Secular India: An obituary

I was proud to be an Indian because of my country's secular and liberal character. But that India is no more...

Sapan Kapoor May 19, 2014
Dear Friends,

With a broken and shattered heart, I have to bring to your notice that the secular India we all loved and admired is no more. It was 67-years-old.

Just like secular India’s birth in 1947, its demise was also a tragic one. Verily, it came under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s car and got crushed on May 16, 2014.

As expected, Modi felt bad about the incident and expressed his regret by saying,
“I feel bad even when a puppy comes under the car. After all, I am also a human being.”

Even as I listened to Prime Minister Modi’s magnanimous and heartrending expression of regret, a large tear trickled down my cheek, for I loved our secular India from the bottom of my heart. I was proud to be an Indian because of our country’s secular and liberal character, for in it minorities felt safe and protected.

I am still reeling under the shock of its tragic loss; it will take some time for it to sink in that my secular India is no more, that it’s gone forever. Alas, I am at a loss of words to express my grief.

Nonetheless, even as secular India breathed its last after Modi administered it a coup de grâce, a new Hindu India was born. In Hindu India, minorities will be treated as second class citizens, dissent will be squelched, press will be muzzled and liberals will be hounded.

The funeral will take place on May 21, 2014 as Modi takes oath as the prime minister of Hindu India.

As for my love, my India, fare thee well. I have always loved you.
WRITTEN BY:
Sapan Kapoor A history buff and India-based journalist, the author has worked with the Press Trust of India. He blogs at sehar-anawakening.blogspot.in/ and tweets as @dRaconteur.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (72)

priyanka | 9 years ago | Reply please dont equate india to pakistan where hindus and christians are persecuted to death under false blasphemy cases and their temples and churches raided. Here muslims go to colleges/work with hindus and if you are so concerned about minorities in india why dont you live in pakistan where you would be blown up.
Sridhar Kaushik | 9 years ago | Reply The only obituary is to this author and his ilk. They can get a visa for Timbuktu if they like. Let us first define secularism. May be this author is not aware that secularism is a western concept which seeks to separate church from the state. What this means is: state will not have any say in the matters of religion which is personal. Did Congress ever practise secularism as per the above definition? Its secularism was "sucking up to the minorities". Let me just give one eg. There is a law that allows churches, mosques to be run privately without govt interference. This is scrupulously practised even if some of these are not "functioning" or there are allegations of mismanagement. It is left to the local Wakf authorities in the matter of mosques for eg to sort out the problem. Govt never ever interferes. When it comes to a temple and there is alleged "misnamagement", the govt (congress or its allies) happily take over the temple. No questions asked. This has happened in case of Padmanabha temple in kerala recently and in case of various temples in Tamil Nadu in the past. The mosque where millions of devout hindus think a Ram temple existed in the past has not been functioning as a mosque for past several years. It is run by a Shia moulvi who seems to have no problem quitting the premises as long as another land is made available. The whole thing is stalled by sunnis who take objection to hindus building a temple at the site! This is happening in a "hind" majority India. Congress has not been able to solve the issue as it continues to side with the minorities for "vote bank" politics. Another eg of shining secularism by the congress! I can go on but i will stop here.
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