Indian Secularism – Distinctive Ideas of Jawaharlal Nehru

Abstract

To Nehru, secularism meant granting of equal status to all religious in India. Secularism demands tolerance and close and active interaction among various communities in India. But when Nehruvian model of secularism had been put to practice, there were threats to this concept arising out of communal violence in present Indian context and hence Nehru’s secularism has been criticized by several scholars. Irrespective of such criticism Nehru defined secularism as a means to strengthen national unity and to construct better and brighter India.