MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY ,AURANGABAD

“COMMUNALISATION OF POLITICS”

SUBMITTED BY:

DASHAMPREET KAUR
ROLL NO. -36

SUBMITTED TO:

MR. RAHUL KOSAMBI

In

April , 2019
INTRODUCTION

Religion is a mystery among human beings. If there were no religions, it would have been necessary
for man to invent and establish it. Man could not remain without a creator of the phenomenal world
of many fold things. Since the primitive times, human behaviour and attitudes have been
conditioned by many beliefs in mystical or supernatural powers and that there was no getting away
from imaginative ideas or peculiar dreams, ultimately from some sort of religions which have been
the very texture of human being.
According to B.R. Ambedkar, "to ignore religion is to ignore a live wire. Religion is an institution
or an influence and like all social influences and institutions, it may help or it may harm a society
which is in its grip. Religion is a belief or a faith in something that is purely theoretical (ideal)
partly practical and that something gives satisfaction, utility or a benefit to the believer.
Religion or what we call "Dharma", is not one alone. Today we have dozens of institutionalised
religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism,
Bahaism and a lots of minor and modern religions in the Indian society .
The religion in its institutionalised form is unwelcome. Every person has right not only to entertain
such religious belief and ideas as may be approved by his conscience but also exhibits his belief and
ideas by such overt acts which are sanctioned by his religion. Today the conditions prevailing are
such that people are stepping into the mass carnage in the name of religion, e.g. latest being the
Godhra incident (Gujarat riots of 2002). The painful memories of religious riots after the demolition
of Babri Masjid still lingers upon the minds of people. Religion has become such an important issue
that other issues like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population explosion, corruption and
environmental pollution have lost their due attention.
India has a history of fragile inter community relationship. Secular and communal political forces
have always been in struggle for power against each other for many centuries.
The religion based politics ideology and mass mobilisation have always challenged secular forces in
Indian society.
The constitution of India recognises India as a Secular State and has provided many fundamental
rights for the cultural development of different religious and minority communities. The
constitution of India does not differentiate among its citizens on the bases of their religious belief
The state extends full protection against discrimination to every religious group.
The secular character of the State is under threat from the practitioners of religion based politics.
The majority of Indians are believers of religion and in a multi-religious country the believer of one
religion follow the path of distance from the believers of other religions. Another face of Indian
reality is reflected by religious hostility and opposition against the believers of one or the other
religion. Thus Secularism and communalism are the realities of India and these two ways of life are
involved in confrontation with each other. The rudest shock comes from the manner in which the
government and the country are allowing themselves to be pushed off the edge of secularism into
the abyss of communal reaction, falling back to the frightening atavism of stagnant, dark and
medieval ethos of the Hindi- speaking areas.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Close interaction between religion and politics from the Indus valley civilisation to the advent of
Islam, the second from the advent of Islam, to the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the third from 1857 to
India's Independence in 1947 and the fourth from 1947 onwards. While there was close interplay
between religion and politics during all these phases, the nature, the intensity and the dynamics of
this interaction was different during each of these phases.'
During the first phase, the Indian continent consisted of Hindu civilisation. There was no other
religion and there was no inter-religion rivalry. Whatever Challenges came to Hinduism like
branching off of Buddhism and Jainism came from within. However, interaction between religion
and politics was very intimate. The state power was generally in the hands of Kashtriya.
On the eve of advent of Islam, the country consisted of numerous small and big Hindu kingdoms.
Their rivalries and occasional battles were seen merely as battles between the two political entities,
without any religious overtones in them.
From the beginning of the eleventh century till the end of fourteenth century the Muslim rulers used
their religious identity to muster support in order to maintain their political power. The very fact
that they vanquished Hindu rulers in bloody battle that alienated large segment of Hindu population
from political powers. Some of these battles were projected as Jehads (holy wars) against the
infidels.
The Muslim rulers lost their power and position with the advent of British East India Company. The
company had engaged in numerous battles big and small against the Muslim and Hindu rulers in
order to establish its foothold in India. By 1856 A.D. the English became the masters of the whole
India. They deprived the Indians of their political, economic, social and religious rights. The Hindus
and Muslims stood unitedly in their effort to fight against the British rule. Therefore the company
soon evolved a strategy to exploit the religious identities of the Indians to secure its political power.
There were many overt and covert ways in which religious identities of the Indians were used by
the British to serve the political interest of the British rule.
During British rule the Christian missionaries adopted undignified methods to spread Christianit}'
in India. They made violent attacks on Islam and Hinduism. They began to assault Hindu and
Muslim religious beliefs, customs and traditions and condemned Hindu gods and Muslim prophet.
They began to convert the Indians to Christianity by offering them jobs, rewards and promotions
etc. The activities of the missionaries perturbed the people.
The English government taxed lands belonging to temples and mosques or charitable institutions . It
hurt the religious sentiments of the people. In 1850, Lord Dalhousie passed a law, which enabled a
convert to Christianity to inherit his ancestral property. These interference in the social and religious
life of the Indian also led to the revolt of 1857. After the mutiny of 1857 the East India Company's
rule came to an end and the Government of India passed into the hands of the British Queen and her
Parliament. During the revolt there were ample instances of the Hindu- Muslim unity against the
British. Such a thing was considered harmful to the imperialistic designs of the English. They
sabotaged this unity by a policy of Divide and Rule.
After the revolt of 1857 the Muslims started harbouring hatred and mistrust against the Hindus
because of the role played by the Sikhs and Gorkha soldiers in suppressing the revolt and in
perpetrating excess upon them. In later years the English made capital of these differences and
fanned the Hindu Muslim mistrust so that the two communities might never come together and thus
the British Empire would stay larger in India, without any challenge from any quarter what so ever.
Another subtle way of driving a wedge between the Indian people and promoting the identity' of
each as a distinct religious group was to record their religion in the decennial census. Towards the
end of the nineteenth century when national consciousness began to acquire organised form in
India, the British introduced with remarkable calculation and foresight, newer and newer methods
of dividing the Indians along religious lines. In 1906 they successfully managed large scale
communal clashes between the Hindus and the Muslims in many parts of the country. The early
years of the twentieth century saw the founding of the Muslim League on the one hand and the Shri
Bharat Dharam Mandal on the other. In 1920s a Sikh religious body Shiromani Gurudwara
Prabandhak Committee was set up to manage the Sikh shrines. Gradually SGPC began to be used as
spring board for capturing political power. In 1909 the British introduced communal electorate in a
big way and in 1919 they further extended it. This policy of the British ultimately put the Hindus
and Muslims on opposite sides of the political barricade. The Muslims were given higher
representation in Legislative bodies than their numerical strength in the population warranted.
Where they were in minority they were given 30 percent seat in the Legislative Assembly; where
they were in majority they were given an absolute majority in the legislature .While the British
rulers were trying to use the religious divisions of the Indians for consolidating their political power
in India, the leaders of Indian national movement like Tilak and later Gandhi also found it more
convenient to mobilise mass support against the British rule by using religion. They used religious
slogans and symbols. With the blessing of the British government the Muslims cultural organisation
also increased their religious activities.^ The net result of these British policies was that an element
of Hindu- Muslim conflict
gradually enveloped the national movement.

