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India is not a secular state: Dr. Omar Khalidi
Submitted by admin4 on 28 August 2008 - 8:05pm.
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
Last July, a meeting of Rajasthan Minority Commission started with lighting lamps in front of a photo of Vagdevi, the goddess of learning. Rajasthan has declared Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis as minorities and none of these light lamps before Vagdevi. Then what was the need to worship a Hindu deity in a Minority Commission's meeting? To many who have seen all government functions begin with lighting of lamps, this comes not as a surprise.
Dr. Omar Khalidi, author of famous books 'Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India' and 'Muslims in Indian Economy,' will argue that examples like this put serious question mark to India calling itself a secular state. In an interview with TwoCircles.net, Dr. Khalidi has argued that merely stating that state respects and follows the dictum of the Indian Constitution that India is a secular state is not enough, it has to be seen in the daily working of the state as well.
Unfortunately The process of saffronization of fuctions under the aegis state began in the time of Nehru itself. Every function of the Ministry of Education begins with Saraswati vandana (Homage to the Hindu deity of education). How can a secular state invoke a deity of any religion, asks Dr. Khalidi?
Dr. Omar Khalidi recalled the protest by the then Andhra Pradesh Education Minister K. Pratibha Bharathi, a Dalit woman, when Saraswati vandana was recited at the state education minister's meet in 1998.
Muslim personalities are being removed from our textbooks, Islamic principles are being caricatured. Hinduism is being privileged at the expense of other religions and philosophies. There ought to be a strict separation of church and the state in a diverse society like India, points Dr. Khalid. The statement that India is a secular state must be judged against its performance.
What is wrong with showing respect to the majority religion?
The statement that India is a Hindu majority state needs to be questioned. We know that Hindus are a majority in India because census tells us that, but a close reading of census methodology will lead us to seriously question that notion.
Census of India treats everyone who is not Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Buddhists as Hindu. This includes atheists, agnostics, those who have no religion and those like tribals who do not have organized religion. This methodology artificially boosts the number of Hindus. Census, as an institution of the state, needs to be neutral, says Dr. Omar Khalidi. Census should accurately reflect the diversity that exists in India. For example, Dalits who are outside the caste of Hindus should not be counted as Hindus. Their counting artificially boosts the number of Indians practicing or following Hindu religion. Thus manufacturing a majority where none exist and serving the interests of the Hindutva.
Dr. Khalidi says that we need to bring the caste enumeration back into census so that we have an accurate picture of the Indian community. This will show us that there is no one group that is in majority; rather we are a nation of minorities.
Giving reference to his book "Khaki and the Ethnic Violence," Dr. Khalidi said that some institutions of the state actively discriminate against certain religious categories. For example, Indian armed forces to this day recruit people on the basis of "martial races" that exclude Muslims. There is a Sikh regiment, Rajput regiment, Maratha regiment, Gurkha regiment but not a Muslim regiment. Dr. Khalidi says: either abolish these regiments or create a Muslim regiment, Christian, Parsi as well.
A start can be made by starting Minority Commission's meeting without any religious ceremony. Since Minority commission is a public institution and comes under the definition of State it can not follow the Hindu way of starting its functions violating Articles 25-28 of the Constitution of India.
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Unfortunately The process of
Unfortunately The process of saffronization of fuctions under the aegis state began in the time of Nehru itself. Every function of the Ministry of Education begins with Saraswati vandana (Homage to the Hindu deity of education). How can a secular state invoke a deity of any religion, asks Dr. Khalidi?
boediger
India - A nation of minorities
If India is a nation of minorities, should the Constitutional Provisions for protecting 'minorities' not apply to all people as members of one or the other minority. Why is it that the Indian Constitution awards protection to religious and linguistic minorities by inference without ever so much as establishing a definition of minority in the mosaic of both diversity and disparity that is India.
How is it that the leaders of the most vocal 'religious' minority in India did not question this majority - minority distinction when it meant special status in the constitution as the chosen minority to create enclaves of theocracy with state sanctioned and state supported primacy for religious identity above all other concerns. When rest everybody left out of the loop of special status for protection of religious identity affiliates themselves with a religious identity called 'Hindutva' to present themselves as the majority identity and want to be represented in the State where secularism has always been presented as 'embodiment of all religions', Mr. Khalidi seems to be waking up to the fact that there should be a 'strict' separation of Church and State in a diverse country like India.
And in that vein, I would like to know if separation of Church and State in Mr. Kahildi's view also applies to reforming laws for a common areligious civil code, and abolishing Haj subsidies at tax payers expense or does he only have a problem with inclusion of Saraswati Vandana and other Hindu symbology in the public realm, where majority of the people know Saraswati to be the goddess and symbol of knowledge and Saraswati Vandana is a prayer for knowledge. It is kind of like majority of the people in the United States - where Church and State are separate - are Christian, so a Pastor offers an invocation at the Presidential Inauguration and the President for all people of all religious persuasion, takes the oath of Office to abide by a secular Constitution on the Bible. The difference is that symbolism aside, citizenship rights of all people in the United States are protected by the Rule of Law, and if they are violated there is recourse in the court of law and violators regardless of majority/minority status do not get away scot free because criminality does not have political protection regardless of the criminal's affiliation.
