These are relatively normal times for India’s secularism: there has been no serious internal threat to it, at least since the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat. Therefore, the present appears to be the appropriate time to seek dispassionately and understand the true meaning of secularism in India without being influenced by the compulsions of crisis-like events. Predictably, there has been no dearth of scholarly interest in the subject in recent months. Such interest is welcome as it helps to achieve clarity on what Indian secularism entails, well before we confront the next crisis.
The two books under review attempt to unravel the meaning of Indian secularism in the light of contemporary challenges. In the first book, Rajeev Bhargava, Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, and a long-time student of Indian secularism both as an activist and as a scholar, has put together his essays written between 1990 and 2003 with a unifying theme. Those familiar with his earlier writings are sure to feel a sense of déjÀ vu while reading some of these essays. However, rereading them in the light of new contemporary issues, interspersed with his fresh insights, is a stimulating experience.
Ronojoy Sen is a young journalist with The Times of India, New Delhi, and his book began as a PhD dissertation when the author was a research scholar at the University of Chicago. Sen had the advantage of using, among other sources, the scholarly output of Bhargava for his analysis of the Supreme Court’s judgments on religion and secularism from 1950 onwards. Reading these two books together helps one to understand the similarities and differences in their approach to secularism.
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