India witnessed a great bloodbath in 1947 when it got divided apparently on religious lines. More
than a million people were slaughtered when the State of Pakistan was created.
The close affinity between religion and politics continued even after 1947. In fact the interplay
between religion and politics was further been strengthened by some new factors; the first is the
existence of religion based political parties. The number of such parties has increased with the
passage of time. Such political parties make use of religion for political ends. These do not
subscribe to secular form of politics. The other political parties who at the regional as well as at
national level maintain apparently secular posture and do not publicly justify the use of religion for
political purposes are very few. At least in theory, these vehemently oppose the use of religion to
achieve political goals and consider religion as a private affair of the individuals and do not approve
of its intervention in public affairs. The Indian National Congress and its various splinter groups,
the CPI, the CPI (M) and the Janata Party all advocate and emphasise the delinking of religion with
politics. However compulsions of electoral arithmetic often compel these parties to
compromise their principles and make use of religious symbols and slogan in their political battles.

Since Independence the interface between religion and politics has acquired a still newer form and
various political parties found it more convenient to mobilise support in their electoral battles with
the help of religious factors.
If we look back we observe that during the first three decades of post- independent India, social
division on communal bases were contained because religion based parties had a marginal presence
in the politics of India. The post- partition period except for the immediate aftermath was marked
by the absence of major communal riots. There was communal peace during 1950-60 because in the
aftermath of the partition, Hindu communal forces were kept in check by the national leadership,
even as the partition had left Indian Muslims weak and leaderless. Moreover an accommodation
was worked out between the Muslim and the Congress that certain symbols of Muslim culture
would be protected. Besides, constitutional guarantees were also given to all minority religious
groups. The three central symbols of Muslim Identity were Indian Muslim- Muslim Personal Law, a
proper status for Urdu and the Aligarh Muslim University.'

The 1980's experienced not only the growth of social divisions on religious basis but it also
witnessed the emergence of religion based politics as a central factor in elections and public affairs.
Thus the Indian States had to grapple with the new form of religion based politics to safeguard
democracy and secularism.'^
During this phase the religion based parties had evolved new strategies and organisational structure
to promote their political goals. The 1980's witnessed the emergence of a new communalism which
was militant and aggressive in nature. The most unfortunate of those was the operation “Blue Star”.

During mid-eighties the increased reliance on communitarian symbols helped to draw religious
categories into the political areas. The most dramatic event in this competitive process was the
central government decision to allow the Hindu worship inside the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. This
accelerated the mass mobilisation organised by the Bhartiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak
Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad as part of the effort to change the political discourse and control
the state in the name of Hindutva.
The victory tasted over the Shah Bano issue encouraged Muslim reaction in several different ways.
In January 1987, Syed Shahabuddin editor of 'Muslim India', and a member of Parliament called
upon Muslims to stay away from the Republic Day celebrations on January 26. This was followed
by a call for an all India strike on February 1, 1987 the first anniversary of the day when by an order
of the District Magistrate, the gates of Babri Masjid were thrown open for Hindus
to offer worship in the Mosques inner sanctum.
During 1989 General Election campaign Rajiv Gandhi the then Prime Minister of India made
communal appeal to win Hindu votes. He started his electoral campaign of 1989 in Faizabad the
constituency in which the town of Ayodhya is located with the promise of creating a Ram Rajya,
using language in several ways resembling to that of BJP. However this strategy of the Congress
failed and in 1989 Congress was voted out of power.rue faces of the party all of whom were run by
the shadowy R.S.S. Events like demolition of the Babri Masjid, its resultant riots and the Muslim
massacres in Gujarat were too close and compelling to be ignored.^'
In the 2004 General Elections the Congress and its allies bagged 216 seats whereas the BJP and its
allies mustered 187 seats. The support of 61 members of the Leftist Parties brought Congress to the
desirable majority. The Congress Party with the help of its coalition partners formed National
Progressive Alliance.
After the 2004 General Elections it was observed that the Hindutva ideology was thoroughly
discredited and no amount of efforts could revive it. The people felt cheated by the promises made
by the Sangh Parivar and the BJP regarding the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. According
to L.K. Advani
"the passions have a tendency of subsiding they cannot be sustained for too long a period, for not
only do they harm the country, they harm the party as well".
ROLE OF RELIGION IN INDIAN POLITICS

