Secularism in Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy

Abstract

Secularism can be defined as treating every individual and every religion equally and providing all citizens equal opportunities and equal facilities. Secularism is a separation of religion and the state. This allows the citizens of the country to live as equals without one being the second-class or the first-class in the same country. Different writers and critics have written vastly on the subject and about the historical situation after India gained its independence, which was greatly centered on the issue of secularism. The period after partition was marked by Prime Minister Nehru trying to instill a secularist state in the country to quell turbulence that the young county was facing as a result of the religious divide between the Hindus and the Muslims that was at times violent and destabilizing. In his novel: A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth has raised a historical and contemporary narratives that dealt with the issue of secularism. By siding with the ideals of Nehruvian secularism, the author has told a story of individual love and nation- building, which, he implied, could flourish when the idea of secularism is upheld.