Secularism Thriving on Castism?

Secularism, by definition, rejects religion and religious considerations. But the secularism in India seems to thrive on religious considerations. Think about it, all the nominations for the psot of vice president have been from the same sect. Coincidence? naaaa, everyone knows that these candidates have been nominated mainly because they are from Muslims. The reason quoted is "secularism". Going back to the definition, secularism rejects religion. So how can looking at someone just as a Muslim be secularism? Am I against Muslim? Ofcourse not. I, like everyone else, admire Abdul Khalam. He is one of the best presidents India has ever had. When he became the president people spoke about a rocket scientist, a writer, and a great thinker. No one wrote about a Muslim. That's the way a person for a highly reputed position should be. Unfortunately we are in this junk politics of deciding over positions based on gender, caste and what not. My only hope is that one of these people can still turn out to be a good leader.

India is not alone in this issue though. The country that is supposed to be the most open to people's beliefs, is also having its own problems. The US election debate has a new angle now - religion. The mormon faith of presidential candidate Mitt Romney is making news. In a recent survey by the PEW research center 39% of the people said that they woud be more likely to vote for a candidate who is Christian. 46% said that they would be less likely to vote for a Muslim and 30% were against Mormon candidates. And this is in a constitution that bars any religious test for office!