Online edition of Daily News

photo shows a girl seen through the broken windshield of an autorickshaw in Lunavada, about 130 Kms from Gandhinagar, capital of the western Indian state of Gujarat. After being attacked by Hindu nationalists and beaten by police for the better part of 10 months, Muslims in this riot-scarred town scamper away whenever they see a policeman. AFP PHOTO

Emphatically underwriting and upholding its secular credentials continues to remain a prime challenge for India as it gears up to celebrate another Republic Day on January 26. The rise of religious fundamentalism in this part of the world against the backdrop of the US-led "war on terror" and recent dramatic electoral gains for Hindu Rightist Forces in India itself, underscores the importance of this task.

In 1947 at the time of acquiring political independence from Great Britain, India had also on its hands, the onerous task of keeping secessionist and fundamentalist religious forces at bay in its disputed, northern border state of Jammu and Kashmir. This struggle continues to this day, unabated. Keeping Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian union, besides proving vital from the strategic and military point of view, in addition to the important natural resources base it offers, is crucial for the sustenance of India's secular and democratic identity. Having a Muslim-majority state within its fold, enables India to nourish its identity as a multi-ethnic, plural state which is home to many a community.

The wonder of India is that it has been in a position to continue to project this secular image despite considerable threats to it. Besides, it has continued to uphold its geographical and territorial unity over the decades despite dire predictions in some quarters that it was at risk of losing this status in view of a plethora of armed secessionist movements, some of which have been successfully defused.

However, the forces opposed to India's secular status do not only operate in its divided, Jammu and Kashmir state. These enemies of India's securalism have been active within the Union and continue to be so, as the recent electoral verdict in the Gujarat state elections amply demonstrates. Although the BJP triumphed overwhelmingly at the polls, its chief minister elect - in fact he was re-elected - is seen as a Hindu ultra-rightist political figure who is staunchly backed by the extremist Vishva Hindu Parishad, which peddles the Hindutva ideology.

Narendra Modi - Gujarat's chief minister re-elect - was seen as a principal instigator of the mammoth communal violence which engulfed Gujarat last year and which continues to simmer now and then as India gears to celebrate yet another Republic Day. In an ominous indication of the challenges which lie ahead for India's rulers, VHP leader Praveen Togadia was heard to comment immediately after the Gujarat triumph for the party backed by his organisation that, "India will become a Hindu Republic within two years".

He went on to reportedly say that, "all opponents of Hindutva will get the death sentence and we will leave it to the people to carry this out." The communal bloodbath in Gujarat is proof that words such as these cannot be taken lightly.

The dark forces which cruelly snuffed out the life of India's independence hero, Mahatma Gandhi, are continuing to be active within the Indian fold, and in fact, may be more active now, with added sustenance for their existence coming from the West's war against fundamentalist religious forces in this part of the world.Indian Premier Atal Beharee Vajpayee has done well to keep extremist political forces at bay so far, but more needs to be done, by way of building India's secular credentials, to blunt their appeal among some.