Communalism in India

WHY IN NEWS?

• The High Court of Tripura recently admitted suo motu a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on communal incident in North Tripura and directed the state government to submit an affidavit within November 10 on its plan and preventive measures taken to tackle communal violence.

WHAT IS COMMUNALISM?

• Communalism, in a broad sense means a blind allegiance to one’s own community. In popular discourse in India, it is understood as unhealthy attachment to one’s own religion.
• It’s an ideology that, in orders to unify the community, suppresses distinctions within the community and emphasizes the essential unity of the community against other communities.
• In this way it promotes belief in orthodox tenets and principles, intolerance and hatred of other religions and thus, divides the society.
• Positive aspect of communalism stands for the affinity of an individual towards his own community involving efforts for the social and economic upliftment of his community.
• However, in negative connotation, it is an ideology which emphasises the separate identity of a religious group in relation to other groups with a tendency to promote its own interests at the expense of the others.

FEATURES OF COMMUNALISM IN INDIA:

• Orthodoxy:
  • It is based on religious orthodoxy and is related to dogmatism and religious fundamentalism.
• Exclusive in outlook:
  • It is exclusive in outlook, a communalists considers his own religion superior to other religions
• Intolerance:
  • It is based on intolerance towards other’s belief
• Hatred:
  • It also propagates intense dislike of other religions and its values
• Elimination:
  • It stands for elimination of other religions and its values
• Use of extreme tactics:
  • It adopts extreme tactics including use of violence against other people

TYPES OF COMMUNALISM:

• Political Communalism:
  • To survive in the sphere of politics, leaders tend to implicitly promote the idea of divisions among the communities.
  • This gives rise to political communalism where different sets of people are divided into political lines and ideologies
• Social Communalism:
  • When the societies’ beliefs divide these into different groups and lead to rivalry among each other, it further leads to Social Communalism
• Economic Communalism
  • The difference in economic interests of the groups of people or communities, leading to further clashes in the society, can be termed as Economic Communalism

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF COMMUNALISM:

• Catalyst to political and social tension in the society
  • Communalism perpetuates active hostility towards other’s religion and it affects harmony and peace in the society.
• Threat to the national security
  • Increased socio-political tension due to communal divide results in public order crisis which in turn leads to lawlessness and weakening of administrative institutions. It affects national security of the country.
• Affects economic growth:
  • Increased division of between people creates mistrust and frequent conflicts >> which is not suitable for stable investment and economic activities

EVOLUTION OF COMMUNALISM IN INDIA:

• Communalism as a political philosophy has its roots in the religious and cultural diversity of India.
• It has been used as a political propaganda tool to create divide, differences and tensions between the communities on the basis of religious and ethnic identity leading to communal hatred and violence.
• In ancient Indian society:
  • People of different faith coexisted peacefully.
  • Buddha was perhaps the first Indian prophet who gave the concept of secularism.
  • Meanwhile, Kings like Ashoka followed a policy of peace and religious tolerance.
• Medieval India
  • Medieval India witnessed the arrival of Islam in India marked by occasional occurrences of violence such as Mahmud Ghazni’s destruction of Hindu temples and Mahmud of Ghor’s attack on Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.
  • While, religion was an important part of people’s lives but there was no communal ideology or communal politics.
  • Rulers like Akbar and Sher Shah Suri followed the religious policy of toleration towards different cultures and tradition practiced across country.
  • However, some sectarian rulers like Aurangzeb were among the least tolerant towards other religious practises.
• Colonial period:
  • Communalism attained its modern phenomenon during British rule due to multiple factors such as
    • ‘Divide and rule’ policy of British
    • Disappointment and disaffection among young and aspiring middle class youth, caused by stagnant agriculture, absence of modern industrial development and inadequate employment opportunities, which is being exploited by political opportunists.
    • Hindu and Muslim revivalist movements
      • Examples: Shuddhi Movement started by Arya Samaj in earlier part of 20th century to bring back the people who had converted to Islam and Christianity from Hinduism
      • Examples: Wahhabi Movement which stood for a strong affirmation of Tauhid and rejection of bid'at (innovation)
    • A communal and distorted view of Indian history, taught in school and colleges played a major role in rise and growth of communal feelings among the masses.
      • Hindus considered ancient era of India as golden age for Hinduism and Muslims glorified medieval era.  
    • Separatism and isolation among Muslims:
      • References to orthodox Hindu religion were an important part of Swadeshi movement.
      • The dominant symbols and motifs used were Hindu ones, both as a mode of communication with Hindu masses and to inspire national volunteers.
      • Prayers were offered and swadeshi vows were taken in temples, pundits or Brahmin priests were persuaded to campaign for swadeshi
      • The cult of Kali or Bhowani and neo-tantric rituals became very important to maintain hierarchical discipline in revolutionary secret societies and to inspire the very young volunteers
      • The result of Hindu revivalist politics in freedom struggle was the alienation of Muslims and a parallel development of revivalist and separatist movements among them
    • Rise of communal and fundamentalist parties.
      • Examples: Formation of Muslim League in 1906, Hindu Mahasabha in 1915, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1925.

