Secularism and Kashmir

O secularise is not to dereligionise but to dereligionise is to demonise. And whenever in history, desecration and despoiling occurs, angels often relax in between the pages of the holy scriptures. But the whole gamut of secularism has everything to do with religion - reinterpret it, create equal respect for all religions and keep apart the material and spiritual growth of civilizations. Religion, as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan said, is "the consciousness of the ultimate reality and not a theory of God". Those, who situate religion anywhere else, do so to mislead and create strife. Thus secularism is one of the most important components of a democratic polity. Religions and their communities find security and sustenance in it. Minority and majority rights are grounded in it, though sometimes a so-called secularist minority stigmatises the majority as primordially oriented, failing to recognize the immense importance of religion in the lives of the people. Prof. T.N. Madan calls it "moral arrogance" when the former tries to preach secularism to the latter as the law of human existence." 

Religious Wars

Historically, secularism arose in Europe in the 16th century to put an end to devastating religious wars. Communities fighting each other over religions and societies, which had tortured the non-believers throughout the Inquisition period, learnt to live together. Even before, by the end of the 11th century the temporal power was seized by some European kings from the hands of the clergy; however, only to be restored to them later. In India, after the anti-colonial struggle, the adoption of secularism as the foundational normative principle of our democracy was rightly the only prudent option for constructing a nation out of fragmented, polarised identities, responsible for causing a blood-spattered split of one people into two nations only over the question of religion.

Under the leadership of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the norm of secularism in our democratic polity was given its three best and basic postulates. But, unfortunately, none of them could obtain in our land of Kashmir. That each individual would freely and fearlessly practise his faith stood undermined in the state as no Kashmiri Pandit could do so fearlessly after the raids of 1947. That one's faith would not invite any discrimination was annulled by the introduction of a quota system in education and jobs. That state and its functionaries would not take part in the activities of institutions of organised religion was subverted by politics done from the places of worship of the majority community. Even at the national level, there was unhappiness between Pt. Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad when the latter participated in activities at the famous Somnath temple. In August 1947, Mahatma Gandhi found total communal peace in Kashmir in the face of the bloody partition of India and saw there a ray of hope and light for the future. But, soon after, in October that year, Mir Maqbool Sherwani was brutally murdered by the marauding invaders for his utter commitment to secular ideals.

U.S. Conspiracy

Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah converted the Muslim Conference into a secularly-based National Conference in 1939. This not only made him succeed against the Maharaja but also strengthened his personal and political bondage with Pt. Nehru. But the Americans and their allies, through a high conspiracy, torpedoed this relationship, resulting in the Sheikh's arrest and the consequent and continuing disenchantment of the majority in the Valley with the rest of India.

The emotional bond was broken and the secessionist intrigue based on religion took its birth.

The story of religion in Kashmir has been amazingly tragic. We have King Lalitaditya in the 8th century, a patron of learning and creator of the glorious Martand temple, and King Avantivarman in the 9th century, kind and benevolent, builder of the Avantiswami temple complex and vihar, followed, in the 11th century , by an extravagant and indulgent Lohara king. Harsha, who desecrated and plundered the temples. He is believed to have done so under the influence of an incoming foreign religion. In the 12th century, King Jaisimha, liberal and religious, restorer of temples followed by the gruesome invasion of Mongol warrior Dulacha (Zul-Kadar Khan) in 1320 AD, killing, looting and enslaving women and children.

First Muslim Puler

We have the first Muslim ruler Rinchan, a Buddhist fugitive from Ladakh, settled at Lar by King Suhadeva on compassion and arrogantly denied entry into their fold by the Kashmiri Brahmins seized Kashmir by deceit, taking advantage of the absence of the king who had fled to Kishtwar Shahmir, a migrant from Swat, settled at Baramulla, murdered queen Kota Rani by intrigue to become the ruler and used his astuteness in keeping Hindus and Muslims pleased. So did his grandson Shihab-ud-din. Sultan Sikandar (1389-1413) influenced by immigrant Baihaqqi Sayyids and his Hindu Chief Minister Suha Bhat - used torture, persecution and destruction to convert an overwhelming Brahmin majority into a miniscule minority, was followed by King Zain-ul-abidin, 15th century, who revived secularism, recalled and rehabilitated the exiled Brahmins and allowed free inter-play of all faiths. His unworthy descendents were followed by power-mongering Sunni Sayyids and Magreys and Shia Chaks and Dars, who destroyed the composite secular fabric by their religious conflicts to seize power. Akbar and Jehangir brought order, stability and freedom of faith, soon to be followed by 14 cruel governors of Aurangzeb who destroyed the very edifice of secularism The 67 years of horrendous rule of the Afghans, following the Mughals, is symbolised by the nerve-racking "Bhatamazar" near the Dal Lake and "Bhatawath" now called Batote. The Sikhs maltreated the Muslims and the Shahi-Hamdan Mosque, ordered to be destroyed by a local Sikh commander, was saved through the intervention of Pt. Birbal Dhar, a noble Kashmiri Pandit, upholding the principle of secular belief. The sad and traumatic experience of 1947 ended the Dogra rule, resulting in communal frenzy and hatred. The Sheikh, throughhis secular dispensation, remedied the situation to a great extent.

