Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:20:43.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Defining Secularism in the Particular: Caste and Citizenship in India, 1909–1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2014

Shabnum Tejani
Shabnum Tejani*
Affiliation:
SOAS, University of London
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Shabnum Tejani, SOAS, University of London, London, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing on recent debates on secularism, this article addresses the methodological problem of writing histories of secularism in context. It considers the experience of India. I argue that a study of the issues from which secularism emerged historically offers a way out of the secularism-religion binary which, in India, has obscured contemporary problems related to democracy. These issues had to do with ensuring the public representation of minorities, both religious and caste, regardless of their relative size or social power. Scholarship on the minority question has begun with the constituent assembly and that on secularism centered on the category of religion. In contrast, this article argues that caste was central to the formulation of Indian secularism and requires a longer historical perspective. It maintains that secularism reified the religious minority and, in so doing, denied both its potential to overcome marginality and the legitimacy of the community in the nation.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 703 - 729
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

All Parties Conference. 1975[1928]. The Nehru Report: An Anti-Separatist Manifesto. New Delhi: Michiko & Panjathan.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B.R. 1989. “Evidence before the Southborough Committee.” In Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, volume 1. Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra.Google Scholar
Ansari, Iqbal. 1999. “Minorities and the politics of constitution making in India.” In Minority Identities and the Nation State, eds. Sheth, D.L. and Mahajan, G.. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun. 1981. Worship and Conflict under Colonial Rule: A South Indian Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Asad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Audard, C. 2011. “Rawls and Habermas on the Place of Religion in the Political Domain.” In Habermas and Rawls: Disputing the Political, eds. Gordon Finlayson, J. and Freyenhagan, F.. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bajpai, Rochana. 2010. Debating Difference: Minority Rights and Liberal Democracy in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Basu, Tapan, Datta, Pradip, Sarkar, Sumit, Tanika, and Sarkar, Sen S.. 1993. Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right. New Delhi: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Bhargava, Rajeev. 2010. The Promise of India's Secular Democracy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bhargava, Rajeev. 2007. “The distinctiveness of Indian Secularism.” In The Future of Secularism, ed. T. Srinivasan, N.. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bhargava, Rajeev (ed). 1998. Secularism and its Critics. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, Neeladri. 1996. “Remaking Custom: The Discourse and Practice of Colonial Codification.” In Tradition, Dissent and Ideology: Essays in Honour of Romila Thapar, eds. Champakalakshmi, R. and Gopal, S.. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bruce, Steve. 2002. God is Dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Calhoun, Craig, Juergensmeyer, Mark, and VanAntwerpen, Jonathan (eds). 2011. Rethinking Secularism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Calhoun, Craig. 2011. “Secularism, Citizenship and the Public Sphere.” In Rethinking Secularism, eds. Calhoun, Craig, Juergensmeyer, Mark, and VanAntwerpen, Jonathan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 75–91.Google Scholar
Carroll, Lucy. 1983. “Law, Custom, and Statutory Social Reform: The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856.” Indian Economic & Social History Review 20:363–388.Google Scholar
Casanova, Jose. 2011. “The secular, Secularizations, Secularisms.” In Rethinking Secularism, eds. Calhoun, Craig, Juergensmeyer, Mark, and VanAntwerpen, Jonathan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 54–74.Google Scholar
Casanova, Jose. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2000. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chandhoke, Neera. 1999. Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha. 1994. “Secularism and Toleration.” Economic and Political Weekly 29:1768–1777.Google Scholar
Chatterji, P.C. 1984. Secular Values for Secular India. New Delhi: Lola Chatterji.Google Scholar
Chiriyankandath, James. 2000. “Creating a Secular State in a Religious Country: The Debate in the Indian Constituent Assembly.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 38:1–24.Google Scholar
Copland, Ian. 2010. “What's in a name? India's tryst with secularism.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 48:123–147.Google Scholar
Engineer, A.A. 2003. Communal Challenge and Secular Response. Delhi: Shipra.Google Scholar
Esteves, Sarto. 1996. Nationalism, Secularism, Communalism. Delhi: South Asia Publications.Google Scholar