The relation between religion and politics goes far back into the history of mankind. Religious
symbols, ideas and institutions have been used by the ruling classes in order to perpetuate their
control over political system. The subordinate classes on their part have been inspired by religious
teachings and messages to revolt against injustice and oppression. Thus, the connection between
religion and politics runs deep'
No part of Indian politics is without the presence of religion. This has given rise to the feelings of
communalism. In politics religion is used to mobilise all sections and classes of a religious
community for achieving political and economic goals. It is a modem phenomenon which took rout
half way through the British colonial presence in India in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Communalism has been an integral part of Indian politics ever since the British introduced the
principle of electoral representation in public institutions. Since then religion and communal
identities have been exploited and encouraged for electoral purposes. Communalism was deeply
rooted in Indian polity during the later phase of the National Movement .Unfortunately the history
of Indian National Movement is also a history of communalisation of Indian society.
The emergence of anti-imperial consciousness in India was much linked to religious revivalism. In
order to arouse anti-British feelings among the masses the militant leader's of the Congress like Bal
Gangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh and Lala Lajpat Rai etc. used religious platforms and festivals
like Kali Pooja, Ganesh festival and cow protection societies etc.
When Mahatma Gandhi took over as leader of the Nationalist Movement he had realised that to
counter the powerful British Rule, mass mobilisation and a sense of unity was required among
people from various communities and sects. He therefore attempted to develop amity and harmony
among various religious communities, particularly between Hindus and the Muslims. However he
never attempted to develop a secular image of the Congress or the movement on scientific basis.
Though he had tried to create communal harmony on the basis of equal respect to all religions but
he had never realised that his own utterances, actions and use of vocabulary like "Ram Rajya" and
cow protection could be misinterpreted by the elites and people from other religions.''^
The political parties which were reorganised having communal ideologies had centred their
programmes around communal goals. During the pre- independence period the Muslim League was
having Islamic State as its goal and the Hindu Maha Sabha had stood for a Hindu Rashtra. Both
parties had explicit religious and communal goals. On the basis of these religiously defined goals
both mobilised their supporters.^^
V.D. Savarkar a Hindu fundamentalist had worked with the objective to unify and revitalise the
Hindu community and to establish India as a Hindu Rashtra. He had pleaded for a strong Hindu
Nation based on the principles of Hindutva and a non-discriminatory Nation state based on the
principle of one person, one vote. Those were obviously intended to further the cause of a Hindu
state in India. The emphasis on the Hindu Militarisation Movement was based on the language of
hatred and violence directed against an imagined Muslim theocratic community. Savarkar's slogan
of "Hinduize all politics and militarise Hindudom" exposed the myth of Hindu non tolerance of
other religious communities.
In fact the history of Hindu communal mobilisation could be traced back to the pre-independence
days. The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), the premier Hindu organisation founded in 1925,
was outwardly a cultural outfit engaged in disseminating the Hindu culture. But its concept of
Hindu nationhood exhibited an explicit anti-Muslim slant. It also called for the establishment of a
Hindu State as well as the militarisation of the Hindus to achieve this goal. Similarly the Hindu
Maha Sabha represented the forces of Hindu revivalism in the political domain. It raised the slogan
of 'Akhand Hindustan' against the Muslim League's demand of separate electorates for Muslims.'''
Since the National Movement had to mobilise the support of all classes and communities against
foreign domination, the leaders of different communities could not press for principle of secularism
firmly for the fear of losing the support of religious minded and obscurantist groups. This was the
major cause that led to the partition of India. During 1940s Mohammad AH Jinnah (Muslim
League) had led a powerful Movement, which was intended to advance the interests of Muslims
after the withdrawal of the colonial power from the sub-continent. The idea of Pakistan which came
from the Muslim League platform in 1940 at Lahore session had actually been conceived ten years
ago by Mohammad Iqbal in 1930. At League's annual conference at Allahabad, Mohd. Iqbal had
expressed his dreams of a consolidated North-west Indian Muslim State. It then came from Rahmat
Ali, a Cambridge student, in a more precise and forceful way. Neither Mr. Jinnah nor Mr. Zafrullah
Khan then had considered it practicable. However, on March 23, 1940, the Muslim League passed a
resolution at its Lahore session. The text of the resolution ran as under: "Resolved that it is the
concerted view of this session of the All India Muslim League that no constitutional scheme would
be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic
principles, viz. that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be
constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the area in which the
Muslims are numerically in majority should be grouped to constitute Independent State". The
League resolved that the British government before leaving India must effect the partition of the
country into Indian union and Pakistan. The basis of League's demand was its "Two Nation Theory"
which first came from Sir Wazir Hasan in his presidential address at Bombay session of League in
1937. He said, "the Hindus and Mussalmans inhabiting this vast continent are not two communities
but should be considered two nations in many respects".

