Can you be a secular citizen after studying in a convent or a madarassa? Depends on whom you ask. In a charged session at the ThinkEdu Conclave, Madhu Kishwar, Senior Fellow at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said, that she didn't see institutions - secular or religious - playing any role in instilling a secular mindset among students. "A great chunk of young men who join terrorist organisations like ISIS are educated in elite and secular institutes," she said.
Stoking the debate in a liberal sense, Dinesh Singh, academic and former Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi said, "The most important thing about religion is to come to believe in something and find your true calling and any religious institution that doesn't allow it can never create secular minds." Singh was joined in the debate by Kancha Ilaiah, Director for Center for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Hyderabad, G Joseph Antonysamy, Principal of Loyola College, Chennai and Madhu Kishwar, academic and professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. "I am a Hindu in the broad sense and I am guided by the Bhagavad Gita. An institution in itself, the book says that all forms of worship leads to one God and that a true yogi is one who makes no distinction. If a religious institution teaches such values, then it is definitely creating secular minds," Singh added.
Moderating the session, Kancha Ilaiah said he doesn't see Indian democracy safe in an age where secular values propagated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru are being given a negative name – pseudo-secularism – by groups that only believe in one religion. "Nehru on the other hand was an a atheist and somebody who did not believe in any religion. It is this detachment that helped him strategically instil secularism in schools, offices, assemblies and the parliament," he said.
Singh was seconded by G Joseph Antonysamy, Principal of Loyola College, Chennai who believed any religious institution that understands and respects inclusiveness, pluralism and diversity is the place where secular minds can be created. "That is because the basic idea of Indian society is pluralistic. When I say I love my mother and respect her, I don't say I hate your mother. I, in fact, respect your mother and respect your love and reverence for her," he said. Bringing in names such as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, APJ Abdul Kalam and R Venkataraman in his speech, he said they are stalwarts who were educated in Christian institutions, yet had secular mindsets." That's because students in religious institutions are taught about all religions and most importantly that India is a land of all religions and that they should respect all," he said.