The Indian Constitution is ‘positive secularism’, unlike Turkey which has ‘negative secularism’, where the State says that nobody can display their religious identity in public and the ban on hijab in public places was upheld by the constitutional courts there, it was argued before the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday.
“The Constitution of Turkey is completely different... Our secularism is positive where the State plays an enabler role for the exercise of fundamental rights and the religious freedoms of all communities. We recognise all religions as true,” argued senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the two students who have question the restriction on wearing hijabs in classrooms.
Citing a judgement of the Supreme Court before a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, it was contended by Mr. Kamat that the Indian interpretation of secularism stems from the Vedic percept of Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava, and the SC has observed that ‘Indian secularism’ is susceptible to a positive meaning, that is developing an understanding and respecting towards different religions.