Keeping in view the importance of religion, the framers of the Indian constitution had opted India to
have a Secular and Democratic Structure. Jawaharlal Nehru in this regard had objected strongly any
efforts to perpetuate "a complete structure of society by giving it religious sanction and authority".
He wanted that Indian constitution should "protect all religions, but does not Favour one at the
expense of others and does not itself adopt any religion as the state religion" He believed that
"religion is all right when applied to ethics and morals but it is not good if mixed up with politics.''
There was originally no specific provision in the constitution which would declare India as a secular
state. The forty second amendment Act, 1976 had added in the preamble the word 'Secular' and
since then it is read: "we the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a
Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens: Justice, social,
economic and political; liberty of thought, expression,belief , faith and worship, Equality of status
and opportunity; and to promote among them all. Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual
and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
The word Secularism carries a specific meaning in the Indian context which differs from the sense
in which it is commonly used in the west at the conceptual level and also in practice. According to
Jawaharlal Nehru "Secularism does not obviously mean a State where religion as such is
discouraged. It means freedom of religion and conscience; including freedom for those who may
have no religion. It means free play for all religions, subject to their not interfering with each other
or with the basic conception of State. It means that the minority communities from religious point
of view should accept this position. It means even more, that the majority community from this
point of view should fully realise it. By virtue of numbers as well as in other ways, it is the
dominant community and it is its responsibility not to use its position in any way which might
prejudice secular ideal'
The state is permitted to make laws regulating or restricting any activity that may be associated with
religious practice related to social welfare and social reform. Article 26 similarly guarantees
religious denominations and their section a right, subject to public order, morality and health, "to
establish and maintain religious and charitable institutions, to manage their religious affairs, to own
and to acquire property and to administer it according to law". Article 27, prohibits the state from
compelling any person" to pay taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in
payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religious denomination.
The interests of Minorities are also protected (Article 29 clause 1) in order to dismantle the structure
of social discrimination. The minorities have right to conserve their language, script and culture. No
citizens can be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or
receiving aid out of State funds on grounds of religion, caste language or any of them (clause 2).
They have their right to establish and administer educational institutions and the State cannot
discriminate against any of them in granting aid on the ground that it is under the management of a
minority, whether based on religion or language (Article 30 clause I and 2).
India is a secular State and the State does not recognise any religion as official. However, in
practice the Indian State does not dissociate itself from religion. It recognises all religions and their
social practices. The Indian State not only regulates the places of worship it also patronises some
places of worship. All important temples of India from Tirupati to Vaishno Devi have management
boards with government functionaries working in co-operation with the Temple priests. Ministers
and Chief Ministers openly identify themselves with places worship by becoming Chairman or
Presidents of the management board of these institutions. State government have frequently
exercised their power to take over the management of places of worship and to reconstitute or
dismiss their management board.”
The politicians openly identify themselves with places of worship for electoral gains. After
Independence when the then President of India Rajendra Prasad wanted to attend the consecration
ceremony of the Somnath temple the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had advised him not to
associate himself with the activities of the temple. In 1950s Rajendra Prasad had also participated in
the holy bath at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Since the State administration was busy in making
arrangements for the President's holy bath, lakhs of devotees who had gathered at Allahabad could
not be regulated which resulted in stampede at the mela site and death of many people.”
Communalisation of Politics during 1980s was the outcome of the policy of appeasement followed
by different political parties and the division of the sections of the people on religious lines which
