First Family's Faith

Secular:  1. of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.
2. not pertaining to or connected with religion
That is the definition of secular as per the dictionary. In the western democratic context, it means the separation of church and state is a concept in law wherein the structures of state or national government are kept separate from those of religion . It distills down to one thing: the government should be religion blind. Policies formulated by it cannot favor one religion over another. In a more practical and personal way, for the politicians in a true secular state, personal religion should not matter and remain personal. But the voters should know their religion. If the politician is not religious then we need to know what are their convictions and where they draw their sense of morality. If they are religious then we need to know if and how will their faith affect their view of the nation. You may or may not agree with my assessment here but what it boils down to is that the politicians should not hide their religion or pretend to be what they are not.

For example, Nehru clan was Kashmiri Brahmins, conspiracy theories notwithstanding. But when Mrs. Indira Gandhi got married to a Parsi, her family became a Parsi family and should have continued to practice that religion. However, from what we have seen, the family has continued to behave like Hindus at least in public. All the last rites in the family were preformed the Hindu way. Rahul Gandhi is half catholic, one fourth Parsi and one fourth Hindu and yet the man is seen sporting a tilak and the red string around his right wrist (gun-daah or kalaava as it is known in some parts of the country). Why hide your faith? The reason is very obvious.

The latest example in a very long list is the faux pas committed by Meera Shankar who is the Indian Ambassador to the USA. In a speech, while extolling India’s inclusive nature, she referred to Sonia Gandhi as a Christian. Nothing wrong with that. She is what she is! India is a free country. However, that reference was removed from the speech upon the insistence of the Congress mandarins. The secular party of India does not want the voters to know that their leader is catholic. Why? The only answer is that the secularism as practiced in India is a farce and way to control the Hindu voters. First the British and then Congress ensured by a systematic brainwashing that we should always doubt our Hindu way of life. That is the only way they would be able to exert their control over us. Hindu has become a curse word. Followers of the faith are portrayed as caricatures in the media. Christmas and Valentine’s Day are celebrated with a fervor second only to Diwali and Holi. Despite of all this, the Congress realizes that the ethos of the country is still Hindu and that the voter may not feel comfortable voting for a Christian that too an Italian one. So they go through the rigmarole of hiding the true religion of the leader of the nation. Because if they are not ashamed of religion then politics must be the only other reason. In a really warped way, this is a compliment to the Hindu spirit of India.

Indian envoy refers to Sonia as ‘Christian,’ reference is deleted
This was probably the first time anyone in the government had referred to the religion of the Congress president and UPA Chairperson.
The speech was posted on the Embassy’s website but was quickly pulled out and replaced with a version where the phrase, “...and a Christian as the leader of the largest national political party...” was deleted.
The article can be read at: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Indian-envoy-refers-to-Sonia-as-Christian-reference-is-deleted/766540/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+expressindia/iKgY+(Expressindia))
The unedited video can be watched at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBWE0Bl3-a0
The picture is from: http://www.mangaloretoday.com/mt/index.php?action=headlines&type=594