Are tolerance, assimilation and pluralism the key elements in the making of an Indian form of secularism ?…

Question

Are tolerance, assimilation and pluralism the key elements in the making of an Indian form of secularism ? Justify your answer.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Tolerance, assimilation and pluralism are the civilisational bedrock of Indian secularism, but its constitutional form also needs principled distance, equal citizenship and judicial enforcement. S.R. Bommai (1994) made secularism a basic feature, while Article 17 and Shayara Bano (2017) show the state reforming religion.

**Introduction**

"Secular" entered the Preamble only in 1976, but the ethos runs back to Ashoka's Rock Edict XII, which asked people to honour every sect. Tolerance, assimilation and pluralism are its civilisational base, though its constitutional form needs more.

**How the Three Elements Built Indian Secularism**

SKETCH: timeline | Roots of Indian Secularism
- c. 250 BCE :: Ashoka's Edict XII
- 1575 :: Akbar's Ibadat Khana
- 1950 :: Articles 25-30
- 1976 :: Secular in Preamble
- 1994 :: Bommai: basic structure

1. **Tolerance**: Gandhi's sarva dharma sambhava and Vivekananda's 1893 call to accept, not merely tolerate, all faiths made coexistence a public creed.
2. **Assimilation**: The Bhakti-Sufi synthesis of Kabir and Guru Nanak and Akbar's Sulh-i-kul created the composite Ganga-Jamuni culture.
3. **Pluralism**: Articles 29 and 30 and separate personal laws let communities keep their identity instead of dissolving it.

**Why They Are Necessary but Not Sufficient**

1. **Principled distance**: The state also reforms religion, through Article 17, temple entry under Article 25(2)(b) and Shayara Bano (2017) on instant triple talaq.
2. **Equal citizenship**: Articles 14 to 16 guarantee equality as a right, which tolerance, often condescending, cannot.
3. **Judicial teeth**: S.R. Bommai (1994) made secularism a basic feature of the Constitution and upheld the dismissal of governments that failed to protect it.
4. **Limits of assimilation**: Read as absorption into a majority idiom, assimilation can erase minority identity rather than accommodate it.

**Way Forward**

1. **Rule of law**: Enforce the Tehseen Poonawalla (2018) guidelines against mob lynching whatever the offender's faith.
2. **Reform by consensus**: Reform personal laws through dialogue, as the 21st Law Commission (2018) advised.

**Conclusion**

Tolerance, assimilation and pluralism are the key civilisational elements of Indian secularism, but principled distance, equality and judicial enforcement complete its constitutional form. Together they turn Sarva Dharma Sambhava into lived constitutional fraternity.

Are tolerance, assimilation and pluralism the key elements in the making of an Indian form of secularism ? Justify your answer.

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