COMMUNALISM IN INDIA

PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY
NAME: SAHIL VERMA
ROLL NO: 2148
SEMESTER: SECOND
YEAR: 2019-2024
COURSE: B.A.LLB (HONS.)
PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO
DR.PRIYADARSHANI
FACULTY OF LEGAL HISTORY
FINAL DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE TITLED
COURSE

LEGAL HISTORY

MARCH 2020

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITTHAPUR, PATNA-80001

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project entitled “COMMUNALISM IN INDIA” submitted by me

at CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY is a record of bona fide project work
carried out by me under the guidance of our mentor DR. PRIYADARSHANI further declare
that the work reported in this project has not been submitted and will not be submitted, either
in part or in full, for the award of any other degree or diploma in this university or in any
other university.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is a fact that any research work prepared, compiled or formulated in isolation is

inexplicable to an extent. This research work, although prepared by me, is a culmination of
efforts of a lot of people who remained in veil, who gave their intense support and helped me
in the completion of this project.

Firstly, I am very grateful to my subject teacher DR. PRIYADARSHANI, without the kind
support and help of whom the completion of this project was a herculean task for me. He
donated his valuable time from his busy schedule to help me to complete this project. I would
like to thank him for his valuable suggestions towards the making of this project.

I am highly indebted to my parents and friends for their kind co-operation and encouragement
which helped me in completion of this project. I am also thankful to the library staff of my
college which assisted me in acquiring the sources necessary for the compilation of my
project.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank the Almighty who kept me mentally strong and in
good health to concentrate on my project and to complete it in time.

I thank all of them !

---

SAHIL VERMA

ROLLNO-2148

BA.LLB(HONS.)

SESSION 2019 TO 2024

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION
2. RISE OF COMMUNALISM
3. CAUSES OF COMMUNALISM
4. GROWTH OF COMMUNALISM IN INDIA
5. EFFECT OF COMMUNALISM
6. SUGGESTIONS FOR ERADICATION OF COMMUNALISM
7. PROBLEMS DUE TO COMMUNALISM
8. CONCLUSION
9. BIBIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION
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Communalism in India has a long history and is wrongly seen as a problem primarily
between Hindus and Muslims. To begin with, therefore, it is important to define
communalism for the purpose of this study. Communalism had been defined as an
illegitimate intrusion of religion into politics. Colonial administrators also saw it as the
struggle for power between the two main 'rival communities' in lndia. Socio-economic
disparity between Hindus and Muslims, especially in Bengal, led to the rise of the 'lag theory'
to explain Muslim communalism. Quite obviously, Hindu communalism in these
circumstances was excused as a natural 'reaction' to Muslim communal assertion. We will
discuss this view at some length later in the section on Muslim communal mobilization.
Using the insights provided by sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists, some efforts
are also being made now to define communalism in the context of concepts like prejudice and
group dynamics, community.

It was defined as 'that peculiarly destructive Indian expression of religion in politics which
emphasizes the religious identity of social groups and requires political society to be
organised as a confederation of religious communities.'

The term communalism has thus negative as well as positive connotations. In the right sense
of the term, a religious person cannot be a communalist and a communalist, cannot be a
religious, because every religion of the world preaches love, tolerance, mutual respect, and
welfare of humanity. No doubt true dedication towards one’s own religion does not generate
mistrust or hatred towards other religions, but when the religious leaders, incite the feelings
of its orthodox, illiterate and gullible devotees, such heinous tactics of the selfish leaders and
resultant charged feelings, of the followers, gain the terminology of communalism.

The burden of the argument is that in India, a religious community, is an economic as well as
political community at the same time. This complex phenomenon of communalism,
dominates Indian political discourse. On the basis of false community consciousness, elites
incite the people to wage movements, to avail more resources and encourage separate identity
on communal lines.

