Secularism in India stands for equal respect for all faiths, says S Jaishankar

During an interaction on ‘How a Billion People See the World’ at the Royal Over-Seas League in London on Wednesday, Jaishankar was asked if India had changed since the Nehruvian era to become less liberal and more “Hindu majoritarian” under the Modi government.

Asserting that India had certainly changed, Jaishankar explained the change did not mean India was less liberal but rather “more authentic” about expressing its beliefs.

“Has India changed from the Nehruvian era? Absolutely, because one of the assumptions of that era which very much guided the thinking of the polity and its projection abroad was the way we define secularism in India,” said Jaishankar, responding to a question by journalist-author Lionel Barber.

“For us, secularism doesn't mean being non-religious; for us secularism means equal respect to all faiths. Now, what happened in reality in politics was beginning with equal respect for all faiths, we actually got into a sort of politics of minoritarian pandering. That, over a period of time, I think, created a backlash,” he said.

Appeasement hurt

Jaishankar referenced “appeasement” as a very powerful word in the Indian political debate, which guided the direction in which politics went.

“More and more people started feeling that in a way, in the name of equality of all religions, in fact, the biggest religion had to be self-deprecatory and play itself down. A big part of that community felt it was not being fair,” he noted.

The BJP leader said the political and social changes seen in India in the last few years have partly been a reaction “at an intellectual and political level” to this sense of unfairness.

Specifically asked if tolerance had gone down in India as a result, he said: “I don't think so… I think people today are less hypocritical about their beliefs, about their traditions and their culture.

“We are more Indian, more authentic. We are not today, either currying favour before a global audience or really trying to live up to some kind of left-wing liberal construct which a lot of Indians felt was not us.”

The question-and-answer session, organised by foreign policy agency Wilton Park in partnership with the High Commission of India in London, marked Jaishankar’s final engagement during a five-day UK visit.

The discussion covered a range of topics including India-China relations, the diplomatic row with Canada and the socio-political scenario in India.

(With agency inputs)