The conceptual vocabularies of secularism and minority rights in India

Secularism, one of the main political ideologies of the post-colonial state in India, has been at the centre of scholarly and political debates in recent times. This article seeks to illuminate some aspects of the career of secularism in India through an analysis of two landmark parliamentary debates on minority rights: the Constituent Assembly debates (1946-1949) and the Shah Bano debate (1986). My analysis attempts, first, to challenge a contrast commonly made by both advocates and critics of secularism in India, between a Western model of secularism, identified with separation of state and religion, and an Indian model, based on equal respect for all religions. Secondly, I critically examine the dominant view that the Shah Bano case constituted a watershed with regard to the career of secularism in India. I attempt to delineate the changes in the constellation of concepts associated with secularism that contribute to this impression while arguing that the ideological shift in the Shah Bano case is less radical than is commonly supposed.