Akbar
Suleh-e-kul is the only correct policy for India
By Justice Katju
Suleh-e-kul, or equal respect and toleration of all religions and communities, was the doctrine proclaimed by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar ( 1542-1605 ), whom I regard as the real father of the Indian nation.
India is a country of great diversity, having so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, cultures, customs, etc.
We may compare India with China, which has about the same population as India ( each having a little over 1400 million people). There is broad ( though not absolute) homogeneity in China. All Chinese have mongoloid faces, 95% of them belong to one ethnic group called the Han, and they all have a common written script called Mandarin ( which is also the most common spoken language in China, though there are also other spoken languages like Cantonese, Hakka, etc ).
On the other hand, India is a country of tremendous diversity, which can be explained by the fact that it is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America. 93-94% Indians are descendants of people who were not the original inhabitants of India but came from outside India ( mainly from the North West). As to how and why they came to India has been explained in great detail in my articles and videos below :
As explained above, the original inhabitants of India are the pre-Dravidian tribals known today as Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes, e.g. Bhils, Gonds, Santhals, Todas, etc. These are like the Red Indians ( now called Native Americans) of North America, and now comprise of only about 6% of India’s population today. Their ancestors were massacred in large numbers and were driven into forests by the invading Dravidians and Aryans.
The remaining 94% or so of India’s people are descendants of immigrants, who brought their own customs, religion, language, etc into India, and this explains the tremendous diversity of India.
So the only policy which will work in India, which will keep us united, and take us on the path of progress is the policy of suleh-e-kul proclaimed by the great Emperor Akbar, who gave equal respect to all religions.
The Indian Constitution declares India to be a secular country. Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice one’s religion. It means that religion is a private affair, and the state will have nothing to do with it. In other words, there will be separation of church and state. This is broadly the same as the policy of suleh-e-kul which Emperor Akbar proclaimed, because of which the Mughal Empire lasted so long ( because it was an inclusive Empire).
The recent trend of departure from this policy, and the attempt to create India as a defacto Hindu state, strikes at the very spirit, soul, and identity of India as a country of great diversity, and will do great damage to it, preventing it from emerging as a modern industrial giant, like USA or China, which must be our target if we wish to abolish massive poverty, unemployment, hunger, lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses, and the other socio-economic evils which afflict us today.
In fact it may lead to balkanization and break up of India into pieces, for why should non-Hindus ( e.g. Christians who are in the majority in many North Eastern States, Muslims, who are the majority in Kashmir, or Sikhs, who are in large numbers in Punjab ) consent to live as second or third rate citizens in a Hindu India ?