The ghost of communalism has not emerged suddenly or developed by chance. It is rather
deep rooted5 in pre-partitioned India. Its seeds were sown by Britishers as part of their
political policy of “divide and rule” and it largely changed the whole political landscape of
India. Unfortunately after partition, the socio-economic conditions in the country, continued

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to favour the breeding of communalism. The Indian economy has grown at less than the
required rate. Such a critical situation gives birth to the new problems, like unemployment,
inequality, as well as a large gap in the distribution of wealth. The whole situation breeds
frustration and social anxiety, among the people. The politicians too resorted to the British
policy of exploiting the communal situation. Now politics is closely mingled with a sort of
communalism and naturally, it has poisoned the national life in various ways. The tragedy of
the recent Indian politics is that the people are more religious than communal, while the
political leaders are more communal than religious.6 Some political parties of India are too
much communal in nature. The mainstream parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata
Party, have theoretically liberal ideology for minority communities, just to attain power. They
are least concerned with the fundamentals of our constitutional set up. The political parties
are using religion as stepping stone for political power. Similarly the religious organizations,
utilize it for political clout or to preserve hold on their vote bank. The places of worship are
being converted into centers of political activities. The party tickets in elections are ensued,
keeping in view the particular caste, creed, language or religious group, so as to enhance the
chances of victory. It is this process, that actually prepares the ground for communalization of
politics. This intermixture of religion and politics has encouraged the concept of communal
politics in Indian political infrastructure. Ramjanmabhumi-Babri Masjid dispute is the major
example of this fact. The concept of communalism in India, generally, has been used to
explain the confrontation between the Hindus and the Muslims, as they are the major
religious groups and their numbers really matter in the elections. There had been many
conflicts and riots emanating from Hindu-Muslim communalism, in the post-independent era.
Prominent among the riots are Jabalpur (1961), Meerut (1968), Ahmedabad (1969),
Gujarat (2002) and the major issue of Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumi, which is under
study, is the matter of the same kind.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

1. The researcher tends to throw some light on the historical origin of communalism in
india.

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2. The researcher tends to throw some light on historical communal riots.

RESEARCH METODOLOGY

The researcher will be relying upon only doctrinal method of research to complete their
project.

SOURCES OF DATA

The researcher will be relying upon secondary sources only to complete their project.

RISE OF COMMUNALISM

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Communist groups started in some cities like Mumbai, Madras, Calcutta etc in 1920. A
communist team was formed in Tashkent under the leadership of Manabendra Nath Roy, and
that communist organisation was banned immediately by british govt and all activities were
suppressed by arresting the leaders and foisting Peshawar conspiracy case against them. Later
in 1925, communist party was re-formed in Kanpur, which was banned and leaders were
jailed by foisting Kanpur conspiracy case. Communist party was not allowed to work till
1942. But many party members worked secretly and some of them worked openly in
Congress Socialist Party.Communist party organised crores of workers, peasants, youth,
students, women, adivasis, cultural activists etc for their issues and for the freedom and
democracy for the country and our people. By 1946, communist party grew as a formidable
force and as the biggest threat for british imperialist rule.

In 1957 Communist party won in election in Kerala and later in W. Bengal and Tripura.
[ CPI-M}.By 1960s, global and Indian communist movement grew as a big force. They
promoted the people's movement for a New India by raising the 3 slogans of Freedom,
Democracy and Socialism. But the US-led imperialist camp formulated a counter offensive of
welfare state, de-colonisation and many other reformist measures for all struggling sections
of world people. Nehruism worked as a victory of common people, and it hindered the further
growth of revolutionary social changes. This situation stagnated the communist movement
and splitted it in 1964 and then in 1969. Now communists are generally divided as a
compromising and ultra left deviationists.

But the on-going neo-liberalism and globalisation process is destroying all achievements of
our nation and common people. Workers, peasants, middle class , small businesses are under
attacks, for the benefit of Indian and foreign corporates. Sovereignty, self-reliance, public
sector, public education and health are all under destruction. Democracy, dalit- women-
adivasi - minorities rights are being taken away, by promoting fascism.

So, communists are trying to unite and mobilize a country-wide movement of common
people, for an exploitation and oppression free, NEW India, with the participation of all
progressive forces, against all forms of oppression.

