Religious freedom in India

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India is one of the most diverse nations in terms of religion. Even though Hindus form close to 82 percent of the population, the Indian Muslims form the second largest Muslim population in the world. It is home to the holiest shrines of four world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It is said to be the only country where Zoroastrianism can be practiced freely with no hindrance, even including Dakhma-nashini [1].

Modern India came into existence in 1947 as a secular nation, two of the large sections of India, were partitioned into a new Islamic nation, Pakistan (East Pakistan later became Bangladesh). In Pakistan, the Hindu population declined from 24% to about 1.5%, in Bangladesh the Hindus declined from 39% to 10%. The Muslims in India have increased from 10.3% to 13.4% [2].

The Indian constitution's preamble states that India is a secular state. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution. Every citizen of India has a right to practice and promote their religions peacefully. However there have been many incidence of religious intolerance which resulted in riots, although the issues which caused these riots have been investigated and dealt with[citation needed].

India has a Hindu President Mrs. Pratibha Patil, a Muslim Vice President and a Sikh Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The powerful leader of the Congress Partry Sonia Gandhi is a Christian, while the leader of the opposition is L.K. Advani, a Hindu. India had a prominent former Defence Minister George Fernandes, a Christian (though not practicing) and a Hindu minister controlling foreign affairs. India's IAF Chief Fali H. Major is a Parsi.

India has been generally stated to have religious tolerance and people of different faiths can equally practice their religion publicly[citation needed].

Contents

[edit] Historical Tradition of Religious Freedom

The plural nature of the society in India was encapsulated in an inscription of Asoka:

"King Piyadasi (Ashoka) dear to the Gods, honours all sects, the ascetics (hermits) or those who dwell at home, he honours them with charity and in other ways. But the King, dear to the Gods, attributes less importance to this charity and these honours than to the vow of seeing the reign of virtues, which constitutes the essential part of them. For all these virtues there is a common source, modesty of speech. That is to say, One must not exalt one’s creed discrediting all others, nor must one degrade these others Without legitimate reasons. One must, on the contrary, render to other creeds the honour befitting them.”

King Kharvela (born in the family of Rajarshi Vasu) declares himself in his inscription (approx 2nd cent. BCE) [1]:

sava pasaNDa-puujako, sava devaayatan-sa.nskaarako

Translation: I am worshipper of all sects, restorer of all shrines.

Kharvela's self-description must be contrasted with other rulers around the world, who took pride in calling themselves "but-shikan" or "defender of the (only true) faith"

Badayuni in his Muntakhab-ut-Tawáríkh reports that the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who had established the Din-i-Ilahi faith, decreed the following in AH 1000 (1951-1952 CE):

"Hindus who, when young, had from pressure become Musal­mans, were allowed to go back to the faith of their fathers. No man should be interfered with on account of his religion, and every one should be allowed to change his religion, if he liked. ... People should not be molested, if they wished to build churches and prayer rooms, or idol temples, or fire temples."

[edit] Refuge from Religious Persecution

India, with its traditional tolerance, has served as a refuge for groups that have encountered persecution elsewhare.

  • Parsi: The Zoroastrians from Iran arrived in India fleeing from religious persecution in their native Iran in the 9th century. They flourished in India and in 18-19th centuries intervened on behalf of their co-religionists in still in Iran. They have produced India's pioneering industrialist house of Tatas and one of the only two Indian Field Marshals in S. F. Manekshaw.
  • Jews: Jews in India were granted lands and trading rights and lived unmolested unlike almost everyother country in the world.

[edit] Religious Disturbances and conflicts in India

The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This section has been tagged since December 2007.

Incidents of religious intolerance, conflicts and riots have occurred at several points in time.

  • Islamic invaders such as Mahmud of Ghazni committed iconoclasm and genocide of Hindus.
  • Various rulers of the Mughal era (such as Aurangzeb) are regarded as perpetrators of religious intolerance towards Hindus through acts such as imposition of jizya.
  • The Goa Inquisition perpetrated by Christians was an incidence of massive genocides on the Hindu, Muslim and Jewish populations of Goa by Christian Missionaries.
  • The Jews of Kerala were nearly exterminated by the Portuguese in the 16th century (see Christianity and anti-Semitism#Christian anti-Semitism in India)
  • The National Liberation Front of Tripura, an organization (presently almost disbanded), regarded as a Christian/Nationalist terrorist group operating in Northeastern India, have committed mass-murders on the Hindu population of the region.
  • The Ghanchi Muslims of Gujarat have frequently carried out pogroms against Hindus, most notably the Sindhi riots in the 1960s and the Godhra Train Burning in 2002.
  • The murder of Indira Gandhi had triggered a riot against the Sikhs, often regarded as a Congress Party and its then leader Rajiv Gandhi supported pogrom (for details see 1984 Anti-Sikh riots).
  • The BJP government of Gujarat siding against the Muslims during recent riots against Muslims in Gujarat, triggered by the event above and of not assisting in persecution of the guilty (for details see 2002 Gujarat violence).
  • Hindus in Kashmir have frequently been murdered and ethnically cleansed from the region by Islamic extremists.

[edit] See also

[Mughal era* Direct Action Day

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/poll33.html
  2. ^ http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-sriraman130904.htm
  • RELIGIOUS DEMOGRAPHY OF INDIA: A.P. Joshi, M.D. Srinivas, J.K. Bajaj; Centre for Policy Studies.

[edit] External links


 
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