India is secular and always will be

India is experiencing hard times. The political scenario of this largest democracy is indeed murky and retrograde forces are at work to wreck the hard-won freedom of the past. They are trying to destroy the ancient secular values built up through centuries. India has been a model to the whole world as to how a country, with its deep religious roots, can be a beautiful example of a secular nation as well, where everyone lives together peacefully. Freedom fighter Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first exponent of secularism in India and stood for the marginalised classes of people and other forgotten classes in India. He was readily helped by other great souls like Jayaprakash Narayan, Vinoba Bhave, politician Acharya Kripalani and other great people like Sardar Patel, Doctor Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. But halfway through, India started mixing religion with politics, which acted adversely against the growth of genuine democratic institutions in the country. The ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party has been hugely responsible for this political disaster, which gradually started eating into the social fabric of the country. Now religion has become a prominent aspect, which is dangerous as India is a country made up of a multitude of religions. It is time that political pundits found out that this approach is a major setback and corrected the situation.