The meaning of democratic, socialist, and secular in India - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... This paper will delve into the different interpretations of democracy, socialism and secularism in light of each and every founding father of India in this particular context.
The Indian society has been for a long time, traditionally plagued by the evil of creed based prejudices and the caste system. Stratification on the orientation of castes has hindered all the possible chances of Indian national unification from the early days. This situation was worsened by the presence of man varied religious groups within India, who were not willing to compromise on whatever grounds to reach a consensus of commonality. The tradition of self-styled and rhetoric religions fuelled divisions among the Indian people. It was a great pain for Mahatma Gandhi to see people stick to the age old tradition of religious intolerance, when it was needed most. It was disturbing for him because it was virtually impossible to organize any nationwide movement against the British oppressors (Collins, Larry, and Lapierre 64).
Secularism for Gandhi was an unconditional necessity to bring any form of an all-encompassing political government and leadership. Gandhi personally preached his ideas of secularism and the religious forbearance across the breadth and length of India. However, preaching was not an easy job for him. Gandhi was up against the British, who has implemented the divide and rule policy in India, which saw the declaration of separate elections for different religions and communities in India. The declaration in the Government Act of India Act in 1935 hurt Gandhi so much, and he fought to his death for the uniting of the warring communal factions (Gudavarthy 88). Gandhi’s vision of a secular state is one where religious values are respected in all spheres of life, the public as well as private, but in which no solitary religion is permitted to dominate the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More