Nehru advocated for keeping India secular based on the principle that India should not be a country that gave superior status to adherents of one faith and inferior to those who practiced another religion. All citizens would be equal irrespective of their religious affiliation. Being religious or a believer would not be a test of citizenship. This ideal was enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

These reasons were not only ethical and sentimental. There were strong prudential reasons as well. India was a land of continental size and diversity where people spoke different languages and followed different cultures and religions. At that time, it was widely believed that a country full of such diversity could not remain together for long.

The Partition of the country appeared to prove everyone's worst fears. There were serious questions about the future of India – whether it would survive as a unified country. The first and immediate challenge was to shape a nation that was united, yet accommodative of the diversity in society.

Thus, secularism was both an ethical ideal and a prudential necessity for nation-building. It was essential to accommodate plurality and ensure the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the nation.