A binding factor amongst these reformers was their emphasis on having a rational look on religious texts and focus on education.More radical reformers like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Savitri Phule and Fatima Sheikh carried their program for reforms deeper in the previously neglected and marginalized sections of the society. Works of these reformers loosened the grip of orthodoxy, superstition and dogma on society and established rationality and humanism at the core for deliberations in the upcoming mass phase of the freedom movement.The lives and work of these reformers came to form social-ideological bedrock on which leaders of our freedom struggle further developed while fighting the British. Significant energies of our freedom movement were invested in driving away the British but at the same time, our leaders were conscious of how independent India would constitute itself as a nation-state and what defining values it will represent to the world.Secularism was a hallmark of the major participants in the freedom struggle. Gandhi, while proclaiming himself a Hindu, never tolerated discrimination on the basis of religion. Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and other luminaries were steadfast in their commitment to a future secular State.Dr. B.R. Ambedkar gave the clarion call for annihilation of caste and initiated perhaps the greatest social reform on this land. EV Ramaswamy Periyar established rationality at the core of Tamil Society and Sri Narayana Guru’s calls for the end of discrimination on the basis of one’s birth found many echoes.From the leaders of the Ghadar Party to the Left revolutionaries led by Bhagat Singh, complete unanimity prevailed regarding the role of religion in the independent Indian State: it was to be a private affair with the state keeping equidistance from all organized religions.The manifesto of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army stated: “With regard to the communal question, the revolutionary party contemplates to grant whatever rights the different communities may demand, provided they do not clash with the interests of other communities and they lead ultimately to hearty and organic union in different communities in the near future.”This spirit of peaceful and harmonious co-existence of different religious communities with State being the equidistant and secular entity found expression in our Constitution making later when Dr. Ambedkar replied to those who were asking the infant State to follow the religion of majority that “it will be a calamity to the nation.”The republic that was inaugurated was a secular democratic republic with fundamental rights ensuring non-discrimination on the basis of faith. The pro-British minority which advocated for a State religion or a theocracy found little takers among the population of the country.It should be underlined here that the greatest of freedom fighters of our country who sacrificed everything for the national cause were all adherents of a secular State. In India, we saw the rise of the RSS-BJP in the uncertain years after the financial crisis of 2008-09, riding the chariot of Hindutva. The Hindu religion as it was practiced had no institution akin to the Church and it remained heavily localised in practice. The RSS and their obsession with uniformity has propelled them to devise monolithic interpretations of certain strands of Brahmanical texts which they wish to impose on this extremely diverse society. This thought is not only dangerous for communal harmony and tranquillity but it can also push us back in history by hundreds of years by diverting us from issues of material interest.Certain contemporary developments have been disturbing in this regard. Very recently, a few municipalities in Gujarat embarked on a mission to outlaw public sale of non-vegetarian food. A BJP MP, also from Gujarat, issued an ultimatum to tribals that the benefits of reservation will be snatched away from them if they do not convert to Hinduism in two months.Religion is increasingly asking for greater space even in secular domains like foreign policy and municipal works. The elevation of the religion of the majority as the de-facto State religion becomes a real threat in this context which can potentially undo the founding values of our Constitution.We should be conscious of the famous saying by the French thinker Voltaire: “Whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”The rise of religious common sense may be challenged and rejected only by bringing back the focus on the real and concrete issues pertaining to dignity, livelihood, health, employment and housing. The important question before us is, should we let religion interfere, or take over, with the workings of a secular State or should we resist this deviousness of the Hindu right? Is it the tryst with destiny of our nation? Is there way forward?The lessons of our independence movement and the sacrifices of countless freedom fighters point us to only one direction and it’s not difficult to guess. (IPA Service)Views are personalThe writer is General Secretary, Communist Party of India.
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