2. Communalism

Communalism means love for one’s religious community in preference to the nation and a tendency to promote the communal interest at the cost of the interest of other religious communities. It has its roots in the British rule where the 1909, 1919 and 1935 Acts had introduced communal representation for the Muslims, Sikhs and others.

The communalism got accentuated with the politicisation of religion. Its various manifestations are:

(i) Formation of political parties based on religion (like Akali Dal, Muslim League, Ram Rajya Parishad, Hindu Mahasabha, Shiv Sena and so on).

(ii) Emergence of pressure groups (nonpolitical entities) based on religion (like RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Jamaat-e- Islami, Anglo-Indian Christians Association and so on).

(iii) Communal riots (between Hindus and Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, Hindus and Christians and so on-Benaras, Lucknow, Mathura, Hyderabad, Allahabad, Aligarh, Amritsar, Moradabad and some other places are affected by communal violence).

(iv) Dispute over religious structures like temples, mosques and others (The dispute over Ram Janma Bhoomi in Ayodhya where the kar sevaks had demolished a disputed structure on December 6, 1992).

The reasons for the persistence of com-munalism include religious orthodoxy of muslims, role of Pakistan, hindu chauvinism, government’s inertia, role of political parties and other groups, electoral compulsions, communal media, socio-economic factors and so on.