CAUSES OF COMMUNALISM

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STAGNANT ECONOMY

The stagnant economy of India devoid of any development was also an important factor In
the growth of communalism in India. The traditional occupational pattern of the Hindus and
the Muslims were different. As agriculture became stagnant and later on with the spread of
education among peasants, a new middle class emerged in the society. The spread of
industries altered the occupational pattern making both the communities to compete against
each other. This was exploited by communalist elements. Communalism grew as a middle-
class question par excellence. The main social base for communalism was the middle-class
people. However, even in 1930s and 1940s many middle-class individuals remained on the
whole free of communalism. On the eve of partition of India in 1947, while the Aristocratic
Muslims and lower-class Muslims chose to stay back in India, the educated Muslims
migrated to Pakistan for want of economic opportunities. However, later on with the
introduction of Zamindari Abolition Act, the aristocratic Muslims lost the control over their
land and property. This made the Muslims in India to fight for their survival.

ECONOMIC & EDUCATIONAL BACKWARDNESS

As a by-product of colonialism, colonial India was characterised by the lack of modern

institutions of education and health. This resulted in competition and nepotism. For the
Muslims, the competition was primarily with the Hindus. From the beginning, Hindus
dominated the colonial services as they easily adapted to the colonial structure. On the other
hand, the British colonial government viewed the Muslims with suspicion because of the
1857 revolt and hence generously patronised the Hindus. These benefits fuelled
communalism and began to give validity to communal politics. In fact, it resulted in
resentment in Muslims in late 19th century. Later, the Muslims under Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan
formed a pressure group to pressurize the colonial government to give concessions to
Muslims as a separate community. Historian Bipan Chandra argues that until 1937 communal
politics in India was revolving around government jobs, seats in legislative councils,
municipal bodies, etc. In many instances, the religious distinction between communities
coincided with social and class distinctions resulting in communal disharmony. As a matter
of fact, the agrarian conflicts in the pre-independence period did not assume communal tinge
until 20h century. There was struggle between the upper classes of different communities for

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power, privileges and economic gain. For instance, in the Western Punjab, Muslim Landlords
opposed Hindu money lenders and in eastern Bengal there was clash between the Muslim
jotedars and Hindu zamindars. Subsequently, communalism evolved as a weapon in the
hands of the upper classes and political forces.

HINDU TINGE IN NATIONAL PROPAGANDA

During the national movement, strong Hindu religious elements started to introduce Hindu
religious elements in to the nationalist propagandas. For instance, Bal Gangadha Tilak used
the Ganesh pooja and Shivaji Mahaotsav to propagate nationalism. Incidentally, association
with god Ganesh and shivaji was used as a tool by the communal Muslims to alert Muslims.
This was also a reason behind non-participation of Muslims in large numbers in Indian
National Congress till 1919. In fact, in the early decades, only about 8-9% of the members of
the Indian National Congress were Muslims. Similarty, the agitation against partition of
Bengal began with people taking dips in the Ganges. Also, prominent personalities like
Bankim Chandra Chatterjea often cited Muslims as foreigners in their writings. All these
incidents played with the emotions of the Muslims and alienated them from the Hindus.

INTEGRATION AMOUNG MINORITIES GROUPS

Integration among Minority Groups The integration amongst the minority groups due to the
perceived lack of security has united them to work towards their common goal.

CULTURAL-HISTORICAL EXPLANATION HISTORICALLY & CULTURALLY

Hindus and Muslims are heterogeneous groups. The pattern of interaction and relation
between the two communities underwent change before and during the British rule. The
relative backwardness of the Muslims and their failure to benefit from the socio-cultural
reforms of 19th century made them to view Hindus as competitors and aspire for political
dominance.

OTHER FACTORS

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  The policy of minority appeasement practised by the Indian National Congress and
other political parties for decades. • Some media like newspaper, books, literature
have communal tinge and spread religious sentiments among the people.
 Movements of conversion and re-conversion like the Ghar wapsi programme.
Religious conversions results in communal tensions. In some instances, the
conversions are carried out in a forcible manner and sometimes by means of
temptations also.
 Issues like interreligious marriages (Example: Love Jihad) & religious sentiments
(cow slaughter and other related issues).
 Aggressive Hindu Chauvinism followed by few and the relative isolationism found
among the Muslims. Partisan politics followed by the political parties often tend to
keep the partisan political interests above the national interests.
 Growing discontent among the Hindus. Hindus are of the view that due to the 'vote-
bank politics' of the minority community, their interests and the larger national
interests are sacrificed by the political parties.

