So what does the BJP\u2019s victory mean for Indian secularism?<\/p>\n
First off, the term \u201csecularism\u201d is quite different in Indian politics \u2014 it\u2019s not what U.S. audiences imagine it to be: a separation between church and state. Instead, it refers to religious neutrality (dharmnirpekshta): the equal treatment of all religious communities, irrespective of size, by the government.<\/p>\n
Secularism in India is less concerned with religion interfering in politics (as in the United States) than with the state interfering in religion. As Rajeev Bhargava<\/a> argues, Indian secularism is about maintaining a \u201cprincipled distance\u201d between the state and religion.<\/p>\n To get a better understanding of secularism in India, I conducted research in villages in the northern Indian state of Bihar in late 2017, and in February 2018, I conducted a survey of 900 Hindus across the state on religion and politics.<\/p>\n My preliminary findings show that Hindus in Bihar overwhelmingly support many of the ideals of Indian secularism \u2014 even government support for mosques. Critically, however, this is not true for more pious Hindus: The more religious voters are, the more they subscribe to the tenets of Hindu nationalism, especially the idea that Hindus deserve preferential treatment over Muslims.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Is #India<\/a> becoming a \u2018Hindu state\u2019? https:\/\/t.co\/Ugiv3f3xEa<\/a> research finds the majority of Hindus support principles of state secularism, but the more religious, the more they believe preferential treatment is warranted<\/p>\n \u2014 Jayson Casper (@jnjcasper) June 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n