Secularism: Concept And Practice In India In Reference With UCC And Citizenship Act

Vaibhav Gattani & Dolly Chhabda, Amity University Chhattisgarh

ABSTRACT

Secularism, the must term for a country like India, which is a secular country that is not religion biased and gives respect to all religions and treats everyone equally. India is a secular nation from the very beginning. However, the term “Secular” in the Indian Constitution was added in the year 1976 through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act. A secular country always seeks to balance man-to-man relationships and is unconcerned with man-to-God relationships.

Mahatma Gandhi believed that politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion; by this, he did not mean any particular religion but moral values of all religion as he said “Sarva Dharama Sambhav” which means “equal treatment for all religions”. Despite this fact, there are various instances that will be dealt with in the paper through which it can be said that in the present day still, the concept of secularism has not completely made its place.

This paper will deal with the concept of secularism vis-a-vis The Constitution of India and also whether secularism has maintained its hold as a defining ideology for the country or not, along with the case of the Ayodhya Dispute.

Keywords: Secularism, Constitution, Equal, Ideology, Religion.