Incidentally, what is a dalit outside the caste of Hindus? The term dalit, which literally means oppressed, originated and is used to refer to lower caste Hindus. Hindus is not a caste - there are several castes within Hindu society.
Man did Jinnah not predict
Man did Jinnah not predict that Hindus will oppress the Muslims in India. Didn't he get a separate "country of PURE" for sheltering the people persecuted by the evil Hindus.
But still muslims continued to stay on. You made a choice. The Hindus did not beg you to stay and even now will not bother if you make that decision.
Please do us a big favour by
Please do us a big favour by convincing and calling back all your muslim brothers and sisters to other muslim countries, INDIA will be a paradise if all the muslims of INDIA leave this beautiful country and return to their so-called islamic secular countries.
Help us - and it will be a great favour for us
Please help us by going back to your place from where you came from !!!! you brahmins = safronazi. Since your brahmin is your religion from the caucasus / central asia - please return back their !!!!!! Without you all the brahmins / safronazi India will be a better place to live.
ISlam is not religion of india we dont need muslims in India
jis thali meh khateh hoo usmeh ched karte hoo
Your forefathers were all hindus .. check them .. as islam is not the religion of india
Abeh except muslims all are hindus so see u r only 15 crore and rest 100 crore are hindus
we dont differentiate in sikhs and christians they are like us .. u guys should be thrown out of the country
Tang dil, Tang nazar, aur
Tang dil, Tang nazar, aur beinsaf muashra......... jahan, tamam insan baraber nahin hein. Aai kash tum jaise bedard log kisi dalit ki aulad hautai aur sara din logon ki gandagi saaf kartei to phir tum itnei fakhar se kabhi aisi baat na kartai.
Abhishek-Hindutva is Brahmanism
Hindutva is Brahmanism. It involves the art of defending the caste system and Brahmin dominance while pretending otherwise ! Here is the methodology.
1) Uphold Brahmanism but talk about Hindu interests. Make a furious defence of the Brahmin Kanchi Shankara on the grounds of what could happen to the common man if the pontiff’s arrest is allowed – as if Brahmins ever cared for the common man !
2) Tell the Dalits they have an important role to play in Hinduism. In reality, utilise the Dalits as kar sevaks for street fighting, and ask them to stand outside when the Ram temple when it is built.
3) In the internet, defend Brahmanism by posing as a sudra who supports Hindutva. If a sudra supports Brahmanism, then the caste system is alright, isn’t it ? !
4) Defend the caste system and invent all manner of untestable claims. Say it was ideal before British and Muslims spoilt it !
5) Say Hindutva is about returning to Vedic civilisation – without specifying this involves living according to Manusmriti.
Crazy man Abishek Be
Crazy man Abishek
Be grateful to us, ur forefathers have survived on our genourosity. What threat r u giving to us,what u denizens of hell can wipe us out. Protect urself from fire which u can if not like ur forefathers u too will be reaching it soon .
god provides everyone
god is the provider for everyone, yet no one seems to care.
everyone living anywhere are working hard for their living. country is just a piece of land.
i pity these fools
Mr.Khalidi u have once again prooved that all muslims in the world r fools and terrorists . u live in a country that provides u everything and u blame it, i pity u man.u live on our sympathy and u dare to talk like this.shame on u.its bcos of us u r able to survive on this earth. u talk about secular what a joke, u hoist pakistani flags even in india and talk about secularism.its high time u be quite else we dont become ruthless towards u people and wipe u out from the face of the earth. dare u not do this mistake once again.
Hinduism is not a religion
Joke from Dr Omer Khalidi..
Hinduism is the way of life...it is Dharma ..not a religion like Christianity(Based on Preachings of Jesus), Islam (Preachings of Prophet Mohammad). Hindus regard Christ,Prophet Mohammad, Buddha,Mahaveer,Chaitanya Prabhu ..etc as saints.
I feel it is nothing wrong in lighting lamp in govt. functions. I strongly feel that India is secular because Hindus are in Majority.
Reply to Salim Haider (fakie chaddhiwala )Hindutva
The word Hindu is of foreign origin (Arabic). Orginally, it only had a geographical connotation as it only meant people who lived in this region. This word does not occur in any Sanskrit texts or shastras. More recently, it came to be associated with a religion.
Thus, Hindus do not have a word of their own to define themselves. They use the word given by the Muslims.
This is to be expected because Hinduism is an amorphous system, where anything goes.
Making such a statement clearly shows you are an ignorant Hindu.
Generally, Hindutva attracts ignorant Hindus, who know little of India or even Hinduism, and you confirm this image.
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