The Meaning of Democratic, Socialist, and Secular in India - Essay Example

The meaning of Democratic, Socialist, and Secular in India Introduction India as an autonomous country has its history. Just like any other country, India has its founding fathers that had different visions for their motherland. Among the three most prominent founding fathers of the post-independent India are Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhai Patel, and Jawaharlal Nehru. They all sought to build a nation that was amorphous; democratic, socialist and secular. However, despite the fact that they all shared a common vision of making a better India, they all attached different meanings to democracy, socialism, and secularism. In view of their different interpretations, they used different approaches and instruments in realizing their visions for India. This paper will delve into the different interpretations of democracy, socialism and secularism in light of each and every founding father of India in this particular context. Mahatma Gandhi Secularism The Indian society has been for a long time, traditionally plagued by the evil of creed based prejudices and the caste system. Stratification on the orientation of castes has hindered all the possible chances of Indian national unification from the early days. This situation was worsened by the presence of man varied religious groups within India, who were not willing to compromise on whatever grounds to reach a consensus of commonality. The tradition of self-styled and rhetoric religions fuelled divisions among the Indian people. It was a great pain for Mahatma Gandhi to see people stick to the age old tradition of religious intolerance, when it was needed most. It was disturbing for him because it was virtually impossible to organize any nationwide movement against the British oppressors (Collins, Larry, and Lapierre 64). Secularism for Gandhi was an unconditional necessity to bring any form of an all-encompassing political government and leadership. Gandhi personally preached his ideas of secularism and the religious forbearance across the breadth and length of India. However, preaching was not an easy job for him. Gandhi was up against the British, who has implemented the divide and rule policy in India, which saw the declaration of separate elections for different religions and communities in India. The declaration in the Government Act of India Act in 1935 hurt Gandhi so much, and he fought to his death for the uniting of the warring communal factions (Gudavarthy 88). Gandhi’s vision of a secular state is one where religious values are respected in all spheres of life, the public as well as private, but in which no solitary religion is permitted to dominate the rest. Socialism Socialism is an economic system of society. It includes social possession of the means of production as well as the cooperative management of the society. Such a system would consist of the production and distribution of goods and services to directly satisfy the people in that society and not for private profits. Mahatma Gandhi was against the Western conceptions that he viewed as fundamentally different from theirs. The British had established the divide and rule policy, and thus the privileged in the society enjoyed more compared to the societal riff raff (Gudavarthy 65). Mahatma quoted such tendencies as “selfishness of human nature”, which he did not subscribe to. Mahatma pointed out the fact that all men are created by God, and for this reason we are all equally entitled to an equivalent share of food, clothing, and housing. He also reiterated the fact that the doctrine of the Gita clearly outlines “one should only possess what he or she requires, and the rest be shared among those that are underprivileged”. He further pointed out, “the key to socialism is equal pay for equal work, so we are entitled to the same portions of everything because we are in the same economic and societal system”. He feared that massive production would lead to urbanization and exploitation (Gudavarthy 76). Democracy Gandhi was an anarchist, so he was in a stateless society where people had no prejudices and thus never became a hindrance to one another. He believed that self-dependency, self-regulation, and mutual co-operation molded the society. Thus, for Gandhi, a democratic state would be based on political power and influence thus cannot lead human beings to achieve the goal of life ultimately. He pointed out that democracy as a fabricated institution could be misused and thus would hinder self-dependency, self-control, and mutual co-operation. He was, for this reason, advocating its reduction in use to keep its abuse at a minimum (Guha 34). Jawaharlal Nehru Secularism Jawaharlal Nehru was the leader of the Congress Party of India that was strongly behind the idea of secularism. His party worked so hard to table a political concept of secularism. The concept of secularism would make Indians comprehend how to bond “secularly” with an individual of a different religion, caste, language, and yet feel “Indian”. The Congress party stood for the idea of Indians still existing in the caste system, and that people were created to be different from God so we should conduct ourselves in a manner to appreciate Gods diversity in creation (Guha 56). Nehru defined secularism as the “adoption of different