and each has several thousands of Indian adherents. India
has the largest population of people adhering to Zoroastrianism (i.e. Parsis and Iranis) and bahai
faith in the world. Even though these religious are not native to India. Many other world religions
also have a relationship with Indian spirituality, such as the bahai faith which recognizes Buddha
and Krishna as manifestations of the god almighty.

The Muslim population of India is the third largest in the world. India also has the third largest
shiva population in the world and being the cardle of the Ahmadivya Islam, it is one of the
countries in the world with at least 1 million ahmaodi Muslims. The shrines of some of the most
famous saints of Sufism, like Moinuddin Chishti and Nizamuddinauliva, are found in India, and
attract of visitors from all over the world. India is also home to some of the most famous
monuments of Islamic architecture,such as the Taj Mahal and the QutbMinar. Civil matters related
to the community are dealt with by the Muslim personal law and constitutional amendments in
1985 established its primary in family matters.

Emergence of Communal Politics in India

An important feature of colonial India was the emergence of communalism as a force that
guided the destiny of India into a blood bath and inevitable partition of the Indian
subcontinent on communal lines.

Though India was a land of multi-religions, creeds and faiths, pre-colonial India was never
plagued by the worm of communalism.

It was the purposeful colonial policy of divide and rule that laid the seeds of communalism
which grew into a huge tree that disturbed the solidarity, of the age-old mosaic of India and it
is still haunting to sap the vitality of the newly won independence.

Communalism is thus a modern phenomenon which has gained currency as a negative

concept in recent times. Bipan Chandra observes: ‘communalism is basically an ideology
appears to be a simple and easily understood. Communalism or communal ideology consists
of three basic elements or stages, one following the other.

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The three basic premises are:

(1) Belief that people who follow the same religion has common political, economic, cultural
and social interests,

(2) Belief in a notion that in a multi-religious society like India, the common interests of the
followers of one religion are dissimilar and divergent from the interests of the followers of
another religion, and

(3) Belief that the interests of the followers of different religions or different communities are
seen to be mutually incompatible, antagonistic and hostile”.

The practice of communalism based on the above principles leads to communal politics,
communal violence and communal terrorism. We can trace stages in the growth of the trends
of liberal and extreme communalism. Bipan Chandra is of the view that 1937 was the
dividing landmark and pre 1937, was an era of liberal communalism and the post-1937 phase
was that of extreme communalism.

We may agree with Bipan Chandra’s perception that communalism emerged as

consequence of the modern politics based on mass mobilization and politicization which has
become evident in the Indian context from 1930 onwards. Nehru also notices “one must
never forget that communalism in India is a latter day phenomenon which has grown up
before our eyes”. Thus, the communal consciousness arose as a result of the transformation of
Indian society under colonialism and its results like administrative unification of regions, the
formation of modem social classes and the spread of new ideas of nationalism based on
cultural and linguistic development.

Another factor was the economic stagnation, ruination of industries and crafts, stark
unemployment and dwindling of resources and the growing number of people vying for the
pie. Communalism does not mean social conflict or class conflict between the exploiter and
the exploited. Communalism is thus a complex phenomenon where many factors real and
unreal, contributed to the rise of consciousness of communalism.

There is a considered, view advocated by Bipan Chandra and agreed upon by many, a
strong contributory factor in the growth of communalism was the pronounced Hindu tinge in
much of nationalist thought and propaganda in the beginning of the 20th century. Added to
this, the communal approach adopted by James Mill, the British historian in dividing the
periods of Indian history as the Hindu, the Muslim and the British showed considerable
influence on the thought process of young and old mind in developing communal
consciousness of superiority and inferiority.

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Some sections of the Hindu and the Muslim communalists used religion as the mobilizing
factor for their selfish interests. We may say that religion by itself was not a major
contributor to communalism as such but the narrow minded religiosity promoted by intolerant
leaders led to extreme communalism with a political end.

In India, till 1880 communal consciousness as a driving force was absent both in the Hindus
and the Muslims. Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan, an outstanding intellectual of India announced in
1884, “Do you, not inhabit this land? Are you not buried in it or cremated on it? Surely, you
live and die in the same land. Remember that Hindus and Muslims are religious terms.

Otherwise Hindus, Muslims and Christians who live in this country are by virtue of this fact
one Qauam (nation or community)”. Till the founding of Indian National Congress, he
believed in the oneness of Indians, i.e., Hindus and Muslims. The establishment of the Indian
National Congress in 1885 sowed the seeds of uncertainty and made him view Congress as a
Hindu body, whose major objectives were against the Muslim interest.