Habermas, Juergen. 2011. “The political, the Rational Meaning of a Questionable Inheritance of Political Theology.” In The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, eds. Mendieta, E. and VanAntwerpen, J.. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, Juergen. 2008. Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays (transl. Cronin, Ciaran). Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hasan, Zoya. 1989. “Minority identity, Muslim Women Bill Campaign and the Political Process.” Economic and Political Weekly 24:44–50.Google Scholar
Gopal, Sarvepalli. 1993. Anatomy of a Confrontation: The Rise of Communal Politics in India. London: Zed Press.Google Scholar
Gore, M.S. 1993. The Social Context of an Ideology: Ambedkar's Political and Social Thought. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Jaffrelot, Christophe. 2005. Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Jakobsen, Janet R., and Pellegrini, Ann. 2008. Secularisms. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Jha, Shefali. 2002. “Secularism and the Constituent Assembly Debates, 1946–1950.” Economic and Political Weekly 37:3175–3180.Google Scholar
Jha, Shefali. 2003. “Rights versus Representation: Defending Minority Interests in the Constituent Assembly.” Economic and Political Weekly 38:1579–1583.Google Scholar
Khilnani, Sunil. 2002. “Nehru's Faith.” Economic and Political Weekly 37:4793–4799.Google Scholar
Kumar, Ravinder. 1985. “Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Poona Pact, 1932.” South Asia 8:87–101.Google Scholar
Luthera, Ved Prakash. 1964. The Concept of the Secular State and India. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Madan, T.N. 1987. “Secularism in its Place.” Journal of Asian Studies 46:747–759.Google Scholar
Mahmood, Saba. 2011. “Can Secularism be Other-wise?” In Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, eds. Warner, M., VanAntwerpen, J., and Calhoun, C.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan (ed). 1988. Justifying Toleration: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Menon, Dilip. 2006. The Blindness of Insight: Essays on Caste in Modern India. Pondicherry: Navayana Pub.Google Scholar
Menon, Nivedita, and Nigam, Aditya. 2007. Power and Contestation: India since 1989. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Timothy. 2000. “The Stage of Modernity.” In Questions of Modernity, ed. Mitchell, T.. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Nandy, Ashis. 1997. “The Twilight of Certitudes: Secularism, Hindu Nationalism and other Masks of Deculturation.” Alternatives 22:157–176.Google Scholar
Nandy, Ashis. 1988. “The Politics of Secularism and the Recovery of Religious Tolerance.” Alternatives 13:2.Google Scholar
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1946. The Discovery of India. New York, NY: John Day.Google Scholar
Nigam, Aditya. 2006. The Insurrection of Little Selves: The Crisis of Secular-Nationalism in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Omvedt, Gail. 1994. Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Parekh, Bhikhu. 1989. Gandhi's Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination. Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Pecora, Vincent. 2006. Secularization and Cultural Criticism: Religion, Nation and Modernity. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Puri, B.N. 1990. Secularism in Indian Ethos. Delhi: Atma Ram and Sons.Google Scholar
Rao, Anupama. 2009. The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, Rowena, and Marianus Kujur, Joseph (eds). 2010. Margins of Faith: Dalit and Tribal Christianity in India. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Sumit. 1999. “Conversions and Politics of the Hindu Right.” Economic and Political Weekly 34:1691–1700.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Sumit. 1994. “The Anti-Secularist Critique of Hindutva: Problems of a Shared Discursive Space.” Germinal 1, Journal of the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, Delhi University.Google Scholar
Shah, Ghanshaym (ed). 2002. Caste and Democratic Politics in India. Delhi: Permanent Black.Google Scholar
Shiva Rao, B. 1967. The Framing of India's Constitution, Select Documents Volume II. Delhi: Indian Institute of Public Administration.Google Scholar
Smith, D.E. 1963. India as a Secular State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Talreja, K.M. 1996. Pseudo-secularism in India. Mumbai: Rashtriya Chetana Prakashan.Google Scholar
Tambiah, S.J. 1998. “The Crisis of Secularism in India”, in Bhargava, R. (ed), Secularism and its Critics. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 2011a. “Why We Need a Radical Redefinition of Secularism.” In The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, eds. Mendieta, Eduardo and VanAntwerpen, Jonathan. New York, NY: Columbia University Press and S.S.R.C.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 2011b. “What Does Secularism Mean?” In Dilemmas and Connections, Selected Essays, ed. Taylor, C.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tejani, Shabnum. 2008. Indian Secularism: A Social and Intellectual History, 1890–1950. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Upadhayaya, Prakash Chandra. 1992. “The Politics of Indian Secularism.” Modern Asian Studies 26:815–853.Google Scholar
Verma, H.S. 1990. “Secularism: Reflections on Meaning, Substance and Contemporary Practice.” In Secularism and Indian Polity, ed. Chakrabarty, Bidyut. New Delhi: Segment.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael, VanAntwerpen, Jonathan, and Calhoun, Craig (eds). 2011. Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wasti, Syed Reza. 1964. Lord Minto and the Indian National Movement, 1905–1910. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Warner, Rob. 2010. Secularization and its Discontents. London: Continuum.Google Scholar