MAJOR INCIDENTS OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

• Communal violence is a phenomenon where people belonging to two different religious communities mobilise and attacks each other with feelings of hatred and enmity.
• During Partition of India:
  • The partition of India witnessed mass bloodshed and violence that continued upto1949.
  • However no major communal disturbances took place until 1961 when the Jabalpur riots shook the country.
• In 1960s
  • A series of riots broke out particularly in the eastern part of India - Rourkela, Jamshedpur and Ranchi - in places where Hindu refugees from the then East Pakistan were being settled.
• Anti-Sikh riots of 1984:
  • Anti-Sikh riots broke out after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, where more than 4000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of India.
• Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi controversy:
  • The Shah Bano controversy in 1985 and the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi controversy became powerful tools for intensifying communalism in the 1980s.
  • The communal violence touched its apogee in December 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished by right wing parties.
  • This was followed by the worst riots of post-independence India - in Mumbai, Surat, Ahmadabad, Kanpur, Delhi etc.
• Gujarat riots:
  • In 2002, Gujarat witnessed communal riots when violence was triggered by burning of a train in Godhra
• Muzaffarnagar riots:
  • In 2013, Uttar Pradesh witnessed the worst violence in recent history with clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffar nagar district.
• Mob lynching on communal lines:
  • Since 2015, mob lynching is quite prevalent in India as near 90 people have been killed.
  • It can be termed as manufactured communal violence as through the use of social media and rumours society is polarized along religious lines.
• Delhi riot 2020 or North East Delhi riots
  • New Delhi witnessed one of the worst communal violence in the history of the national capital.
  • The premise of the New Delhi 2020 riots is based on growing animosity and destabilisation of communal harmony in the background of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMUNAL VIOLENCE:

• Divisive politics:
  • Communalism is often defined as a political doctrine that makes use of religious and cultural differences in achieving political gains.
• Economic causes
  • Uneven development, class divisions, poverty and unemployment aggravates insecurity in the common men which make them vulnerable to political manipulation.
• History of communal riots
  • 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.
• Ghettoisation and spatial segregation
  • For ex: Ahmedabad has become the most segregated Indian city on Hindu-Muslim lines
• Politics of appeasement:
  • Prompted by political considerations, and guided by their vested interests, political parties take decisions which promote communal violence.
• Isolation and economic backwardness of Muslim community
  • Insufficient representation of Muslims in the public service, industry and trade etc has led to the feeling of relative deprivation among Muslims.
• Competition in post-liberalisation period:
  • The resurgence of Hindu-Muslim economic competition, especially among the lower and middle class strata has fuelled the communal ideology.
• Administrative failure
  • A weak law and order is one of the causes of communal violence.
• Psychological factors:
  • The lack of inter-personal trust and mutual understanding between two communities often result in perception of threat, harassment, fear and danger in one community against the members of the other community, which in turn leads to xenophobia.
  • The widespread remark of “CoronaJihad” in 2020 was a manifestation of such mistrust and ignorance.
• Role of Media
  • It is often accused of sensationalism and disseminates rumours as "news" which sometimes resulted into further tension and riots between two rival religious groups.
  • Social media has also emerged as a powerful medium to spread messages relating to communal tension or riot
  • The Supreme Court recently voiced serious concern over running of fake news on social media platforms and web portals, and said even news shown in a section of channels bears communal tone
• Extremists feeding each other:
  • For ex: Tripura witnessed anti-Muslim riots in October 2021 in response to anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh

SUGGESTIONS:

• Value-based education
  • Emphasis on value-oriented education with focus on the values of peace, non-violence, compassion, secularism and humanism as well as developing scientific temper (enshrined as a fundamental duty) and rationalism as core values in children can prove vital in preventing communal feelings.
• Checking communal politics:
  • Abolishment of communal parties:
    • The government should ban or dissolve all political parties that rely on religious loyalties.
    • In order to stop preaching communalism even non-political cultural organisations should be actively monitored.
  • Strengthening Election Commission of India (ECI):
    • Strict enforcement of section 123 of Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1951 >> to prevent election campaign based on communal lines.
    • Empower ECI to disqualify political parties from contesting elections if they violate RPA.
• Prevention of communal violence:
  • Reforms in criminal justice system
    • There is need for speedy trials and adequate compensation to the victims of communal violence >> this may act as deterrent.
    • Setting up special investigating and prosecuting agencies can help in damping major communal disgruntlement.
  • Ensuring participation of minorities in law enforcement
    • Increase in representation of minority community and weaker sections in all wings of law-enforcement.
  • Strengthening administration to handle communal riots:
    • Codified guidelines for the administration, specialised training for the police force to handle communal riots
  • Comprehensive legislation to curb the communal violence.
    • Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005 must be re-introduced and enacted with immediate effect.
• Facilitate social and cultural mingling:
  • Familiarisation of different cultures through organising festivals, fests, social gathering etc.
  • Promotion of inter-religious marriages
  • Prevent ghettoisation and spatial segregation based on religion.
• Assisting civil society groups to build stronger community relation:
  • Government can encourage and support civil society and NGOs to run projects that help create communal awareness, build stronger community relation and cultivating values of communal harmony in next generation.
• Minority welfare:
  • There is a need for minority welfare schemes to be launched and implemented efficiently by administration to address the challenges and various forms of discrimination faced by them in social and political life.
• Strengthening ‘National Foundation for Communal Harmony’:
  • A pro-active approach by National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), the body responsible for promoting communal harmony is needed.
  • NFCH provides assistance for the physical and psychological rehabilitation of the child victims of communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence, besides promoting communal harmony, fraternity and national integration.

BEST PRACTICE:

• Malaysian Ethnic Relations Monitoring System (MESRA)
  • It is developed to gather early-warning indicators to prevent racial clashes.
  • It makes use of a quality of life index (included criteria such as housing, health, income and education) and a perception index to gauge people’s needs and feelings about race relations in their area.
• Hong Kong model of combating communalism
  • Hong Kong established a “Race Relation Unit” to promote racial harmony and facilitate integration of ethnic minorities. This can be emulated by India.
  • RRU has established a hotline for complaints and inquiries on racial discrimination. Meanwhile, to create awareness about communal harmony, RRU talks to schools on culture of ethnic minorities and concept of racial discrimination.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. Examine the factors responsible for prevalence of communalism in India. Also suggest measures to deal with communal tendencies among youth