GROWTH OF COMMUNALISM IN INDIA

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Religion was supposed to be one of the best factors to divide the people. It is used as an
influential mechanism to attain economic, political and other social activities. And British
used religion as their weapon to divide the strength which India had as a whole.

 Till 1870 the British oppressed the Muslims greatly for they held them responsible for the
revolt. After 1870 the British changed colors and instead started favoring the Muslim
community. The rise of nationalism had threatened the British power in India and their efforts
obviously were directed to suppress it. Now an important feature of the national movement
was that it took longer to spread amongst the Muslim community. As a result the early
nationalist’s movement was made up mainly of people from the Hindu, Parsi and Christian
communities. The British noticed the absence of the Muslims in this movement, and quickly
began working on ensuring that they did not join the movement. The British began
implementing policies too that promoted the activities of communal forces, and divided the
national struggle.

It is not true that communalism was a remnant of, or survival from, the medieval period.
Though religion was an important part of people’s lives and they did sometimes quarrel over
religion, there was hardly any communal ideology or communal politics before the 1870s.
Communalism is a modern phenomenon. It had its roots in the modern colonial socio-
economic political structure.

Communalism emerged as a result of the emergence of new, modern politics based on the
people and on popular participation and mobilisation. It made it necessary to have wider links
and loyalties among the people and to form new identities. This process was bound to be
difficult, gradual and complex. This process required the birth and spread of modern ideas of
nation, class and cultural-linguistic identity.

When the British opened up the administration of the country most positions were taken up
the Hindus since the education culture had not spread to the Muslim Community making
them feel left out and demand a special reservation. Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan, an earlier
nationalist drifted towards Communalism.

Communalism was also fostered through the writing of the Indian History. Socio-religious
reform movements like Arya Samaj, Sanatan Dharam movements, Aligarh movement,
Wahabi movement and some other fringe movements contributed towards communalism.

PARTITION OF BENGAL

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The Partition of Bengal in 1905 was made on October 16 by then Viceroy of India, Lord
Curzon. Partition was promoted on the grounds that Bengal was a very large state with a
large population causing the eastern region to under-governed. However, the actual motives
behind the partition were different. The position of the Bengali Hindus would be weakened,
since Muslims would now dominate in the East which led to Hindu opposition to the partition
while the Muslims highly favored it. This partition was one more part of ‘Divide and Rule’
policy.

As the partition was in favor of Muslims they welcomed it, whereas the Hindu’s were not in
favor of it. Due to this Hindu community launched a Swadeshi Movement by boycotting the
British goods. Seeing this scenario British decided to support the Hindus, this act disturbed
the Muslims. It was medium to tell the Muslims to go to their homeland.

FORMATION OF MUSLIM LEAGUE

The growing communalism led to the Muslims forming a new political party called the
Muslim League in 1906. Initially it was only confined to the educated class of Muslims. At
around the same time the Indian National Congress began garnering mass support from its
members and also consisted of young Muslims. Mohammed Ali Jinnah one of the major
forces behind the creation of Pakistan was in fact a member of the Indian National Congress
till 1920.

KHILAFAT MOVEMENT

Khilafat Movement (1919-1924) was a significant Islamic movement in India during the
British rule. The sultan of turkey also known as the caliph i.e. khalifa or successor of Prophet
Muhammad was considered as the religious leader of the Muslims all over the world. This
was first the religious political movement in India involving common Muslims. However,
initially this movement was first targeted to the educated and elite Muslims only. The goals
of the Khilafat Movement were:

 Secure the Ottoman Caliphate

 Turkey’s territory should be protected

 And not letting the Muslim holy places go under the hands of Non-Muslims.

