There can be nothing further from the truth than this. Secularism means the right to follow the religion of ones choice freely. The current version of Secularism that is being practiced is a sham. We have one set of rules for certain communities and another for the majority community. The minority institutions can function under their own syllabus, do whatever they want and they are even supported by the government. The madrassa eduction, which cannot be in any terms called secular, is made to be on par with the conventional education. Even the Christian run schools promote their religion at the expense of other religions. But Hindus, by virtue of being a majority, cannot have any privileges for running their own schools. A veda pada sala, which should be encouraged as it passes on the wisdom of centuries of advanced human thoughts collected as Vedas and Upanishads, is branded communal and left unrecognized. Even the new Right to Education act and reservation in schools for the underprivileged is not applicable to minority run schools. So a minority benefits two fold- he gets reservation in a majority run institution and his seats are protected in his community run institutions.
Even the generic definition of Secularism is not applicable any more. Would any minority community look passively if one of theirs convert himself or herself to a majority religion? There are numerous cases where people have been killed because of this, and there are many more that are left unreported by the secular media.
And why should the minorities enjoy special privileges in any case? They have as much right as you and me with respect to educational opportunities and employment opportunities on merit. If, after 65 years of reservation, they are still backward and needs protection, frankly they need to look inwards.
India is currently a country not for the majorities and as such not secular.
