THE PSI: a sonnet

THE PSI: a sonnet


Secularism was once a noble word,
Meaning respect for every religion.
It had no place for the approach, absurd,
When the state backs a creed for no reason.

Unfortunately India today
Has a breed of humans, called PSI.
Almost incessantly they neigh and bray,
And, for the lot of the criminal, cry.

In their peculiar belief system,
It’s the victim that’s by them often blamed.
If the aggressor does let loose mayhem,
They say the victim should have been more tamed.

They argue the aggressor has a right
To ask the victim not to show his might.



• PSI = Pseudo-secular Intelligentsia

* The Western concept of secularism originated in Europe several centuries ago when the question of separation of the church and the state had become a major concern and a subject of fierce political controversy. India has never had an organized church, so the European concept of secularism was not really relevant to our requirements. The term sarva-dharma-sambhava which is sometimes used in place of secularism is, in fact, a far more meaningful formulation, and certainly much closer to the views of Mahatma Gandhi, who was deeply imbued with the Vedantic concept of the essential unity of all religions.
--Dr. Karan Singh, scholar and former cabinet minister of India.
http://www.karansingh.com/index.php?action=politics&subaction=poly_secularism

• Pseudo-secularism is defined as “the state of implicit non-secular trends in the face of pledged secularism”. The term is used by groups who perceive a double standard exhibited within the established secular governing policy towards culturally different groups.-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-secularism

• A lucid account of the terms secularism and pseudo-secularism can be found in an article by L K Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister of India, at http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/381/349/


M C Gupta
19 April 2009