“All kinds of communalism are dangerous. Before 1947, the main damage to the national unity was inflicted by none other but Muslim Communalism which further led to the partition of India. After 1947, it is the Hindu Communalism which poses a great threat to India’s democracy and its unity.” - A Thinker
Communalism and Historical Legacy
India is a secular State. Secular means non-religious, but considering Indian polity, it highlights the co-existence of all religions without any discrimination.
Though our constitution safeguards for the minorities, the actual implementation of violence, tolerance, brotherhood, characters, that is why a number of religions flourished in Indian society.
After traumatic partition and bloodshed, the partition has given the political parties several inflammable issues for exploiting communal passions for their political gains.
Not only the politicians but also the religious heads of minorities and the majority community instead of trying to mitigate communal frenzy flared it up with their speeches and actions.
The destruction of Babri Masjid and the burning alive of the Hindu Kar Sewaks in Godhra (Gujarat) and the incidences of violence in Gujarat after the Godhra massacre have torn the Secular Fabric of Indian Democracy to uncountable pieces. Consecutive incidents create more hatred, more communalism in the country.
During the struggle for independence, several reformers and freedom fighters were committed to the task of modernizing the religious practices in India but what is seen today? Communal violence has become extremely common.
The socio-economic backwardness,, illiteracy, poverty of the vast population of the country, both Hindu and Muslim have always remained a fertile ground for fanaticism and communal hatred.
The hard-liners or extremists on both sides, never try to educate the common people about the demerits of their communal feelings, so that they continue to exploit them for their vested interests.
Such an attitude on the part of religious leaders contributed to a great extent to the growth and development of communalism in Indian society. Which surely will work as a nuclear warhead and destroy the county.
Communal Politics
In the past century, communal forces have tried their level best to capture the political center stage and undoubtedly they have sought to disrupt the unity and integrity of the country, and tried to gnaw at the secular foundations of Indian culture and history.
Yet, the consequences of such thoughts have often been traumatic. One has to mention the holocaust of 1947, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the demolition of the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya and the riots accompanying it, etc to get a feel of the trauma.
The Muslim fundamentalists have made it an issue of their identity and existence. The Hindu fundamentals are also not inciting the gullible masses to rise against the Muslims, by making them believe that Hindus in Hindustan are being treated as second-class citizens.
Over the past years, the Muslim community in India has been demonized in both subtle and overt ways.
Hindu right is obsessed with sexuality and power, which manifested themselves in the most gruesome form during the riots through both the systematic attacks on Muslim women and the false stories circulating that Hindu women were being abducted and raped by Muslim men.
Hindu Muslim Communal Riots
All groups, whether Hindu or Muslim which encourage narrow communal identities are adding to the problem. The reality is that real people’s identities are fluid and complex, whereas the project of ethnic nationalism requires the construction of narrow identities and then the use of such identities to mobilize people.
This can apparently lead to innocent encouragement of religious identity and can be part of a process that culminates in violence.
India which has so much plurality and diversity, talking of Hindu state or Hindustan for Hindus shall be indeed a dangerous sign which would be totally against the well-established secular fabric of Indian Constitution.
The unsecular organizational forces must keep in mind that communalizing India will bring horror to the country and history is proof of that.
Unless an all-out attempt is made to contain communal forces, the very unity of India is in danger. A blanket ban on all types of communal organizations must be put forth. Social and cultural movements should be launched to awaken people about the reality of communal violence and the process has to start from the top.
Political parties and religious organizations must stop delivering inflammatory speeches and therefore inciting general masses in the name of religion. A wrong action on the part of a community can’t be equalized by another wrong action by another community.
In a nutshell, for the survival of the country, secularism has to survive because communalism can only destroy the unity and integrity of the nation.
Written by- Devika Thapar
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