Mockery of secular spirit

A nationwide debate on whether a religious body should be allowed to run an academic institution in this secular country seems to have been whipped up by St. Stephen’s College learned Principal Dr. Anil Wilson who very aptly questioned the ‘divine rights’ of ecclesiastical heads to chair institutions dealing with matters like health and education where they have little or no expertise. It is unfortunate for this country tattered spiritually, economically, socially and politically by alien rulers and their followers that its Constitution provides religious reservations in the subject matters of academic institutions run by the so-called minority communities. Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution provide discriminatory rights to minority communities to establish and manage their educational institutions. This provision may suppress the secular spirit of the scholars like Dr. Anil Wilson. How do the managers of the successive central governments justify existence of Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution in this secular country has never been answered, and that is how the present embarrassing situation was created for Dr Anil Wilson. Before the ecclesiastical interference in the matters relating to admission to the prestigious Stephen’s College, it carried a reputation of being just a good Indian college. Now it is no more a secret that it is one of the many Christian colleges that exists only to violate the spirit of Indian secularism and develop social disharmony. Will UPA manager Mrs Sonia Gandhi take some steps to amend the Constitution to secure its secular spirit and avoid embarrassment for the scholars like Dr Wilson?

-Dr Balram Misra, 8B/6428-29, Arya Samaj Road, Dev Nagar, Karol Bagh, New Delhi