V-P Hamid Ansari calls on SC to help clarify Principles of Secularism and ways to strengthen it in composite culture

April,3,2016:

As we transit into the next millennium, the Supreme Court has a lot to reflect upon.

Quoting from a report calling upon the Supreme Court to reflect how to protect minorities from majoritarianism, Vice-President Hamid Ansari Saturday urged the court to clarify contours within which secularism and composite culture should operate so as to remove ambiguities.

Joining the debate on secularism, Vice-President M Hamid Ansari on Saturday said any discussion of the constitutional ideal of India being a 'secular' republic having a 'composite culture' has to be premised on the existential reality of the society which is characterised by heterogeneity.

Joining the debate on secularism, Vice-President M Hamid Ansari on Saturday said any discussion of the constitutional ideal of India being a 'secular' republic having a 'composite culture' has to be premised on the existential reality of the society which is characterised by heterogeneity.

"Is it therefore bold to expect that the Supreme Court may consider, in its wisdom, to clarify the contours within which the principles of secularism and composite culture should operate with a view to strengthen their functional modality and remove ambiguities that have crept in?

He said that a few years ago, in a volume published on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Supreme Court, lawyers Rajeev Dhavan & Fali S Nariman had observed that “as we transit into the next millennium, the Supreme Court has a lot to reflect upon, and not least on how to protect the minorities and their ilk from the onslaught of majoritarianism”.

Indian secularism has been described as ameliorative whose spiritual core is incrementalism. A citizen could well hope that this incremental approach is used to enhance social cohesion and social peace," Ansari said. He said in present times people increasingly turn to the judiciary hoping it can solve pressing social problems.

"One of the matters in the societal domain that figure prominently in public discourse relate to the constitutional ideal of India being a 'secular' republic having a 'composite culture'. The former expression is in the Preamble and the latter in Article 51A(f).

He said any discussion of these constitutional values has to be premised on the existential reality of our society. "It is characterised by heterogeneity; a population of 1.3 billion comprising of over 4,635 communities 78 per cent of whom are not only linguistic and cultural but social categories. Religious minorities constitute 19.4 per cent of the total," he added. "Our democratic polity and its secular State structure were put in place in full awareness of this plurality."

There was no suggestion to erase identities and homogenise them," he added. Quoting from judgment in the Bommai case, the vice president said in spite of clarity on secularism in the judgment, different interpretations were placed on it. He said there was no real consensus within the court on what secularism entails.