ABSTRACT
Chandhoke examines religious identities in India, which have made strident demands and have engaged in state-breaking and state-making endeavors. In an emerging Indian public sphere, Hinduism has been debated, discussed, and made the anchor of a nationalist project. Secularism holds that the state shall not be aligned to one religion. For Jürgen Habermas, religious vocabularies have to be translated into secular languages to enter into the domain of policymaking. For Jawaharlal Nehru, secularism means a state that gives all faiths equal opportunities. Chandhoke argues that secularism is not needed to ensure freedom of religion, the right not to be religious, or to mandate equality. These rights are protected by democracy. Instead, secularism holds that the state is not aligned to one official religion. It is precisely this interpretation that has been upheld by the Supreme Court of India. Secularism in India recognizes the significance of religion in public life and commits to equality between religious groups. In 1994, the interpretations of the Indian version of secularism in the Supreme Court stood in for equality of all religions. Thus, these definitions have given a new meaning to secularism in a multi-religious society, protecting pluralism in India.