The Great Exodus

And now, the sad and woeful exodus of peace-loving Kashmiri Pandits and other secular elements is one of the most gruesome tragedies of the historical process. The only redeeming feature of the present imbroglio, however, is the non-targeting of the major KP shrines of Khir Bhawani-a fact that should strengthen one's faith in the, by and large, tolerant and pluralistic nature of the indigenous majority community of Kashmir.

On the world plane, secularism as a concept and a process has not succeeded in bringing about tolerance and mutual goodwill among different faiths. It is ironic that heads of state, which claim to be secular, still visit heads of clergy for counsel and countenance. Even the Queen of England continues to head the Anglican Church. The scientific methods, enlightenment theories and secular orientations in governmental functioning have been of no avail. Blending of morals with bureaucracy has only been an anachronism. Max Weber's process of secularisation with rationality at its core has not achieved its objective. Law derived from revelation could not be removed from public life. Functional differentiation of society has not relegated religion from social life. Internal dynamics for modernization is just not being allowed in many ideologies: 'Subjective secularisation is not possible as religion is difficult to be disentangled from an individual's consciousness. Structural secularisation to evacuate religion from the frameworks of law, knowledge and power also could not succeed. The building of a nation on the basis of language and religion alone, as proposed by Paul Brass, has not made the nations secular but only promoted separatism. Now, after decades of religious fundamentalism and terrorism, which some call a degenerate form of capitalism, time seems to have come for all faiths of the world to come to one platform to set up a "united faiths organisation" with an "inter-faith" council to ensure their survival and harmony among them. In this context, a recent proposal by the Saudi Arabian King to begin a dialogue among mono- theistic faiths should be extended to all faiths and sub-faiths.

Theocratic Tendency

To conclude, governments, the most unnatural but necessary of social mechanisms, cannot secularize their peoples as they neither create religions nor stop using the priests and the piety to enlist their support for self-perpetuation. Even clever heretics like Napoleon and Mussolini found it necessary towards their end. Many constitutions, too, show an incidental tendency towards theocracy and it is ironic that, in our Constitution as well, Dharma-Nirpekhshta has given place to Panth-Nirpekhsheta. Recently, however, it was heart-warming to hear a Chief Minister say, in the perfect Nehruvean style, that the welfare of all five crore people of his state was his responsibility without mentioning majority or minority.

 

Priests and clergy who create supernatural aids to support morality and create supernatural creeds to grant celestial sanctions even to socially desirable forms of conduct also use fear of the Gods to seek subservience. In short, they use religion to perpetuate their own power and rule and hence will not secularise.

Religion-Based Morals.

But, to quote Will Durant, morals-only aided by and not based upon religion - alter with time and progress in spite of resistance offered by religion. We know the Christian society is monogamous and slavery stands abolished, despite the Bible. Morals even adjust to economic change. If religions turn reluctant to adjust to moral change, intellectual history takes the character of a conflict between reason and religion. If religions try to control arts and letters, the ever-growing knowledge is bound to clash with the least-changing theology, institutions like education and morals, law and punishment, marriage and divorce are bound to escape the religion's stranglehold to become secular, perhaps even profane; literature and philosophy will turn anti-clerical; theology will leave intellectual class; liberation movements will shed dogma and human conduct will give up its religious support.

Religion, says Durant, is the most significant element of a civilization and the most important moral function of a religion is to secularise. If it fails to do so, then like weary wealth it will become burdensome and useless to finally lapse into irrelevance while fighting for the lost causes of the past. Perhaps, that explains why we have a host of religions in the world today.

Karen Armstrong, in her book A History of God says that the cult of secularism is about claiming independence of God", now attempted to be held hostage along with His apostles, by some powerful religious regimes of the world, only to perpetuate their own power and Jagmohan hegemony. Mankind is thus left with no choice but to fling peaceful defiance into their face and thereby salvage the suffering humanity and this glonous world. 

Ref: 1 A Cultural, history of India (Ed.) AL Basham 

2 A History of Christianity- Paul Johnson 

3. A History of God-Karen Armstrong 

4 Beyond Secularism - Neera Chandhok 

5. My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir

6. Kashmir (Behind the Vale)- MJ. Akbar 

7. The Story of Civilization (Vol 1) - Will

8. Islam & Muslim History in South Asia-Francis Robinson 

(The author retired as Reader (English)

Durant from Motilal Nehru College, Delhi, recently).

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Courtesy:- Jawahar Lal Jogi   and Koshur Samachar 2008,May