Indian Constitution and Secularism: Scholar Opinions

Posted on Feb 16, 2024 in Social sciences

PSIR Scholars.

INM

Scholar name

  • Edward Said – Orientalism. Myth of white man’s burden.
  • Bipin Chandra – INM -warmth- present times
  • Francis Hutchins – Gandhi- politician Non-violence -bring people in
  • Immanuel Wallerstein – Colonialism concept by Marxists, Core and peripheries
  • Rabindranath Tagore – When the British will leave,they will leave filth
  • Tirthankar Roy – Deindustrialization is a myth, Real problem is lack of public investment
  • economist John Hurd – railway network lead to a rise in income levels
  • Jawaharlal Nehru – Changes came to India- because of west- despite british
  • Benedict Anderson – Nationalism is Invented tradition
  • Karl Marx – Colonialism -modernisation for India,1857: rebellion -feudal class
  • MN Roy – Congress-bourgeoise, Rejected that Gandhi was working in interest of masses
  • RP Dutt – marxist historian
  • AR Desai – marxist historian
  • Sumit Sarkar – Cautioned Marxist scholars for taking a casual approach,INC – not any benefit to masses but incorrect to say that it was a well-planned conspiracy against the masses
  • Bipin Chandra – it was a Gramscian movement,More sympathetic beige
  • Dalit Perspective – Contradiction between sub-altern and two elites -> British and Upper castes
  • Cambridge perspective – Lord Dufferin -> Congress represents microscopic minority
  • Indian Constitution as General Will – Granville Austin – Indian Constitution as first and foremost a social document
  • Jawaharlal Nehru – The constituent assembly is not merely a body of representative, but a nation on the move, throwing away the shell of its past political and possibly social structure and fashioning for itself a new garment of its own making
  • Mahatma Gandhi – Swaraj will not a free gift but a declaration of India’s self-expression, will of the people expressed through her freely chosen representatives
  • Pratap Bhanu Mehta – There has not been a serious or deep historiography ( Study of written history) associated with the constitution to put the constitution in the right context
  • K. Santhanam – Hardly any shade not represented: Shyama Prasad Mokherjee, Hansa Mehta, Maharaja of Darbhanga, Frank Anthony, Ambedkar, H.C. Mukherjee
  • Rajendra Prasad – Successful working of constitution requires those who have to work them to respect view point of others
  • Andre Beteille – A constitution may indicate the direction in which we have to move, but social structure will decide how far we are able to move and at what pace
  • Preamble – KM Munshi – Horoscope of our sovereign democratic republic
  • Ernst Barker – Preamble as the key note of the constitution
  • KC Wheare – One of the best written preambles
  • Ram Nath Kovind – called for a more civic-minded society that adheres to the building of a civic-minded nation
  • Secular – Machiavelli – Father of European Secularism
  • H.V. Kamath – Secularism is not godless; anti-religious; non-religious
  • Neera Chandoke – secularism is not secularization of society.Secularism is covered in other constitutional provisions itself. Inherent in equality, liberty and fraternity
  • Justice Reddy in Bommai case – Secularism is more than a passive attitude of religious intolerance, it is a positive concept of equal treatment of all religions
  • Achin Vanaik – Accuses Ashish Nandy and T.N. Madan – Root cause of communalism is religion itself – Non-affiliation of state to any religion.
  • Rajeev Bhargav – Context-specific model is good for flexibility
  • Will Kymlika – Essentially a contested concept – Universal and multicultural citizenship
  • Asish Nandy – Secularism is Western concept not suitable for India – Secularism pushes rival ideologies to peripheries. – These then find expression in political sphere. – Dialogue among communities -> culture of intolerance
  • T.N. Madan – Religion cannot be separated from lives – No religion in public sphere -> fundamentalism – Religions should be used positively
  • Arun Shorie – Is special provision for minorities, equality? – State’s own record is not good -> Bluestar, Shah Bano, Shila Nyas Poojan
  • D.E. Smith – India a Secular State – No separation of religion
  • Akheel Bilgrami – dialogue among communities which was lacking in Nehruvian secularism
  • Partha Chatterjee – Stronger form of secularism, cover group rights (Will Kymlicka: Multicultural Citizenship)
  • Pratap Bhanu Mehta – Critical of Congress Secularism – Principled distance – misleading metaphor – provides ideological legitimation to congress appeasement policies – Flirting with all religions – makes all communities insecure
  • Rajiv Bhargav – Indian secularism continues to be misunderstood – 7 features (mam) – Principled Distance – Politically Negotiated Model – Engagement and disengagement
  • TN Madan – Neo-Gandhian – Religious Toleration – Religious Dialogue
  • Ashis Nandy – Neo Gandhian – Secularism is Western concept not suitable for India