In the great debate on secularism in India a number of cultivated myths abound even among well intentioned people bearing no malice against other communities. MYTH This myth-making started in the Constituent Assembly. It was turned down on two different grounds. On the question of socialism it was held that a Constitution is a political document and need not reflect any social philosophy. This illusion ran through social scientific literature as well as several judgements of the top courts of this country ending up with the judgement that Hindutva is compatible with secularism.
Social science is also a science or, at least, an aspiring one.
The minimum requirement for attaining the status of a science is an agreement on the terms that are used. Otherwise, if people mean different things by the same word, their words are bound to lose precision. Social science is not poetry that thrives on mystery and obscurity. One simple way to attain descriptive precision is through the fundamental principle of philology - meanings being derived from roots. Secularism is a word derived from the word secular which means this worldly, mundane, profane.