Ambrish K. Diwanji's excellent article on Rediff really hits the nail when it comes to secularism and appeasement:

The tragic fact is that in India today, its laws do appease different sections in different ways. So if Muslims are 'appeased' through personal laws that allow them four wives in complete disregard of women's emancipation and liberty, Hindus too have contrived to ensure that various laws in the country appease Hindu sentiments, and perhaps the best, and most controversial, example is the law that bans the slaughter of cows, but not of other bovine creatures.