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The Khilafat Movement received the support of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, who related his
Non Cooperation Movement with it. As major Congress leaders had joined hands with this
movement the other political parties came together to support the injustice faced by the
Muslims. Following were some steps taken by the movement:

 No involvement in the Victory celebrations

 Boycotting of British commodities

 Non-cooperation Movement with the Government

The main leaders of the Khilafat Movement were Maulana Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali,
famously known as the Ali brothers. They were among the leaders who used to protest from
jail and their voices used to be heard through magazines and newspaper which awakened the
Muslim community. The hub of this movement was Bombay, where they had their first
conference wherein discussing the issues of the Movement.

As the Muslims were not united during the pre partition days, the aim of the Muslim League
was to provoke religious passions to dedicated path. As the low caste Muslims were not given
importance in the Muslim League they decided their own pathway where they from sections
like North West province and South where they supported Indian National Congress. Seeing
this scenario the Muslim League used violent language.

Since 1870, elite Hindus like zamindars, money lenders and other leaders started an
organization to provoke anti Muslims and simultaneously opposing India National Congress.
Their sole purpose was to remove the Muslims from the country. For them Hindus were first
Hindus and then Indians. This thought formed an organization known as Hindu Mahasabha
and later was called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Hindus Mahasabha created a false impression of patriotism by using slogans like ‘Bharat
Mata’ i.e. Mother India and so on, which created an impression that they wanted a country
without Muslims. As according to them Hindus and Muslims were a separate.

EFFECT OF COMMUNALISM
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Communal violence has wracked India for decades. Partition of the subcontinent in 1947 was
accompanied by horrific violence between Hindus and Sikhs on the one hand and Muslims on
the other, leaving a million dead and over 10 times that number homeless.

Since independence, there have been countless instances of communal violence. In the 2005-
09 period alone, 648 people were killed and 11,278 injured in 4,030 such incidents, according
to the PRS Legislative Research website. Communal clashes during this period peaked in
2008 with 943 cases being reported that year.

Communal violence in India is rarely spontaneous. It is mostly engineered. Most clashes have
been between Hindus and Muslims but Hindu-Christian violence too is not uncommon.
While people of all religious communities suffer during these riots, it is the minorities -
Muslims, Sikhs, and in recent years Christians who have borne the brunt.

Some of the worst communal pogroms have occurred in the past three decades. In 1984,
following the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, mobs
led by politicians from the ruling Congress party incited and organized the burning and
looting of property and killing of Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of North India. Around 3,000
Sikhs were killed. The government did nothing to halt the violence for at least three days.
Indira's son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, even justified the violence, declaring that "when a
mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little".

When the Babri Masjid, a famous mosque in Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu nationalists
in December 1992, riots broke out in various parts of the country. Mumbai suffered the
worst with around 900 people killed, about 575 of them Muslims.

A decade later, Gujarat convulsed with communal violence when mobs led by ministers and
politicians of the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its fraternal organizations
attacked Muslims and destroyed their property. Chief minister narendra modi`s government
did little to stop the violence. In fact, police were reportedly instructed at a meeting that they
allow hindus to “vent their anger” against muslims over an attack on a train, Sabarmati

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Express, which was set alight a few days earlier, resulting in the death of around 59
passengers, mainly Hindu.

Rarely during communal violence have those targeted got state protection. Police ignore calls
for help and refuse to register cases filed by victims. Seldom have the guilty been brought to
justice.

What we need, thus, is not so much a new law defining new crimes (although that would be
useful too) but a law to ensure that the police and bureaucrats and their political masters
follow the existing law of the land. In other words, we need a law that punishes them for
discriminating against citizens who happen to be minorities and this is what the Prevention of
Communal and Targeted Violence bill sets out to do.

With the bill providing for sentences of up to 10 years imprisonment for breach of
command responsibility, "superiors will hopefully be deterred from allowing a Delhi 1984 or
Gujarat 2002 to happen on their watch.”
India's constitution declares the country to be secular. However, institutional bias against
religious and linguistic minorities is deeply entrenched, making them vulnerable to violence.
The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill seeks to change this in several
ways.
It describes "communal and targeted violence" as that acts that are "knowingly directed
against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group, which destroys the
secular fabric of the nation" and then goes on to define "group" as "a religious or linguistic
minority or Scheduled Castes [Dalits] and Scheduled Tribes."