The concept of elections and consequential power made him oppose the Congress and as
desired by the government, the Muslims began to be loyal to the British. But some Muslims
under the leadership of Badruddin Tyabji joined Congress and by the time of Swadeshi
movement some more sided with the Congress. In such a situation, the Indian Muslim League
was founded in 1907 by big landlords and Zamindars. This loyalist, communal and
conservative political organization supported the partition of Bengal, demanded separate
electorates and made its motto to oppose Congress but not colonial rule.

Side by side, with Muslim communalism, Hindu communalism also began by demanding
that Hindi language was the language of the Hindus and it should be protected. They also
started a movement for banning cow slaughter in 1896. They also began to demand due share
to the Hindus in legislature and government jobs.

The Punjab Hindu Sabha founded in 1909 and the All India Hindu Mahasabha founded in
1915 spearheaded the activities of the Hindu communalists. But the younger generation of the
Muslim League was dissatisfied with the loyalist approach and in 1916 there was an
understanding between the League and Congress known as Lucknow Pact which led to the
Khilafat and non-cooperation movement. Once again the communalists became active after
the end of the non-cooperation movement in 1922.

The nationalists made determined bid to frustrate the efforts of the communalists. But the
Round Table Conference once again provided an opportunity to the communalists to stress,
“the inherent impossibility of securing any merger of Hindu and Muslim, political or indeed

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social interests and the impracticability of ever governing India through anything but a
British agency”. The announcement of communal award of 1932 which included the
demands embodied in 1927 Delhi proposals and Jinnah’s 14 points of 1929 further bolstered
the communalists.

Since 1937 began the extreme communalism of the Muslims and the Hindus. It was so
because the Congress formed ministries in five provinces and the Congress refused to
cooperate with Muslim League. In 1938, M.A. Jinnah, in his presidential address of the
League announced “The High Command of the Congress is determined, absolutely
determined to crush all other communities and cultures in this country and establish Hindu raj
in the country”.

In 1940, he told the students of Aligarh, “Mr. Gandhi’s hope is to subjugate and vassalize
the Muslims under a Hindu raj”. By 1941, Jinnah announced that “Pakistan is not only a
practical goal but the only goal if you want to save Islam from complete annihilation in this
country”. Finally, in 1946, while asking the Muslims to vote for the League, he declared if we
fail to realize our duty today you will be reduced to the status of Sudras and Islam will be
vanquished from India”.

Besides Jinnah, Z.A. Suleri, F.M. Durrani and M.A. Gazdar also propagated for the
annihilation of the Hindus. Gazdar proclaimed “The Hindus will have to be eradicated like
the Jews in Germany if they did not behave properly”. The Muslim communalists launched a
vicious campaign against Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Khan Abdul Gafar Khan as the
stooges of the nationalist Hindus. While Muslim communalism was becoming extremely
violent, Hindu communalism was lagging behind. By 1923, LalaLajpat Rai was no more and
by 1937 another liberal communalist Madan Mohan Malaviya also retired from active
politics. V.D. Savarkar of the Hindu Mahasabha and M.S. Golwarkar of the RSS led the
extreme communalists of the Hindus. In 1937, V.D. Savarkar announced that Muslims “want
to brand the forehead of the Hindu down and other non-Muslim sections of the Hindustan
with a stamp of self-humiliation and Muslim domination” and “to induce the Hindus to the
position of helots in their own land”.

In 1938, he reiterated and affirmed “we Hindus are (already) reduced to the veritable helots
throughout our land”. M.S. Golwalkar in 1939 declared that if minority demands were
accepted, Hindu national life runs the risk of being shattered and he attacked the nationalists
for “hugging to our bosom our most inveterate enemies (Muslims) and thus endangering our
very existence”. Thus both the Hindu and Muslim extremists tried to play on the fears and
suspicious of majority and minority and raised the cry of ‘Hinduism in danger’ and ‘Islam in
danger’ or Hindu culture and Islamic culture in danger. This creation of hatred proved

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harmful to both the Hindus and the Muslims in the end and thousands lost their lives in the
communal holocaust.

In this atmosphere of extreme communalism preached and practiced by the determined few
from both sides, the British added fuel to the fire. When the Second World War began and
the Viceroy without consulting the Indian leaders, admitted India into the Second World War,
the Congress ministries resigned in 1939.

