“In India, secularism is not the rejection of religion, it is a profusion of religions,” said Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician, former diplomat and author of Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India. He got a warm welcome at Hay, where he discussed his new book, Why I Am a Hindu, and laid out the origins, practices and challenges of the world’s oldest continuing religion.
There was no family pressure on Tharoor to be a practising Hindu, but admiration for his father made him decide that was what he wanted to do. He overcame his “schoolboy atheism’” and found his intellectual fit in Hinduism.
“Hinduism doesn’t require you to demonstrate your faith,” Tharoor said, explaining that in his view it was a liberal religion as there were no compulsory dogmas. “People like me never felt the need to advertise our faith,” he added.
“I am proud that I can respect other faiths, without betraying my own,” he continued. Tharoor highlighted the importance of acceptance and tolerance, saying those two principles were fundamental to his religion. Tharoor explained that one attraction of Hinduism to people was the number of deities one could pray to, covering all possible needs and situations.
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