Question

What are the threats to Indian secularism?
A. Vote bank politics
B. Intolerance
C. Social inequalities
D. All of these

Answer 1

Hint: Secularism was not part of the Indian Constitution. It was added in the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment 1976. This declared India as a secular country.

Complete step-by-step solution:
India is a secular nation and it doesn’t advocate any specific religion. The state always stays neutral in the matter related to religion and gives equal treatment to all religions without favoring one specific religion and discriminating against others. The political process of India has threatened Indian secularism. The politicians use the word religion and castes and divide the community and their thoughts too. Such type of practice gives a rise to socioeconomic inequality and intolerance among the people and it also changes the belief, opinion, and thought process of the public. It gives fire to the secular fabric of the nation. Some points regarding threats to Indian secularism:

Communalism: The growth in communalism in recent time has seriously hampered the development of fair secularism in India. Communalism is a type of threat to Indian secularism.
Politics and Religion: The political parties in India use religion and caste factors as a tool to change their political interest. This greatly undermines secular values.

Poverty: The failure of the state to banish poverty also gave a setback to secularism. The underprivileged people and the poor lose their hope in political parties which failed to provide them with their basic needs and consequently they didn’t attach much importance to secular values.

Defective educational system: The educational system encourages people to think in terms of groups and communities. It fails to inculcate secular ideas in the mind of youths.
Religious Intolerance: Some religious intolerance like the Delhi riots are some examples. It leads to a threat of secularism.

Thus, option (D) is correct.

Note: The Supreme Court of India has established the fact that India was secular since the formation of India in S. R. Bommai vs Union of India. The 7th schedule of the Indian constitution places religious institutions, charities, and trusts into the concurrent list.