With the42nd Amendmentof theConstitution of Indiaenacted in 1976,the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However, neither India's constitution nor its laws define the relationship between religion and state. The laws implicitly require the state and its institutions to recognise and accept all religions, enforce parliamentary laws instead of religious laws, and respect pluralism.India does not have an officialstate religion. In matters of law in modern India, however, the applicable code of law is unequal, and India's personal laws - on matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, alimony - varies with an individual's religion. Muslim Indians haveSharia-basedMuslim Personal Law, while Hindu, Christian and Sikh Indians live undercommon law. The attempt to respect unequal, religious law has created a number of issues in India such as acceptability ofchild marriage,polygamy, unequal inheritance rights, extra judicial unilateral divorce rights favorable to some males, and conflicting interpretations of religious books.

Secularism as practiced in India, with its marked differences with Western practice of secularism, is a controversial topic in India. Supporters of the Indian concept of secularism claim it respects. Supporters of this form of secularism claim that any attempt to introduce auniform civil code, that is equal laws for every citizen irrespective of his or her religion, would impose majoritarian Hindu sensibilities and ideals.Opponents argue that India's acceptance of Sharia and religious laws violates the principle ofEquality before the law.

Secularism is a divisive, politically charged topic in India.