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Communalism Concept of Communalism: Communalism Is An Ideology Which States That Society Is

Communalism refers to the ideology that society is divided along religious lines and that the interests of different religious communities differ and may conflict. It leads people of one community to antagonize those of others through false accusations, harm, insults, and even violence like looting, arson, and homicide. Communalism in India was fostered by the British to "divide and rule" by exacerbating religious differences for political ends. It has grown due to factors like the economic backwardness of Muslims, communal political parties and organizations, electoral incentives for major parties, and communal media and literature. Communal riots tend to be politically rather than religiously motivated and also stem from economic interests, and places that have experienced riots before are more

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195 views

Communalism Concept of Communalism: Communalism Is An Ideology Which States That Society Is

Communalism refers to the ideology that society is divided along religious lines and that the interests of different religious communities differ and may conflict. It leads people of one community to antagonize those of others through false accusations, harm, insults, and even violence like looting, arson, and homicide. Communalism in India was fostered by the British to "divide and rule" by exacerbating religious differences for political ends. It has grown due to factors like the economic backwardness of Muslims, communal political parties and organizations, electoral incentives for major parties, and communal media and literature. Communal riots tend to be politically rather than religiously motivated and also stem from economic interests, and places that have experienced riots before are more

Uploaded by

Tanya Jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Communalism

Concept of communalism: Communalism is an ideology which states that society is


divided into religious communities whose interest differ and are, at times, even opposed
to each other. The antagonism practiced by the people of one community against the
people of other community and religion can be termed as ‘communalism’. This
antagonism goes to the extent of falsely accusing, harming and deliberately insulting a
particular community and may extend to looting, burning down the homes and shops of
the helpless and the weak, dishonoring women, and even homicide.

The Genesis and Growth of Communalism in India

It is widely realized that communalism in India was born, nurtured and promoted by the
British imperialism as a deliberate design to sow dissensions. It served the purpose of the
colonial administration to divide and rule. Thus, the prevailing religious differences were
first used to project the social and cultural variations and then to promote political
divisions by treating Indians not as Indians but as members of different religious
communities.

Growth of Communalism: Causes

Jawaharlal Nehru once described communalism as the Indian version of fascism. He said,
while all communalism is bad, we must remember that minority communalism is born
out of fear, while majority communalism takes the form of political reaction to assert
dominance. But he added: ‘there could be no compromise on the issue of communalism,
Hindu communalism or Muslim communalism, as it is a challenge to Indian nationhood
and Indian nationalism.’

The main forces, which have encouraged the growth of communalism in contemporary
India, are:

1) Economic backwardness of Muslims 


2) Growth of communal parties and organisations 


3) Electoral compulsions of political parties 


4) Communal media, literature and text-books 


5) Separatism and isolation among Muslims 



Anatomy of Communal Riots: A probe into the major communal riots in the country
during the last five decades reveals that:

i) Communal riots are more politically motivated than fuelled by religion. 


ii) Besides political interests, economic interests also play a vital role in fermenting
communal clashes. 


iii) The probability of recurrence of communal riots in a town where communal riots
have already taken place once or twice is stronger than in a town when such riots have
never occurred. 


iv) Most communal riots take place on the occasion of religious festivals. 


v) The use of deadly weapons in the riots is on the ascendancy. 


Prescriptive measures to deal with Communalism:

Measures to meet the challengeof communalism and communal violence can be of two
types: long-term and short-term.

The long-term measures are:

1) In initiating the process of de-communalising the people at all levels, say, by bringing
home to them that communal assumptions are false, by explaining to them the socio-
economic and political roots of communalism. 


2) Communalisation of the state and of the political elite has to be checked because it
leads to inaction against communal violence and covert or overt political and ideological
support to communalism by the state apparatus. 


3) The communalisation of civil society also needs to be checked because it leads to riots
that are more communal. People with communal ideas and ideologies pressurize the
government to act in a manner, which is always against the principles of secularism. 


4) The role of education, particularly emphasizing on value oriented education both in


schools and colleges is important in preventing communal feelings. 


5) The media can also prove to be significant in preventing communal feelings.


Communal press can be banned and legal action can be taken against communal writers.


Some immediate measures are imperative for containing communalism and communal
riots:

1) Peace committees can be set up in which individuals belonging to different religious


communities can work together to spread goodwill and fellow feelings and remove
feelings of fear and hatred in the riot affected areas.

2) The state has to plan and use new strategies in dealing with communal violence.
Whenever strong and secular administrators have used or threatened the use of strong
steps, riots either did not occur or were of short duration. 


3) The role of media is immensely highlighted during the course of communal violence.
The fear and hatred can be checked if the press, radio and TV report the events in a way
conducive to soothing the frayed nerves of people instead of inflaming the temper further.



4) Lastly, the government in power has to treat the extremist communal outfits as its
immediate targets and cripple their capacity to disrupt law and order. The secessionists in
Kashmir, the militants in Punjab, the ISS now banned in Kerala and other extremist
organisations of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communalism have to be dealt with by the state
through its law and order machinery. 


The small insecure communities always look to government or move towards communal
parties for protection. The Pundits in Kashmir, the innocent victims of communal riots in
Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and other states, and the sufferers of violence of
extremists in Bihar, Assam, look towards the secular state of India for the security of life
and property.

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