La spécificité de la laïcité à l'indienne

Abstract

Contemporary discussions of secularism in India have been constrained by the tradition-modern(western) dichotomy. For some, secu~larism is originally a Christian doctrine adapted to modern western condi~tions, and means the strict separation of church and state. It is also predominantly a single-value doctrine, motivated either by liberty (as in the United states) or equality of citizenship (as in France) more suited to single~religion societies than to the socio-cultural context of India where it is more appropriate to rely on resources of multiple and indigenous religious tradi~tions for the sake of quite different values of peace and toleration. Others argue that India has the civilizational resource from which to retrieve its own conception of secularism captured best by the phrase 'sarva dharma samb~hava' (equal respect for all religions). I argue instead that India has worked out a distinctive conception of the secular that was at once Indian and modern. This remains a practical conception rather than a coherent doctrine or theory, and can thus be called Indian secularism only by extension. This conception builds on traditional resources as well as on the legacy of the British colonial state but innovatively transforms them. Many distinctive fea~tures characterize it. First, it deals simultaneously with inter-religious and intra-religious domination. Second, it has an explicit multi-value character. Third, it rejects strict separation. Separation does not mean exclusion or strict neutrality but what I call principled distance. Fourth, it implies neither respectful indifference nor active hostility but respectful transformation of religion. In short, secularism inherits the tradition of religious reform that began in India both prior to the advent of colonial modernity and because of a critical engagement with it. Finally, Indian secularism is an ethically~sensi~tive practical settlement and less a scientific, rationalist doctrine worked out by ideologues and implemented by political agents.