Secularism and Me !!

 I have this constant tussle within if I am secular or I am not, finally I am able to clearly say that the I do not subscribe to the current construct of Secularism. 

The book definition of being secular is not related to Religion. I am a person with religious belief. The definition of secularism is "the belief that religion should not influence or be involved in the organization of society, education, government, etc.". Secularism by definition does not exist, at least not in India. We have clear distinction in policies and rights based on Religion. Now when I am living in a world where religion dictates policies, rights, and politics, can anyone be secular. 

Why I chose to disassociate myself from the current secular scenario:

Since the right-wing political party came into view, I have only seen people with propagandas against my religion, which is right now the majority. Let's look at them from my lens:

Sabarimala: Petition was filed by Indian Young Lawyers’ Association, presided by Naushad Ahmed Khan. There are 5 Hindu petitioners as well, but can we ignore the President of the association, obviously when you are submitting one for a religious cause you cannot put a person from other faith there. But let us not exclude any undisclosed affiliations.

FYI: for a similar petition filed for women entry in Mosque, the Muslim law board came strictly back saying, it is their religious matter and court should not intervene. Similar statements were given on Fatwas by MLB. No outrage on this, no women ran with police into mosques inner areas, no one talked of inequality. Not even the President of Indian Young Lawyers Association.

Ram Mandir Trust: It is a trust created to donate for creating Ram mandir in Ayodhya post the supreme court verdict. People have issues with that, they are questioning everyone from the devotee to government on why it is needed. We should instead build a hospital. I have never seen them questioning any Muslim board on the mosques or ask them to instead build a hospital.

Personally I do not care what they do with their religion, but I am agitated when they and those who call themselves secular question my religion and faith.

Worst question of all, why do we offer milk to Shiv lingams, why not give it to poor people. Is that the only milk available in market. And to this you only see it as a commodity, you do not see it with my faith. It is not just a commodity that I am offering, it is my faith and my belief. How can you compare that with giving food to poor? I strongly agree and believe in donating, but it does not have to be from my share of faith. Donate from the extra you spend on restaurants or on those takeaways. From the liquor you drink or cigarette you smoke. But amazingly no one ever asked for that.

Worst use of my religion - pick movie like PK, it will show a guy dressed like a Hindu God, running around, and made fun of. Have you ever seen a God from any other faith being shown like this? And the one who creates such content is from a different faith but would not dare to do the same to his faith. Then came the series showing dystopian world or Quantico. I have not watched either and I plan not to. There has not been a single act of terrorism conducted by people of my faith or believers. I am not saying all are good, but terrorism is not encouraged in our faith itself. But people like Humma Qureshi, from a different faith happily agree to show our faith in a bad light. Can she work in a series showing the atrocities done by ISIS. The answer is no, she will get enough fatwas for even imagining it. But why is it easy to target my religion, by people living in my own country, where we are in majority?

Cow vigilante: another big controversial topic is why Cow is being treated better than Humans. It is not being treated like that, but it should be. It is held in high regards in my religion, my faith. So, in a country where majority is Hindu, why should not there be laws protecting Cows. This does not mean I support people being killed in the name of Cow protection. It should not be handled by crowd, but proper laws should be created, and Cows should be protected.

Why In a secular country we have different human right for people of different faith, why not be truly secular and have uniform civil code. Why should we all not fall under the same umbrella. All seculars should advocate that. But they won't. 

One last question, why where majority is Hindu, a law for Hindu faith is non secular. India is a democracy, which means it is ruled by majority. But you will see the opposite, minority appeasement. And that is because of vote bank politics. So where is the secularism in all this. It is time we ask, are we really secular or just confused in the run of being called secular.

I have decided to take the plunge and stand far from the so-called seculars. I mean no harm to any other religion or faith. I do not care what you believe in. I have no urge of converting this entire world as a Hindu world. I want people should practice their faith and let me practice mine, with no threat and no interference. Religion is based on faith, where we should only question ours!!!