Religious Article

Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 25–28 of the Constitution of India. Modern India came into existence in 1947 and the Indian constitution’s preamble was amended in 1976, to explicitly declare India a secular state. Supreme Court of India ruled that India was already a secular state from the time it adopted its constitution, what actually was done through this amendment is to state explicitly what was earlier contained implicitly under article 25 to 28. Every citizen of India has a right to practice and promote their religion peacefully. However, there have been numerous instances of religious intolerance that resulted in riots and mob violences; notably, the 1984 Sikh Massacre in and around Delhi, 1990 Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir, the 1992–93 Bombay Riots in Mumbai, the 2008 Anti-Christian riots in Odisha and other anti-Christian violence in India. Some perpetrators of the 1984 Sikh Massacre have not been brought to justice despite widespread condemnation.

The plural nature of Indian society in the 3rd century BC was encapsulated in an inscription of Ashoka:

King Priyadarshi (Ashoka) dear to the Gods, honours all sects, the ascetics (hermits) or those who dwell at home, he honours them with charity and in other ways. But the King, dear to the Gods, attributes less importance to this charity and these honours than to the vow of seeing the reign of virtues, which constitutes the essential part of them. For all these virtues there is a common source, modesty of speech. That is to say, One must not exalt one’s creed discrediting all others, nor must one degrade these others Without legitimate reasons. One must, on the contrary, render to other creeds the honour befitting them.

Emperor Kharvela (born in the family of Rajarshi Vasu) declares himself in his inscription (approximately 2nd century BCE):

• sava pasa-nd-a-puujako, sava devaayatan-sanskaarako
• I am worshipper of all sects, restorer of all shrines.

Kharvela’s self-description must be contrasted with other rulers around the world, who took pride in calling themselves “but-shikan” or “defender of the (only true) faith”.

Badayuni in his Muntakhab-ut-Tawáríkh reports that the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who had established the Din-i-Ilahi faith, decreed the following in AH 1000 (1551–1552 CE):

Hindus who, when young, had from pressure become Musalmans, were allowed to go back to the faith of their fathers. No man should be interfered with on account of his religion, and every one should be allowed to change his religion, if he liked. …People should not be molested, if they wished to build churches and prayer rooms, or idol temples, or fire temples.

The Sikh Gurus built freedom of religion in their faith to such an extent that while being a persecuted minority themselves under many Mughal rulers like Aurangzeb, Sikhs felt obliged to fight for the religious freedom of others. The sixth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Hargobind, even had a mosque built for his Muslim disciples, instead of putting them under any pressure to adopt the Sikh faith. The tradition of religious freedom continued under Sikh Empire, and other Sikh Principalities where Sikh rulers commissioned several Gurdwaras, Temples and Mosques for their subjects of various faiths.

India, with its traditional tolerance, has served as a refuge for groups that have encountered persecution elsewhere.

1. Jews: Jews in India were granted lands and trading rights. The oldest of the three longest-established Jewish communities in India, traders from Judea and Israel arrived in the city of Cochin, in what is now Kerala, 2,500 years ago and are now known as Cochin Jews. According to recordings by Jews, the date of the first arrival is given at 562 BC. In 68 AD, more Jews fled to Kerala to escape attacks by the Romans on Jerusalem..
2. Christians: Christianity is believed to have come to India in the 1st century through Saint Thomas who formed the Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala. Later in the 15th and 16th centuries European Missionaries brought in Christianity in places such as Goa and Mangalore. Protestant Missionaries came in 18th and 19th centuries to North-East India.
3. Parsi: The Zoroastrians from Greater Persia arrived in India fleeing from religious persecution in their native land in the 9th century. They flourished in India and in 18–19th centuries intervened on behalf of their co-religionists still in Greater Persia. They have produced India’s pioneering industrialist house of Tata and one of the only two Indian Field Marshals in Sam Manekshaw.
4. Tibetan Buddhists: Apart from sheltering Tibetan Buddhist refugees who fled their country after it was occupied by China in 1959, India is now home to the Dalai Lama, a high lama of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
5. Baháʼí: As of 2011, India had world’s largest Baháʼí population of 4,572 Baháʼís, who took refuge in India from religious persecution in Iran.

After the advent of Islam, when religious bias against the non-Islamic sects began to get severe, Hinduism began to take on a distinctive identity. During the 16th century, Sikhism also arose and drew into its fold a number of people in Punjab. Christianity has a history that traces back to the advent of Saint Thomas the Apostle in India around 48 AD. He is said to have been followed by Bartholomew around 55 AD. It is reported that when Vasco Da Gama visited Calicut in 1498 AD, he found over 2 lakh Christians in the Kerala area. The British Government in the beginning discouraged any missionary work; however, in 1837, it permitted entry of white missionaries in its territory because of the pressure from the evangelical lobby in the British parliament.^{[citation needed]}

Religious conversion has sparked a lot of attention and has caused hostilities in Indian families. Though conversion resolved the pre-conversion crisis, it resulted in more troubles in the convert’s life. Different kinds of hostilities were: being killed, threatened with death, fear of future troubles or being disowned by parents and friends.