Indias secularism: new name for national subversion, original in Hindi by Sita Ram Goel, tr. into English by Yashpal Sharma

Book Details:

• ISBN 13: 9788185990590

• ISBN 10: 818599059X

• Edition: New Delhi

• Year: 2020

• Language: English

• Subject(s): Politics

• Publisher: ADITYA PRAKASHAN Indological Publishers & Booksellers

About the Book

This thought-provoking work critically examines the ideology of secularism in India, tracing its origins to the European Enlightenment of the 18th–19th centuries. The author argues that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru adopted the Western term "secularism" but inverted its meaning in the Indian context, creating a model that diverged from its original sense and ultimately weakened the foundations of the newly independent nation.

In pre-independence India, the Muslim minority often determined who was recognized as nationalist or dismissed as communalist. Post-independence, the same group shaped the narrative of who could be called secular and who would be branded communal. As a result, secularism in India became synonymous with Hindu-baiting, rather than the neutral principle of separating religion from politics.

The book also explores the apologetic traditions within Christianity and Islam, where atrocities committed in history are often explained away as human failings rather than rooted in religious doctrines. The author highlights how, in independent India, these creeds have been celebrated as champions of equality, peace, and justice, while Hinduism has been unfairly burdened with projected flaws by self-proclaimed secularists influenced by socialism, communism, Gandhism, Nehruism, and Ambedkarism.

Drawing on sacred texts from Christianity and Islam, the author challenges these narratives and provides a candid analysis of how secularism has been reshaped in India. The book concludes with an emerging sense of national vision within Hindu intellectual circles, though it acknowledges the continuing dominance of outdated slogans in media and academia. At the same time, the global rise of Islamic terrorism underscores the urgent need for India to confront these realities.