How is Indian secularism different from …

Indian secularism is a lot different from the secularism practiced in the West and else where and there are good reasons why it is so. India historically and culturally has been a melting pot for the world since the time humanity started defining and exploring the concept of religion. So, be it ancient India or medieval India or modern India, the country had been always a multi-religious nation with no majorly distinct religious or cultural identity as opposed to most of the world where religion came to be known as a distinct and clearly distinguishable idea. So, when those countries got independent it was easy for them to carve out religion from the State functioning with a thick wall between them separating the two. There are some other factors too but this is a major one. But, in India where historically barring few instances all religions had been patronized in varying degrees by almost all the kings irrespective of the religion they themselves belonged to, this scheme continued to be followed even after independence due to the reasons such as British policy of communal division of the society, partition of the country on the lines of religion etc. which had created deep fears in the minds of the religious minority regarding their future. Therefore,though the Constitution of India nowhere mentions the word “secularism”(except in Preamble which was added later), yet if you read Part III of the Constitution you will get a clear idea that India is supposed to be a place where all religions have a fundamental right to thrive and prosper and the State has to ensure nothing comes in the way of their exercising such a right. So while in rest of the world the secular governments stay away from endorsing or patronizing any religion in any way, in India the government ,if patronizes one religion, has to patronize all the religions and not just one particular religion and if any action of the State is seen preferring one religion to another without any reasonable cause such an action will be struck down by the courts as violative of the Fundamental Rights and secularism which is also a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Thus, Indian secularism is really a positive concept and very healthy given the diversity and uniqueness of India. But, lately this India secularism is being threatened by the communal forces all over the country. But, I am pretty sure it would stand the test of the time as it always did and would come out even stronger defeating those divisive forces.