The term pseudo-secularism is used to describe individuals who claim to be secular but may display biases towards a particular religion, whether consciously or unconsciously. This term has gained popularity in recent Indian politics, where it is often used to criticize individuals who identify as secular and advocate for minority rights while remaining silent or opposing concerns faced by the majority religion. Some Hindu nationalist parties employ this term as a counter-accusation against their critics, alleging that the secularism followed by the Indian National Congress and other self-declared secular parties are flawed or distorted.

Background

The first recorded use of the term "pseudo-secularism" was in the 1951 book Philosophy and Action of the R.S.S. for the Hind Swaraj, by Anthony Elenjimittam. In his book Elenjimittam accused leaders of the Indian National Congress of pretending to uphold secularism. After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was accused of representing the Hindu communalism in Indian politics it started using the counter-charge of "pseudo-secularism" against the Congress and other parties. The BJP leader LK Advani characterizes pseudo-secular politicians as those for whom "secularism is only a euphemism for vote-bank politics". According to him, these politicians are not concerned with the welfare of the minorities, but only interested in their vote. The Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has criticized the term as propaganda by Hindu nationalists. Historian Mridula Mukherjee has described it as "a term propounded by the ideologues of Hindu nationalism to delegitimize and deny the genuineness of secularism. The subtext is that secularism is only a veneer put on to hide alleged policies of minority appeasement. The proponents of the term allege the secularists of being pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu."

Examples

The state policies of independent India accorded special rights to Muslims, along with other religious minorities like Christians and Parsis, in matters of personal law. For example,