Secularism in India
India is a secular country. Secularism means that everybody enjoys complete religious freedom. Government will not compel anybody to adopt any particular religion. Religious freedom is our fundamental right and it is written in our constitution. Everybody has the freedom to propagate any religion, to adopt any religion or construct any religious building. No particular religion will be taught in school textbooks. India is a country of different religions. Therefore, secularism is the only process in which different cultures can live and develop peacefully in this country.
Every citizen is free in his religious matters. All religions are treated equally. That is why there is cordial relationship amongst the people having different religions. There is no religious distinction in government jobs. In India minority communities enjoy greater religious freedom. They are allowed to live their life according to their customs and nobody can force their views on them. They have an equal right to vote and send their representatives to the parliament and other law-making agencies.
India is proud of this system of secular life. A country with such diverse cultural and religious fragments can do well only under a secular democratic set-up. A fundamentalist attitude in governance can split it up into small entities thus breaking the high values of its integrity. All the people belonging to different religious sects form parts of the important political parties or groups and stand united together whereas a problem of national integrity or security confronts us from within our country or outside. Some fanatics in every religion cause great miseries to those people who belong to other religion. Those who are ignorant and uneducated, often fall victims to these fanatics. Sometimes the politicians use religion as their tool to arouse the emotions of the people for religious conflicts. They poison the mind of the people for their selfish ends. Communal riots are the examples of their bad shameful deeds. The citizens should not be misled in this way. They should live respecting other religions.