The Muslim League celebrated that day as the day of deliverance. The British assured that
they would grant Dominion status to India immediately after the war. This announcement
made the Muslim League to press for a separate homeland for Muslims in 1940. By his
August offer of 1940, Linlithgow, the Viceroy assured the Muslims that their interests would
be protected.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, C. Rajagopalachari and the communists suggested that the demand of a
separate homeland to the Muslims be accepted. The British appointed Cripps Mission in 1942
and the proposals of Cripps were rejected by both the League and Congress.

When Congress launched Quit India movement in August 1942, the League opposed it and
propagated its dream of separate homeland. The League took the help of Islam to spread its
idea of Pakistan along with popular newspapers. In 1944, C. Rajagopalachari placed his
compromise formula before Jinnah. Owing to the adamancy of the League, the Wavel plan
and the Simla plan failed. When elections were held in 1946 as per the 1935 Act, the League
rejected it and refused to participate in the interim government.

In protest, the Muslim League observed August 16, 1946 as the Direct Action Day which
led to Hindu and Muslim riots throughout India. The League joined, the interim government
formed under the leadership of Nehru.

When Constituent Assembly was formed, the League refused to accept it. In the meanwhile
communal riots flared up throughout the country in which both Hindus and Muslims suffered
a lot. In February 1947, the British government announced that it would leave India certainly
before June 1948. On March 27, 1947, the League celebrated ‘Pakistan Day’ in East Bengal
and Punjab.

It led to the worst fears of large scale massacre and the interim government remained
helpless. Except Gandhi, the others agreed for the partition and V.P. Menon drafted the
proposal for partition of India. It was put as June Plan or Mountbatten Plan before the League
and Congress. This was accepted by both the League and Congress. The Independence Act of
1947 made the partition legal and real.

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As the entire nation rejoiced, very disappointed and disillusioned Gandhi spent the first day
of Indian independence in 24-hour fast. Later, he spent the rest of the time in healing the
wounds of suspicion and hatred of communal frenzy. On 30 January, 1948 in an evening
prayer Gandhi was shot by a fanatic; thus the cause so near and dear to him cost his life and
plunged the nation into darkness.

Causes of Communalism:
There are a number of causes which are responsible for the prevalence of communalism.
Some of two important causes of communalism are discussed below.

1. Tendency of the Minorities:

The Muslims fail to be intermingled in the national mainstream. Most of them do not

participate in the secular nationalistic politics and insist on maintaining tor separate identity
the elite among the Muslims have failed to generate the appropriate national ethos.

2. Orthodoxy and Obscurantism:

The orthodox members of minorities feel that they have a distinct entity with their own

cultural pattern, personal laws and thought. There are strong elements of conservatism and

fundamentalism among the Muslims. Such feeling has prevented them from accepting the
concept of secularism and religious tolerance.

3. Design of the Leaders:

Communalism has flourished in India because the communalist leaders of both Hindu and

Muslim communities desire to flourish it in the interest of their communities. The demand for

separate electorate and the organization of Muslim league were the practical manifestations

of this line of thought. The British rule which produced the divide and rule policy, separate

electorate on the basis of religion strengthened the basis of communalism in India Ultimately

the partition of the country into India and Pakistan provided further an antagonistic feeling
towards each other.

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4. Weak Economic Status:

A majority of Muslims in India has failed to adopt the scientific and technological education.

Due to their educational backwardness, they have not been represented sufficiently in the

public service, industry and trade etc. This causes the feeling of relative deprivation and such
feelings contain the seeds of communalism.

5. Geographical Causes:

The territorial settlement of different religious groups especially Hindus Muslims and

Christians causes in them wide variation in the mode of life, social standards and belief
system. Most of these patterns are contradictory and this may cause communal tension.

6. Historical Causes:
The Muslims, all over the subcontinent, are converts from Hinduism, which was facilitated

due to the caste-hate relations and under the compulsions of Muslim rulers. The problems of

social segregation, illiteracy and poverty that had set apart the low caste people remain

unresolved for them, as the foreign elite that rubbed never shared power with them. Their

work ended with the conversion of the Indians and the converts began by imitating the

masters in thought, speech and dress. It caused their alienation. Gradually, elements of

communalism entered in the Muslim community. The separatist elements in the Muslim

community, from the very start of the national resurgence had discouraged others of their

community, from associating themselves with it. As a result Muslim league was formed
which demanded partition of the country.

