One of the greatest dangers for any country in the recent times has been communalism. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines communalism as “social organization on a communal basis or loyalty to a sociopolitical grouping based on religious or ethnic affiliation.” In a broader sense, commitment to a religion or religious system is not communalism, attachment to a religious community or religiosity is not communalism. But using a religious community against other communities and again the nation is communalism. Communalism means the opposition of religious communities to each other. The ideology focuses on the separate identity of a religious group and tries to promote its own interest at their expense. Communalism means to believe or to propagate that the socio-economic and political interest of one religious, caste or an ascriptive group are dissimilar, divergent and antagonistic to those of others.
Communalism is a political orientation that recognizes religious community and not the nation as the focal point of political allegiance. Therefore, it is a political strategy opposed to nationalism as a process of multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious communities. It also opposes the idea of secularism and socio-cultural co-existence.
The growth of Communalism in India:
Communalism owes its existence in India to British imperialism. It was a desperate design to sow disaffection and conflict. It was used to promote the social & cultural differences and then to extend political divisions by treating Indians basically not as Indians but as members of religious communities. The voters were classified as Hindu or Muslim and so were the candidates and representatives. It is the contribution of British that communalism came to acquire the meaning of being opposed to national identity, of being against the secularization process, of being too narrowly and negatively attached to one’s own religious community and that essentially for political benefits.
Causes of Communalism:
The main causes of rising and extension of communalism in India are as follows:
- Political opportunism
- Communal Parties and Organisations
- Economic Backwardness of the Muslims
- Appeasement Policy of the Congress Party
- Separatism and Isolationism among Muslims
- Communal Media, Literature and Textbooks
- Hindu Chauvinism
- Electoral Compulsions
Eradication of Communalism:
Communalism cannot be uprooted from a society like India. However, there are certain measures by application of which communalism can be checked. They are:
- A ban on communal organisations,
- Balanced development of all the communities,
- Increasing the sense of security in Muslims by way of economic growth among them,
- Separation of religion from politics,
- Removal of communal orientation in textbooks and other sources in schools,
- Avoidance of rumours and fake news likely to promote communal prejudice,
- Joint enjoyment and celebration of festivals…
Apart from these, the state machinery should understand its role in the society and the law and order machinery should be depoliticized. They should be made directly responsible for any communal tension in their jurisdiction.
Communalism cannot be accepted as the necessary evil in the society. It is detrimental to the development, social change, democracy and the federal feature of the State. Jawaharlal Nehru had pointed out the issue and termed it as the greatest danger. And so he said that anyone who loves India would hate communalism and anyone who hates India would love communalism.
Source:
Dr Fadia, B.L., Indian Government and Politics, Sahitya Bhawan, Agra, 2014.
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