Overview

"Ever since the Babri Masjid dispute in 1986, the debate over secularism and communalism has been revived in all its sound and fury. It now occupies centre stage in our public discourse. In ""Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist"", Mani Shankar Aiyar, crusader for a secular credo, calls for an unambiguous and decisive restoration of secularism to the core of our nationhood. In doing so, he revisits every dimension of our secular ethos and exposes the various myths perpetuated by communal elements of all hues. Putting under the scanner contentious issues like conversions, uniform civil code and Article 370, he nails the falsehood underlying terms like 'pseudo-secularism', 'appeasement' and 'soft Hindutva'. And he places the domestic debate over secularism in India in the wider external dimension by discussing the experiences of countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Israel and erstwhile Yugoslavia. Admitting to wearing his secularism on his sleeve, Aiyar reasons that only a determined and inflexible adherence to secularism can counter religious bigotry and fundamentalism."

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9780143062059

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Reviews

'A seminal piece of work' - Financial Express 'Written with fierce eloquence, biting wit and scholarship... it must be read by anyone who wishes to understand India's troubled politics today and its complex past' - Financial Times

Author Information

Mani Shankar Aiyar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963. From 1985 to 1989, he was Joint Secretary to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He made the transition from the civil service to politics in 1989 and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, and again in 1999 and 2004. He is currently Union Minister of Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports. He is also a well-known author and columnist who has written for a number of English, Hindi and Tamil journals. Mani Shankar Aiyar is the founder-president of the Society for Secularism.

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