Is India a secular nation in name only due to the lack of UCC?

India assumed the status of a secular nation decades ago through a constitutional amendment (#42, on 1st April 1977, Ref. 1), implying no intrusion and influence in Govt. and Govt. official laws from religion(s) and religious heads.

Considering that the religious law (viz. religion) officially undermines the secularism in Govt. because of their mutually exclusivity, the idea of secularism in the case of India turned out to be meaningless and ineffective right from the start because of several anti-secular religious laws already in force officially for different communities and without instead having nationally a pro-secular single non-religious, nonracial, genderless and casteless UCC (uniform civil code).

In this regard, even the Congress party which, while in power (1977), had come up first with the idea of secularism with respect to India, unfortunately made no effort initially (during the constitutional amendment on secularism, Ref. 1) or later (as a party in Govt. or Opposition) to make secularism in India practical and meaningful, by getting rid of the religious laws for different communities and implementing instead the UCC (uniform civil code: one law nationally for everyone, irrespective of religion, race, gender and caste).

Needless to say, whatever was expected and hoped in the name of secularism for India in reality was nullified and lost because of the religious laws in use officially while not having the UCC. The title of secularism for India thus appears as hollow and in name only. Moreover, if there should be a change in future in this regard, to make India truly and effectively a secular nation, Govt. should first get rid of religious laws in use currently, followed immediately by the implementation of UCC (Ref. 2).  


(1) Subhash C. Sharma, "Misunderstanding about secularism in India", Jan. 27, 2011 (originally in hubpages.com), http://creative.sulekha.com/misunderstanding-about-secularism-in-india_595225_blog

(2) Subhash C. Sharma ('Lamberdar'), "Comments and questions on secularism and UCC in India", May 12, 2011 (originally in hubpages.com), http://creative.sulekha.com/comments-and-questions-on-secularism-and-ucc-in-india_519217_blog

Let's investigate in the following the situation before and after the Govt. and people started using the title secular for India.

After India's Independence from Britain in 1947, the Indians belonging to different religious communities continued to use, as before, their respective religious laws officially.

While the archaic religious laws used officially by people were sometimes counterproductive and in conflict with others (people and laws in other communities), these laws generally treated their own women as less / worse than their men socially, religiously and financially (even granting greater share to men than women from marital and parental properties).

Surprisingly, even though the word "secular" (implying the lack of interference and influence from religion in Govt. and Govt. laws) was not used before for India, which made sense anyway because people in India had been using religious laws officially thus making India ineligible for the title of secular, the Congress-led Govt. under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1977 suddenly declared India as a secular nation through a constitutional amendment (Ref. 1) while even continuing with the use of religious laws officially for people. In addition, there was no effort on the part of Govt. / Parliament then, or later, to replace the previous anti-secular and discriminatory religious laws with a secular-friendly UCC (uniform civil code: one law nationally for everyone, irrespective of religion, race, caste and gender) which could have legitimized the title of secular for India.

So, what basically changed from before when Govt. / Parliament in 1977 started calling India a secular nation following a constitutional amendment, while continuing with the practice of archaic and discriminatory religious laws officially for people?

The answer is "nothing" except causing the confusion and delusion about India as a secular nation, considering India in reality will not be a secular nation until Indian Govt. / Parliament implements UCC (one law for everyone irrespective of religion, race, caste and gender) to replace the existing religious laws used officially.

"..... How do you know that they (people, newspapers and political parties) are lying (about secularism). it may be your biased views from different continent. There is proverbs in Hindi “जाकेपैर न फटी बिवाई वा का जाने पीर पराई”.India has culture of Vasudhave Kutumbakam. We don’t differentiate between the people.We have culture of समभाव सर्व धर्म In English it is secularism....." (a comment on FB)

My Response:

It's a choice between dumb and liar. If someone talks about India as a secular nation in spite of that country's use of religious laws officially by people, then either he / she has no clue about secularism or is lying about India being a secular nation.

Believing something blindly or foolishly, such as "We have culture of समभाव सर्व धर्म In English it is secularism", cannot change what secularism really is, while even claiming idiotically that we and our political party are more secular than others.

The essence of secularism is to achieve equality by officially ignoring religion(s) altogether, and not by conducting yourself officially according to the religious laws or considering all religions as equal officially.

More on this in the following,"Comments And Questions On Secularism And UCC In India": http://creative.sulekha.com/comments-and-questions-on-secularism-and-ucc-in-india_519217_blog