People are naturally communal, I mean almost all mammals including human beings are territorial in nature, communalism, sectarianism, racism, etc. are forms of that same basic instinct. Secularism is a gift of the civilization, as people became more civilized and standard social norms were formed, people learned to accommodate 'others' within the society, that's basically secularism when applied against religious sectarianism. As secularism is against the basic instincts of the human beings, just like monogamy, the fundamentals of the secularism must be practiced without any partiality, bias or prejudice to protect and uphold the idea of secularism.
I consider that the selective silence of the 'intellectuals' and the distorted version of it practiced by the political class is destroying the idea of secularism,
which is more dangerous than radicalism itself, because those who are supposed to uphold the principals of secularism will be more potent than the radicals to destroy it from within.
I also consider that the birth and rise of the right wing in India is the fallout of the failure of our (leftist)intellectuals and politicians to uphold secularism in its desired form. Maybe I should tag
@Joe Shearer @scorpionx and
@nair here.
