Constitution-minded Indians should have declined Ayodhya invite: Pinarayi

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said the refusal to participate in the Ram Lalla 'pran pratishtha' ceremony at Ayodhya was nothing but a reaffirmation of an Indian's commitment to secularism. He said every Indian citizen, who swears by Constitutional values, should have declined the invitation.

In a statement released on Monday, the Chief Minister lamented that the country has reached a stage when the inauguration of a religious place of worship was celebrated as a state event. "Most of us have been invited to participate in the rituals, by the trust in charge of it. As those who have pledged to preserve and protect our Constitution, let us reaffirm our commitment to its secular character, by declining to participate in the event, upholding our Constitutional responsibilities," Pinarayi said.

He termed secularism as "the soul of the democratic republic of India". "It has been part of our identity as a nation right from the days of our national movement. Those belonging to different faiths and those who were not part of any religion had taken an active part in our freedom struggle. This nation belongs to all people and all sections of Indian society, in equal measure," Pinarayi said.

The Chief Minister reiterated the Nehruvian ideal of all religions being equal and the state keeping an equal distance from all religions. "Religion is a private affair and the Indian Constitution has minced no words in stating that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and have the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. As those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of India, we ought to ensure that every person within our territories enjoys this right in equal measure. At the same time, we cannot be promoting one religion above all others, or demean one religion beneath every other," he said.

He invoked Nehru to back his point. "As our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has often opined, Indian secularism means the separation of religion and state. We even have a strong tradition of maintaining that separation. However, of late, the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be getting thinner and thinner. This is a major departure from the times when our constitutional office bearers have been cautioned from taking part in religious events, as it would cast aspersions on our credentials as a secular state," he said.

The Chief Minister said the consecration ceremony, instead of being seen as establishing the dominance of the majority community, should "serve as an opportunity to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities". "May India prosper further by developing scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform," he added.