WHO IS SECULAR?

Frankly putting, this secular-liberal thing disturbs me a lot. I want myself to be called a secular but i find myself always agreeing with the saffron party's ideology.
The media calls them communal , the human right activists accuse them of being so, the ngos call brand them as fundamentalists. Sure they are, and right now i am not concerned with the task of defending them . What concerns me is the rather wrong prevalent definition of term "secular"
Secular , it seems ,is one who can unabashedly criticize rituals of any religion , do anything and everything that his religion forbids him to do and accept any demand of the other community. Sometime back , Mani Shankar Aiyar claimed to be one such secular because he ate beef and drank wine much against him Brahmin ethos. Using this as yardstick ,the media too has portrayed the saffron parties as communal. Saffron has , in fact, become synonym of Hindu fundamentalism. The urban middle class in pursuit of liberal and universal outlook too views the saffron parties with the same glasses.
Secularism , according to me , is not wiping out the entire concept of religion. It is neither vowing not to follow one's rituals. Secularism is seeing the other as a"human " and not as a follower of a particular religion . One can be a true devout and secular at the same time. Secularism does not necessitate one to be an atheist. And that's what people fail to understand.
Parties today try to prove themselves secular by appeasing the minorities. What are they actually doing? They are distinguishing people in terms of religion and are making decisions in order to favour minorities. Isn't it being communal? Sure, you must see to it that the rights of minorities are not encroached upon, but you also shouldn't give them the right to encroach the majority's rights. This ideology of minority appeasement creates dissensions in society and is too communal for me to agree with it.
What is with the ideology of the saffron parties for which they have been branded communal. The fact is that their is nothing wrong in their ideology ,but with their acts.When the Bajrang Dal members prevent young girls and boys from celebrating Valentine , they are criticised. Surely they must be because how can you stop someone from celebrating festival of love. Its love that binds us all . But in their criticism , one also criticises the ideology behind it and thats what i strongly protest . According to me, they do have a valid point, a valid motive but have gone haywire in its implementation. This I feel is the case with the saffron parties too. They know something is wrong , and want to set it right, but do it in all the wrong ways.
What is wrong that they want to set right? It is the gradual abandonment of Indian culture by common masses. Indian culture is a culture of truth ,ahimsa and tolerance. This thread of culture binds us all . Off late ,there has been a disillusionment in the society about our culture. People associate it to various evils such as the caste system , disrespect of women. This ignorance about our ancient culture has led them towards adopting western culture and ideology. (Given paucity of time, I would not try to elaborate the greatness of our culture and dispel common myths about it but i would recommend readers to try and learn more about our culture before making up their minds.)There's nothing wrong in following some other culture. After all, our own culture is the result of intermingling of various cultures. But the basic point is :how can you hope of understanding their culture while you surely haven't understood your own? This following of western culture without understanding it has created plethora of problems for us.
The saffron parties want us to understand and appreciate our culture.They are not against the minorities. They just want all of us to accept the truth- that is we are Hindus by culture. Culture should not be confused with religion . The saffron parties root for Hindu culture but do not force people to adopt Hindu religion.
Hindu culture stands for peaceful coexistence of various religions. It is secular in the real sense of the word. So why the hatred for the saffron parties. The trouble with them is that they have gone astray and are doing things against their culture only.
The protagonist Chanakya (in the serial Chanakya) says a line which i feel is the real hindu way of life. When Buddhist religion was spreading in India, some priests had apprehensions that their culture would be wiped off. To them , Chanakya said" Do not fear the Buddhist monks. Good should always replace bad. If our culture is not good, then it surely must be replaced. But if you think our culture is good,which surely is, then follow it assiduously and be a model for everyone to emulate. The cause of decline of our culture,if it would be, would not be the rise of Buddhism but our own failure to adhere to our ethos . So do not see the Buddhists as your enemies, see this situation as an opportunity to showcase the greatness of your culture" . This is the real thing the saffron parties should strive for.