7. Social Causes:
Cultural similarity is a powerful factor in fostering amicable relations between any two social

groups. But the social institutions, customs and practices of Hindus and Muslims are so
divergent that they think themselves to be two distinct communities.

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8. Psychological Causes:
Psychological factors play an important role in the development of communalism. The

Hindus think that the Muslims are fanatics and fundamentalists. They also believe that

Muslims are unpatriotic. On the contrary, the Muslims feel that they are being treated as

second rate citizens in India and their religious beliefs and practices are inferior. These
feelings lead to communal ill-feeing.

9. Provocation of Enemy Countries:

Some foreign countries try to destabilize our country by setting one community against the

other through their agents. Pakistan has played a role in fostering communal feeling among

the Muslims of our country. Pakistan has been encouraging and promoting communal riots by
instigating the militant sections of Indian Muslim community. Kashmir youths are trained by
Pakistan to destabilize India’s internal security by spreading communal venom.

10. Negative Impact of Mass Media:

The messages relating to communal tension or riot in any part of the country spread through
the mass media. This results in further tension and riots between two rival religious groups.

Suggestions for the Eradication of Communalism:

The following measures may be taken for the eradication of communalism.

1. Abolition of Communal Parties:

All the political parties which thrive on religious loyalties should be banned or abolished by

the government. Even non-political cultural organizations should always be kept under
constant vigil so that they cannot preach communalism.

2. Transmission of the Past Heritage:

Feelings of nationalism should be inculcated in the minds of people by reminding them about

the glorious moments of history in Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were combined to safeguard
the interest of the country.

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3. Public Opinion:

Efforts should be made through mass media for changing the attitude of people towards other
communities. People must be aware of the evils of the communalism.

4. Inter-religious Marriage:
Youth organizations and other types of associations should be formed in every locality to

give opportunity to people of different communities to come closer and know each other.

This may help them to practice inter-religious marriages which will lessen the social distance
among the members of different religious groups.

Both the Government and people should make efforts for eradication of communal tension
and conflict.

Communal Politics & Caste Politics, Its Impact on the voter?

Politics in contemporary India is marked by the 'resurgence' of 'caste and communal politics '.
The past two decades have seen a dramatic collapse of the old political formations and parties
which had dominated the politics of the Nehruvian era. Even the movements of that period,
right up to the mid-1970s, were largely movements on economic issues and questions of
corruption, black-marketing, hoarding and food shortages. Through the decade of the 1980s,
there was a gradual erosion of the Nehruvian secular-nationalist imagination, and one of the
factors responsible for it was the 're-emergence' of caste and religion in public discourse. In
1990s, many parties BahujanSamaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal
started claiming that they are representing the backward castes. Many such parties, relying
primarily on Backward Classes' support, often in alliance with Dalits and Muslims, rose to
power in Indian states. At the same time, many Dalit leaders and intellectuals started realizing
that the main Dalit oppressors were so-called Other Backward Classes, and formed their own
parties, such as the Indian Justice Party. The Congress (I) in Maharashtra long relied on
OBCs' backing for its political success. Bharatiya Janata Party has also showcased its Dalit
and OBC leaders to prove that it is not an upper-caste party. BangaruLaxman, the former BJP
president (2001-2002) was a former Dalit. Sanyasin Uma Bharati, former CM of Madhya

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Pradesh, who belongs to OBC caste, was a former BJP leader. In 2006 Arjun Singh cabinet
minister for MHRD of the UPA government was accused of playing caste politics when he
introduced reservations for OBCs in educational institutions all around. In Tamil Nadu, the
Anti Hindu DMK party rose to power under the canard of "Brahmin oppression", resulting in
reverse discrimination against the upper caste Brahmins. Many Brahmins have alleged that
Tamil Brahmins (Iyers, Iyengars etc.) have left the state, due to a "hostile atmosphere"
prevalent against upper castes in the region.

