Composite Culture in a Multicultural Society

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Secularism and Composite Culture in a Pluralistic Society

Satish Chandra

Introduction

While present trends do influence our thinking about the past, and the past influences our perception of the present, the present should not be made the basis of the past. However, this happens more often than not. Thus, the communal division of India in 1947 had led some to negate the process of cultural integration which was proceeding apace during the medieval period and continued up to 1857. Those who hold such views argue that whenever the Muslims are in a majority they favour secession, oppose secularism and try to establish a society based on fundamentalism or a narrow interpretation of the sharia. They also argue that whenever Muslims are a minority, ...