had resulted into communal riots. As a result the Congress party shifted its ideological posture i.e.
Secularism to court the votes of the Hindu chauvinism and the notion that India's unity was in
jeopardy.^" The ascendancy of the Congress during 1980s was largely attributed to the growing
importance of religion in Indian politics. During the first six weeks after Indira
Gandhi had returned to power, she had visited dozens of temples situated all over India. In 1983,
she had attended the inauguration of Satyamitran and Girl's Bharat Mata Mandir and took part in
the ceremonies marking the centenary of the Arya Samaj.
The resurrection of Hindu communal activities, extended periods of bloody Hindu-Muslim rioting.
A growing feeling among urban based Muslim professionals and service classes was that their
economic and educational interests had been systematically neglected by successive Congress
governments. Political Hinduism became synonymous with Indian Nationalism. The method's of
political Hinduism during 1980s was the Ekatmata Yagna and the Ram Janaki Rath Yatra in 1984
sponsored by the VHP and aimed at protecting and preserving India's National integration and
demanded restoration of Hindu Temples converted into Mosques by Muslim rulers in the past and
clamoured for building a temple at "Ramjanambhoomi in Ayodhya where a Mosque constructed by
Babar stood in place of temple.
Moreover in 1980, the Congress government introduced a bill seeking to revise the constitution of
Aligarh Muslim University. The bill created storm amongst the .Muslims who regarded its
provision as anti-communal. The sole autonomy of the community over the University was
threatened by it. The reservation expressed by Muslims in-fact led the central government to
propose within a ver>' short time a second and then third draft bill, which was finally voted into law
in 1981, it reaffirmed the university's Muslim identity and accorded it considerable autonomy.^^
All those events were primarily responsible for deliberately destroying India's democratic political
fabric and resorted to communal idiom of politics by pandering to the Hindu Majority for political
gains. The benefits of the activation of Hindu vote bank were later cornered by the BJP in a bigger
way. The communal monster not only engulfed Hindus and Muslims but the other communities as
well. By the end of the 1980s the religion had spread its tentacles within the three major Indian
communities Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs and stormed the centre stage of Indian Politics. Within
this period the growth of communal organisations with militant overtones was also significant.
There were about 500 such organisations with an active membership that ran into several millions.
The Hindu Manch was activated after the highly publicised conversions to Islam by Harijans in
Meenakshipuram at Tamil Nadu in 1981. The Shiv Sena (SS) got activated for the cause of Hindu
migrants from Punjab. The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh considerably strengthened itself by
spreading the Shakhas (branches) in every corner of the country. All these bodies combined with the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Virat Hindu Sammelan which were at the apex of several right wing
organisations that had emerged as the greatest champion of Hindu communal causes and were the
fore frontiers to launch liberation campaign for Babri Masjid along with other 450 Mosques in
North India.
The Shah Bano verdict of 1986 and the decision to open the locks of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya for
which Rajiv Gandhi's government was considered responsible gave the Bhartiya Janata Party an
immense opportunity to reassert that Indian culture was synonymous with Hindu culture and that
non-Hindus could live in India only if they accepted this equation .Those two decisions of Rajiv
Gandhi government not only marked a turning point in the history of Hindu-Muslim relations but
also accelerated the pace of communal polarisation in post- independent India.
Along with the same The Shah Bano verdict communalised the Political process. The controversy
generated by the Muslim Women Bill was criticised as it had highlighted the role of government in
permitting the growth of fundamentalist movement, and then making use of it in arousing
sentiments among large sections of the people against the so called appeasement of minorities.
, 1989 was a dangerous turning point in the history of Independent India. The seeds for a
disintegration of a secular vision of the country were sown on that day. Even though the court at
Allahabad had decided in favour of maintaining the Status quo at Ayodhya. A meeting was held in
Lucknow on September 27, convened by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Narayan Dutt
Tiwari. The meeting was attended by Buta Singh, Ashok Singhal, Dau Dayal Khanna, Nritya Gopal
Das and Avaidyanath. The meeting was concluded by authorising the Shilanyas in exchange for a
promise by the VHP to respect property right as required by the court judgment.