The late eighties saw communal politics at its height in India. The BJP which had adopted
sober programme in 1980 (of secularism and Gandhian socialism) lost 1984 elections very
badly and could get as less as two seats in Parliament. Then the BJP began to create a
hysteria among the Hindu masses (especially the OBCs and Dalits) on the issue of Ram
temple. The slogan "mandirwahinbanaenge" (we will construct Ram temple there only i.e. at
the site of Babri Masjid) successfully created mass hysteria along the Hindus and a sense of
great insecurity among Muslims. The BJP began to touch new heights, especially in the Hindi
heartland in 1990 when L.K.Advani took out RathYatra for arousing mass hysteria among the
Hindus. There have been many other events which has proved the political parties interest in
acquiring votes like the Amarnath issue recently, the Godhra riots, Gujjar agitation etc. In all
these and similar events, the governments (both at the Center and at State levels) have played
identical politics. e.g. of Shah Bano's case, a Muslim widow, maintenance being rejected
according to Muslim Personal Law and of Mandal Commission report, securing more
privileges to other backward classes besides dalits and tribals – staunch opposition from
middle and upper-middle class Hindus. Religion and caste play vital roles in Indian society

In this way voters are influenced to vote for the parties not basing on national issues like the
financial crisis, the nuclear deal or the failure of the central government to combat terrorism
but on baseless issues. The enemy of people is foxy to divide people tactically and on non-
issues. People are victim of the enemy knowingly or unknowingly to promote his desired
task. In case the voters opt for like NDA or UPA means no change in system of arbitrary rule
which means a dictatorship of criminals and again society has to face a rule of anarchy and
unchecked corruption in absence of genuine balancing force i.e. third front. It all depends
upon the way the voter is being educated to cast his vote.

Now question is as to how to escape from the enemies of progressive democracy based on
genuine balancing force i.e. the value based force of peace and justice? It is main hurdle at

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this stage as the entire electoral system of India is nothing but only an agency network in real
sense. It is also a main obstacle to create 'public opinion'. The electoral Process of India is
defective and can be known as 'Electoral Terrorism' i.e. the worst type of largest hidden
dictatorship of the World. It's a pity that fifty years of electoral politics have not yielded a
decent choice of parties. They all have the same programme—power. All depend on caste
and sub-caste to achieve that end. Some add an extra touch here and there—like dynastic
glamour and communal emotion.

In a country as diverse as India, it might require something dramatic (war, emergency etc.) to
get voters to think in sync, to vote on the basis of limited set of issues. When we think of the
past few general elections and ask ourselves what the issues were. Its always something
vague, anti-incumbent rhetoric, secular/communal issue or its about personalities. Its not
about specific economic policies or foreign policy and even a larger vision for the country. Its
unfortunate but true - for a young democracy with a large illiterate socially, economically
disempowered electorate in a land that is still trying define its identity as a nation, it might be
decades before such a thing as caste ceases to matter in elections. Let us not forget that caste
has been around much longer than India did, it ain't going away any soon.

A general awareness of such a reality, its identification and development of a consciousness of its
potential harm to the social system, coupled with a persistent endeavour to develop a genuine
concern for the suffering humanity, are some of the essential prerequisites for the ameliorative and
corrective measures. This is however, not an easy task, though it remains an unavoidable
necessity, and inadequate attention to the problem

Conclusion

Demoartic ,secular, socialist , republic this is how thee constitution defines our nation , but
does the status quo have any relevance wuth the second word is a matter of question .even
during the birth of our nation we were created on the basis of a secular tolerant nation which
espite its diversties would always clng on to the words unity in diversity. But is this the same
nation that emphasised so much on these values years ago .the present socio political scenario
has become so corrupt that the people think it has reached a point from where there is no
return. The proverb unity in diversity has been confined to the papers and political agendas
and communalism has taken the centerstage .communalism has become the new fad in india ,

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religious afficianados with vested interests and with the main motive of polarising the nation
have turned our secular nation into a battlefield for communal forces . religionwhich was
considered to be a tool that could make human life much complete and fruitful has become a
bane on the same society that it was deemed to save. Karl Marx once said that religion was
the opium of mankind , god knows he was true considering India’s present situation . but
everyone knows the repercussions of opium addictions. India has become a nation of
religious addicts who hold their religion higher than that of others the principle so fraternity
,brotherhood and religious tolerance have been replaced by the polarised and backward
thoughts . it pains my heart to see my nation torn apart by communal forces destroying the
basic principles upon which my nation was built. It took me a while to understand that the
concepts of secularism and unity where confined to my Eigth grade textbooks. India has been
a great nation its values and traditions cultures and diversity that has made a large number of
nations envious of us .but at this point of time it is the same diversity that made us proud has
been tearing our nation apart.

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