We must take cognisance of the fact that India is a religious-minded country. Even while we are talking of a secular State, our mode of thought and life is largely coloured by a religious attitude to life. When Mahatma Gandhi died, the State procession which carried him to the funeral ground ended in religious ceremonies. His ashes were immersed in a hundred rivers of India. I may mention to you my own experience. When the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were taken to be immersed in the Sangam in Hyderabad, the Hyderabad State, as it then was, officially joined in it. Over 200,000 Muslims joined in it. Religious ceremony was performed at the Sangam according to the Hindu style in a congregation which consisted of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and members of other communities. That shows that the subconscious mind of India is highly religious. We should not be ashamed of it. And it will be a day of disaster for India if, by some legislative trick, our State is converted into an irreligious, Godless State. We need not fear that a secular State is inconsistent with a religious mind among the people.