The late eighties witnessed communal politics at its height in India. The worst debacle in 1984
General Elections forced BJP to play communal card with a vengeance and was successful in
creating a mass hysteria on the issue of Ramjanambhoomi- Babri Masjid which continues till date
and shall continue unless the people of india are educated enough to separate their religion and their
political ideologies and choices for the future.
CONCLUSION
The study concludes that religion has been influencing the Indian politics since time immemorial
and it would keep on going this way until certain measures are taken to prevent it as politics being
influenced by religion undermines the basic structure of the Indian constitution as the preamble of
the Indian Constitution ensures Sovereign Democratic Republican State and the State was the
legitimate guarantor of the 'rule of law' and the rights of citizens, irrespective of their religion, faith
or creed. The basic structure of the constitution would have been threatened if priests and not an
elected Parliament become the real representatives of the 'General will' of the people of India.
Elections provide legitimacy to democratic governance with the mandate that public affair was
managed by its institutional mechanism. In an elective democracy priests had no authority' in public
affairs. India was witnessing a complete subversion of constitutional democracy by the emergence
of anti-constitutional centres of power represented by the priestly class and thereby defeating the
main purpose of the constitution. There are some steps that can be taken to improve the same
which are as follows:

• By improving the level of literacy and using education as a tool to prevent people from getting
influenced by the political tactics of the politicians and think rationally while voting for their
respective leaders not taking into consideration their religion and reforms with regard to
religion .

• Increasing awareness of the people regarding voting and manifestos of the political parties so as
to make them choose a right leader for themselves irrespective of his religion

• Giving the right knowledge to people about religion rather than letting them trust the temple
priests thereby helping them to know the correct version of religion not the pseudo one . This can
be done by including secular studies at school level which shall help mould the minds of the
coming generations towards the right path

• Increasing awareness of the law amongst people so as to prevent them from doing anything,
under the influence of religion based politics, that is barred by law or not acceptable by the law .