standards when dealing with different communities or religions”, which clearly contrasts with Gandhi’s view of secularism. He was of the idea that India be vivisected on the grounds of religion, to separate the “majority” (Hindus) from the “minorities” (non-Hindus). Democracy Jawaharlal Nehru was very instrumental in the introduction of the universal adult franchise. He was a strong believer in the idea of democracy, and it passed to the people and the masses. Provisions relating to the right to equality, right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to constitutional remedies and the right to freedom of religion were the major pillars around which the Constitution was built upon. The contributions made by Jawaharlal Nehru were affecting in galvanizing the constitutional and political philosophies that have shaped India to what it currently is. His ideologies and approaches are expressed in the Constitution of India (Jayal 78). Socialism Jawaharlal Nehru was a firm disbeliever in the ideology of socialism. Jawaharlal Nehru believed in Mass production of goods and services to serve everyone, but for economic purposes. He was bulwarking the support of the banking institutions, general insurance policies, nationalization of trade and the concentration of economic power. For this reason, he was an important part in the enactment of the Indian constitution, so that people traded and interacted according to the law as, not to oppress, or suffocate the less fortunate, but not to share with them what is hard earned (Jayal 88). Vallabhai Patel Democracy Vallabhai Patel was very instrumental in the formulation of the Constitution of India. As a matter of fact, he is the conceiver of the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). These are very important structures in any government, and they are extant to date. They have enabled India to survive as a state that acknowledges democracy (Jayal 89). Socialism Vallabhai Patel was a firm believer in socialism. He never used to comprehend any reason as to why his neighbor would sleep on an empty stomach and yet he had plenty of food supplies. Even if he was for the idea of constitutionalism, he was also supporting the idea of socialism as long as it was conducted in a way that no individual was looked down upon or sorely treated by another human being. Secularism Vallabhai Patel, a strong supporter of socialism, also believed in the fact that all people are the same and, for this reason, should be treated equally. Patel was strongly against the caste system, although his efforts proved futile because no change had been elicited by actions by the time of his death. He shared common views with Mahatma Gandhi on secularism. How and why did Nehru’s vision triumph over Gandhi’s and Patel’s? Nehrus vision triumphed over Gandhi’s and Patel’s because, among the three founding fathers of India; it is his vision that moved the masses the most. Despite the efforts made by Gandhi and Patel to stop secularism, it is in fact still in existence and is widely practiced. Secondly, his vision is the one that led to the formulation of the first Indian constitution after independence (Khilnani 99). How Indira Gandhi’s notion of Socialism and Democracy Differ from those of the Nehruvian Congress Indira Gandhi appreciated the orderly system left by the Brits, but reiterated that it led to the strengthening of the caste system since there was a loophole. The less fortunate were being exploited by the wealthy socially and economically, and the resultant effect was widening the gap between the young and the rich. She tabled an agenda to make everyone equal, which was achieved through the All India Congress Committee. Thus, Nehru and Indira had the same democratic views, although delivered differently. On the issue of Socialism, Nehru and Indira were on different pages because Nehru was strongly against the idea of socialism and Indira was bulwarking it (Reinhardt 56). It is on these grounds that Indira formulated her ten-point agenda that was bent on making every Indian citizen enjoy national insurance, banking services, streamlining of trade, distribution of food grains as well the decentralization of economic and political powers. Works Cited Collins, Larry, and Dominique Lapierre. Freedom at Midnight. New York : Simon and Schuster, [1975], 1975. UF/Winebrenner Catalog. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Gudavarthy, Ajay. Re-Framing Democracy And Agency In India : Interrogating Political Society. New York: Anthem Press, 2012. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Guha, Ramachandra. India After Gandhi : The History of The Worlds Largest Democracy. New York : Ecco, c2007., 2007. UF/Winebrenner Catalog. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Jayal, Niraja Gopal. Democracy in India. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001., 2001. OhioLINK Library Catalog – LR. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Khilnani, Sunil. The Idea of India. London : Penguin, 2004, c1999., 2004. OhioLINK Library Catalog – LR. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Reinhardt, W. W.1. "India after Gandhi: The History of The Worlds Largest Democracy." Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries 45.10 (2008): 1830. Education Source. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Read More