REDIRECTING THE HISTORY OF INDIA FROM A SECULAR PERSPECTIVE
This article has its origin in the following trilemma: if you ask a Muslim or a Sikh in India he or she is more likely than not to claim that although the Indian state claims to be a secular state, it is in effect a Hindu state; and if you were to ask a Hindu whether the Indian state is a secular st...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Dharmaram College
2003
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| In: |
Journal of Dharma
Year: 2003, Volume: 28, Issue: 2, Pages: 241-254 |
| Further subjects: | B
History of India
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article has its origin in the following trilemma: if you ask a Muslim or a Sikh in India he or she is more likely than not to claim that although the Indian state claims to be a secular state, it is in effect a Hindu state; and if you were to ask a Hindu whether the Indian state is a secular state the likelihood is, an increasing day by day, that he or she would say: it claims to be one but in effect favours the minorities and discriminates against the Hindus. If, however, you asked the members of the legislatures, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary of the Indian state, they would in all likelihood assert that India is a secular state. This adds yet another dimension to the issue. The religious minorities form one horn; the religious majority the second, and the secularists the third horn of this dilemma - and, if I may be permitted to mix metaphors - the simultaneous claim by each that its ox is being gored constitutes the trilemma. |
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| ISSN: | 0253-7222 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Dharma
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