Secularism is Sacred And Hypocritical: Yogendra Yadav

Brut India

As New Delhi grapples with the aftermath of deadly communal clashes, here is Yogendra Yadav explaining the gradual decay of Indian secularism. He was speaking to Cine Ink's Pervaiz Alam in 2018.

Transcript

00:00India is a country of minorities. Every person is a minority.

00:07Because secularism is India's most sacred principle.

00:14And India's biggest fraud.

00:18What is the sacred principle?

00:20The sacred principle is that it is a part of India's self-religion.

00:26India cannot survive without secularism.

00:32I don't care about the word secularism.

00:35India has only two options.

00:37Either it will be a secular India or it will never be the India we know.

00:44So India will survive as a unity.

00:49It will survive as a political unity.

00:52But there is a condition that there should not be any one religion's followers.

00:59In this minimal sense, secularism is at the base of India.

01:04Secularism is India's most sacred principle.

01:08Of our national movement, of our constitution.

01:11And also because the diversity in India will not be permanent.

01:18If there is no diversity in any country, then the dream of the country will be shattered.

01:23This is a sacred thing.

01:24It can still apply to any other country.

01:26Japan does not have such a wide variety.

01:28What difference does it make?

01:30But India, the kind of religious diversity we have here.

01:35If this country does not remain secular, then this country will not survive.

01:39These people do not understand.

01:41This is not Sri Lanka that you can beat the Tamils and burn the country.

01:45In India, some people see this debate in such a way that

01:4880% of the population believes in one religion.

01:53And 20% believe in all religions.

01:55In which there are Hindus, there are no Hindus.

01:57In which there are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, etc.

02:01So there is a big majority.

02:03What will secularism do in this?

02:05Let only one majority run in this.

02:08I would like to say two or three things.

02:11First, we forget that 20% means 25 crore people.

02:1825 crore people are close to the total population of America.

02:23So it is not a very small number.

02:25Second, democracy does not mean that the majority rules.

02:32Democracy does not mean that the majority is born.

02:36Majority rules in democracy.

02:39On the condition that I can be a part of that majority.

02:43Sometimes.

02:44There is a majority of opinions.

02:46If the birth majority starts ruling democracy, then why should I take part in it?

02:51And third, which we call Hindu religion.

02:55It is a very ancient and very deep tradition.

02:58It is so diverse in itself.

03:02I am a Hindu.

03:04When I meet the Hindus of South India.

03:06When I meet the Hindus of East India.

03:08I do not understand half of their culture.

03:10What are they doing? How are they doing it?

03:12The majority, which we call the majority society.

03:17There are minorities in it too.

03:23Generally, people do not understand this in India.

03:27India is a country of minorities.

03:30Every person is a minority.

03:33When we talk about secularism.

03:35People think that secularism is a concession for minorities.

03:39Who are the minorities? Muslims, Sikhs, Christians.

03:42We forget that every person is a minority in this country.

03:46If there is a riot against Hindi speakers in Mumbai.

03:50Then their being a Hindu, their being a Hindi speaker does not matter.

03:55There is no person in this country.

03:58Which is the majority in the country.

04:00The majority in the state.

04:02The majority in the city.

04:04The majority in the streets.

04:06The majority in religion.

04:08The majority in caste.

04:09The majority in language.

04:11Which means, there are all kinds of riots in this country.

04:14So, secularism is the principle to save every person.

04:19This is a sacred thing.

04:21It is a sacred thing to save secularism.

04:26To save secularism, we have to save the idea of India.

04:31On the other hand, where does the fanaticism come from?

04:34Which you have explained.

04:36What has happened in this country in the name of secularism.

04:39Usually, secular people avoid saying these things.

04:42They are afraid.

04:43They try to explain it.

04:44They think that it is Modi's rule.

04:46Keep these things hidden.

04:47What is the need to say?

04:48But after a lot of thinking, I have come to the conclusion that no.

04:51These things should be said openly.

04:53It should be said with honesty.

04:55The policies that have been implemented in this country in the name of secularism.

05:00The intellectual work that has been done.

05:05And the politics that has been done.

05:07That is fanaticism.

05:09You know, what you are saying is like music.

05:12For the RSS people.

05:14For the supporters of Modi Ji.

05:17But say it.

05:18Say it badly.

05:19That line.

05:20It is very important to say that there are a large number of such people in politics.

05:26And there are political parties as well.

05:28Who say, take for granted secularism.

05:31And defamed it to that extent.

05:34Which I understand from what you are saying.

05:36That now people do not believe in words.

05:39Today, secularism has been made such a bad word.

05:45Why has it been made?

05:47You can say that the RSS was made by the BJP through propaganda.

05:50They have been trying for 70-80 years.

05:53Why didn't it happen?

05:54Somewhere or the other, there is a problem in secular practice.

05:57Where is the problem?

05:58I have thought a lot about this question.

06:00I have also thought about this.

06:01Some things are said by the RSS.

06:05And I reached this belief in the end.

06:07My guru was Kishan Patnaik.

06:09He had taught me.

06:10Son, speak the truth.

06:11If you speak the truth, you will reach the ultimate right place in politics.

06:15No matter how difficult the path is.

06:17So the truth is that the secular policy in India.

06:21Its practice and its politics.

06:25All three are fraudulent.

06:27How are they? I will tell you one by one.

06:29This policy of secularism.

06:31What is this policy?

06:33What did we do in its name?

06:35The truth is that the BJP says that you have appeased the Muslims.

06:39In every such myth, this is a lie.

06:43But in every such lie, there is a small seed of truth.

06:46What is that seed of truth?

06:48The truth is that here in India, the Muslims, not only the Muslims.

06:53Christians, Christians, Sikhs.

06:56Their clergy, their creditors.

06:59They were exploited.

07:01And the society was ruined.

07:03Now, let's write the case of Shabano.

07:06This is exactly what happened in the case of Shabano.

07:08In fact, in the case of Shabano, it happened that

07:10I remember very well that two groups were formed in this.

07:12One was Arif Mohammad Khan, who was taking a liberal view.

07:16This is about the time of Rajiv Gandhi, when he was the Prime Minister.

07:19And the other was Zia Ansari, who was a member of UNAO.

07:23He was an MP and a minister as well.

07:25And his line was a little orthodox.

07:27And then I saw that the strict Muslims are going a little that way.

07:31That is, they are against the judgement of Shabano.

07:34So they changed their line overnight.

07:37And the result of that was that the wise people, the literate people,

07:42they thought, what kind of a government is this?

07:45They put a little pressure, and on such a wrong thing,

07:48you changed the law?

07:50So it was appeasement.

07:52But it was not the appeasement of Muslims.

07:54It was the appeasement of creditors.

07:56The appeasement of Muslim creditors,

07:58and the total destruction of the Muslim society.

08:01What does a true report say?

08:03What are we seeing after 10 years of a true report?

08:05Today, Muslims have no education, no employment.

08:09There is discrimination in housing.

08:12Security is a question for them.

08:14And where is all the Muslim politics happening?

08:16At the triple talaq.

08:17What is the meaning of this?

08:19Is this a question on which you are mobilizing the entire community?

08:22So, these secular politics that were raised on some questions,

08:26their meaning was that,

08:28let's put all the Muslims on some symbolic issues.

08:34And let's ignore their real questions.

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