With the BJP securing a third consecutive term in power in 2024, India is no longer debating secularism\u2014it is witnessing its metamorphosis into majoritarian rule. To some, this is a long-overdue reckoning that corrects decades of minority appeasement. To others, it is the death of the republic\u2019s founding ideals. But what if both are wrong? But what if both are distractions from the larger truth?
\nSecularism in India was never pure\u2014it was always political. The collapse of secularism is not the doing of the last decade\u2014it has been unraveling for 77 years. Since Independence, successive governments have distorted, exploited, and selectively applied secularism to serve their own political survival. It was never about true neutrality; it was about control. The judiciary, once the strongest safeguard of secular values, has become an inconsistent force\u2014at times upholding secularism, at other times legitimizing its erosion. Secularism remains a constitutional principle, but in practice, it has been reinterpreted, redefined, and weakened to the point where it no longer functions as a safeguard against religious majoritarianism.
\nThe real crisis lies in its indecipherability. Framed as neutrality but often practiced as negotiation, secularism has meant different things at different times\u2014to the state, the courts, and the people. Its contradictions have allowed it to survive, but they have also made it vulnerable.
\nIf secularism is to survive, it must be reimagined\u2014not as passive neutrality, but as Diversity-Embracing Secularism, an active force that refuses to bow to political expediency. The fight is not between parties but between two visions of India\u2014one that embraces diversity and one that seeks to erase it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mit dem dritten aufeinanderfolgenden Wahlsieg der BJP im Jahr 2024 wird in Indien nicht mehr \u00fcber S\u00e4kularismus debattiert \u2013 das Land erlebt dessen Metamorphose in eine majorit\u00e4re Herrschaft. F\u00fcr einige ist dies eine l\u00e4ngst \u00fcberf\u00e4llige Abrechnung, die Jahrzehnte der Minderheitenbeg\u00fcnstigung korrigiert. F\u00fcr andere bedeutet es den Tod der Gr\u00fcndungsprinzipien der Republik. Aber was, wenn beide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[55],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6114","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-fau-studien-aus-der-philosophischen-fakultaet","7":"has-post-title","8":"has-post-date","9":"has-post-category","10":"has-post-tag","11":"has-post-comment","12":"has-post-author","13":"","15":"first","16":"instock","17":"taxable","18":"shipping-taxable","19":"purchasable","20":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"autor":"Chakraborty, Lahari","orcid":"0009-0005-0127-2571","ror":"00f7hpc57","herausgeber":"","orcid_hrsg":"","rorhrsg":"","bearbeiter":"","sonstige_beteiligte_personen":"","untertitel":"Conceptual Ambiguities and Institutional Operationalisation","zusatz":"","jahr":"2025","zeitschrift":"","serie":"","serie_name":false,"serie_band":"","serie_jahr":"","serie_titel_band":"","vortrage":"","issn":"","isbn":"","isbn13":"978-3-96147-842-2","seiten":"xiv, 318","sonstiges":"","band":31,"auflage":"","opus":"","dspace":"37363","e-isbn_pdf":"978-3-96147-843-9","doi":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25593\/978-3-96147-843-9","epub":"","e-isbn_epub":"","doi_epub":"","html":"","e-isbn_html":"","doi_html":"","e-isbn_reader":"","doi_reader":"","digibib":"","urn":"urn:nbn:de:101:1-2509260504099.279115360031","supplementary_material":"","sprache":["Englisch"],"ausgabe":"Softcover","suche":" 9783961478422 9783961478439 ","lizenz":"BY-4","bemerkung":""},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/6114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.university-press.fau.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=6114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}