Religion and Politics in India and its Prospects to be a Superpower

For India to be a superpower what principles would be appropriate for the relationship between state and religion?
India has followed the fourth model of states and religion which is the secular state and religious politics model. For years the country has been witnessing politics which has been closely linked with religion. Although the country is secular in nature which provides equality to all religions, it has been seen over the past years that all the successful leaders have had certain communities of people under their control asserting what has already been said that, once a the leader of a party is seen as a supporter of a religious community, he is guaranteed votes and undying support.
It has been seen in the past that political leaders have framed policies which indirectly or directly affect a particular faith; this is a practice which can be seen even today. Leaders have gained a lot of power by playing on religious sentiments of the people sometimes for getting votes for or getting their personal agenda through. Even today it is not surprising to see political parties threaten religious uprising their demands are not meet.
I would disagree with the view held by some scholars that the root of communal violence in the country is not that the country is not too secular bit because it is not secular enough. I feel that the India as a country is a very secular and tolerant state, the communal rioting are more often than not politically instigated, I feel that if religion is left out of politics the country would be a highly secular state even in practice. Today religion is being used mainly to as a tool for political leaders to assert their power.
If India is to become a superpower there needs to be a demarcation between religion and politics. The communal tension itself puts a strain on the country’s development, whenever there are riots complete cities and towns are destroyed and it takes considerable amount of time for the city to come back on its feet. For India to become a superpower people need to stop thinking of petty differences between them and work hard. Religion should be used not as a power tool for political means but as a power tool to encourage people to progress.
Religion should be used as a tool in bringing about upliftment of the underprivileged, it should be used to propagate education, importance of health and hygiene, and modify social norms so that we have a generation of not narrow minded followers but a generation of broadminded, practical and educated people who are able to question and understand things and not blindly follow them. For this to be accomplished it is important that politics and religion are completely separated and India should aim for the model of secular nation and secular politics.