I am Jenny Leon Lopaz, an Indian- belonging to a family who lived in this soil since centuries ! My parents have done everything in their means to raise me, educate me and give me the morals required to grow up to a good citizen I am today.
I have new questions rising in my head for the first time in my life :
AM I JUST BEING TOLERATED IN MY OWN COUNTRY?
WHY AM I BEING CALLED A MINORITY ?
IS INDIA REALLY SECULAR?
The preamble of the Constitution of India declares that India is a secular state. The mention of the word secular was missed at the time the Indian Constitution was framed in 1950, notwithstanding the communal conflagrations during the Partition of 1947 and after and the murder of Mahatma Gandhi by an ultra-Hindu ideologue. This was sought to be corrected by the 42nd amendment in 1976, under which India was declared as a secular state. Although India has no state religion, separate laws are applicable to different religious groups according to custom.
Today we live in a very intolerant society - the moment you mention your name to anyone, they search for a religion in it! We are judged by the faith we practise. I dont see the reason why we are such a racistic society. Why do we search for caste, creed, religion, social status, bank balance, family history, etc when we meet people?
I withdrew my application from the "LEAD INDIA" initiative last year - many of my friends had nominated me - I instead ended up bing one of the citizen judges in Bangalore. Coming to think of it now, why dod I not want to go through the whole process of expressing my thoughts, ideas an initiatives? What made me chicken out? Maybe the fact that I am a non-hindu - a person who doesn't have a say in this society as I am from the minority.
Many have argued that India is not truly a secular state. Left-wing critics note that the right to change one's religion is restricted in a handful of states. While no state has ever banned conversions altogether, and while most anti-conversion laws are directed only at "fraudulent" conversions obtained through bribery, fraud, or coercion, these laws may have been implemented unfairly. Furthermore, these critics note that religious violence is a serious problem in India, as reflected in events such as the 2002 Gujarat Violence or the 1984 Sikh massacre by the Indian state and the right-wing Hindutva movements is has supported. Right-wing critics note that Muslims, Hindus, and Christians have their own separate civil codes-and that while the Hindu code has been 'Westernized," no efforts have been made to reform Muslim civil law. They also note controversial efforts to "appease" Muslims through actions such as subsidizing pilgrimages to Mecca-though Hindu pilgrims have no benefits.
Dr. Elst Keonard noted Indologist writes "[India] isn't secular. As a political framework, secularism requires that all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of their religious affiliation. That is a definitional minimum. An Indian secularist would therefore first of all be found on the barricades in the struggle for a common civil code, against the existing legal apartheid between Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. But the only major party to demand the enactment of a common civil code, as mandated by the Constitution, happens to be the BJP. On election eve, the others run to the Shahi Imam to pledge their firm commitment to the preservation of the Shari'a for Muslims. In the West and in the Muslim world, the upholding of religion-based communal legislation is rightly called anti-secularist.
Dr. Elst Keonard noted Indologist writes "[India] isn't secular. As a political framework, secularism requires that all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of their religious affiliation. That is a definitional minimum. An Indian secularist would therefore first of all be found on the barricades in the struggle for a common civil code, against the existing legal apartheid between Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. But the only major party to demand the enactment of a common civil code, as mandated by the Constitution, happens to be the BJP. On election eve, the others run to the Shahi Imam to pledge their firm commitment to the preservation of the Shari'a for Muslims. In the West and in the Muslim world, the upholding of religion-based communal legislation is rightly called anti-secularist.
Long long ago when we desperately fought with our lives to attain freedom, did we foresee a society so callous and cruel? Today, in the 38th year of my life, I am feeling for the first time unwelcome in my own country. Never once before I felt that way. We as a society is becoming more and more intolerant.
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