Chronology of communal violence in India

1. 1969 Ahmedabad riots

2. 1984 sikh riots

3. 1987 Merrut riots

4. 1989 Bhagalpur riots

5. The Babri masjid demolition set off riots between December 1992 and January 1993.

6. 1992 Mumbai riots

7. 2002 Gujarat riots

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 SUGGESTIONS FOR ERADICATION OF COMMUNALISM

The following measures may be taken for the eradication of communalism.

1. Abolition of Communal Parties:

All the political parties which thrive on religious loyalties should be banned or abolished by
the government. Even non-political cultural organizations should always be kept under
constant vigil so that they cannot preach communalism.

2. Transmission of the Past Heritage:

Feelings of nationalism should be inculcated in the minds of people by reminding them about
the glorious moments of history in Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were combined to safeguard
the interest of the country.

3. Public Opinion:
Efforts should be made through mass media for changing the attitude of people towards other
communities. People must be aware of the evils of the communalism.

4. Inter-religious Marriage:
Youth organizations and other types of associations should be formed in every locality to
give opportunity to people of different communities to come closer and know each other.
This may help them to practice inter-religious marriages which will lessen the social distance
among the members of different religious groups.

Both the Government and people should make efforts for eradication of communal tension
and conflict.

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 PROBLEMS DUE TO COMMUNALISM

Indian society is pluralistic from religious point of view. Here, we have the followers of all
the great religious systems. Hindus constitute the bulk of the population and they inhabit in
all parts of the country. Muslims constitute the largest religious minority. But the adjustment
between the Hindus and Muslims has been a failure several times, resulting in violent
communal riots.

In the communal riots during the period of independence millions of people were rendered
homeless while millions of others lost their property. Communalism was responsible for the
division of the country into India and Pakistan. The partition was expected to resolve the
riddle, but it failed. There is, yet, to develop the neighborhood living pattern between Hindus
and Muslims.

 Characteristics of Communalism:
(i) Communalism is an ideological concept,

(ii) It is a complex process,

(iii) It has a broader base which encompasses social, economic and political aspects for its
manifestation.

(iv) It causes rivalry, violence and tension among masses,

(v) It is used by the higher class people and elites as an instrument for division and
exploitation of the communal identities of the poorer sections of their co-religionists.

(vi) Communalism is simply engineered by opportunistic political and economic interest of

contending groups and factions within a political party or by political parties.

(vii) It strikes at the roots of democracy, secularism and national integration.

(viii) Its effects are disastrous.

Tendency of the Minorities

The Muslims fail to be intermingled in the national mainstream. Most of them do not
participate in the secular nationalistic politics and insist on maintaining tor separate identity
the elite among the Muslims have failed to generate the appropriate national ethos.

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 Orthodoxy and Obscurantism

The orthodox members of minorities feel that they have a distinct entity with their own
cultural pattern, personal laws and thought. There are strong elements of conservatism and
fundamentalism among the Muslims. Such feeling has prevented them from accepting the
concept of secularism and religious tolerance.

Design of the Leaders

Communalism has flourished in India because the communalist leaders of both Hindu and
Muslim communities desire to flourish it in the interest of their communities. The demand for
separate electorate and the organization of Muslim league were the practical manifestations
of this line of thought. The British rule which produced the divide and rule policy, separate
electorate on the basis of religion strengthened the basis of communalism in India Ultimately
the partition of the country into India and Pakistan provided further an antagonistic feeling
towards each other.

Weak Economic Status

A majority of Muslims in India has failed to adopt the scientific and technological education.
Due to their educational backwardness, they have not been represented sufficiently in the
public service, industry and trade etc. This causes the feeling of relative deprivation and such
feelings contain the seeds of communalism.

Geographical Causes:

The territorial settlement of different religious groups especially Hindus Muslims and
Christians causes in them wide variation in the mode of life, social standards and belief
system. Most of these patterns are contradictory and this may cause communal tension.

Historical Causes:

The Muslims, all over the subcontinent, are converts from Hinduism, which was facilitated
due to the caste-hate relations and under the compulsions of Muslim rulers. The problems of
social segregation, illiteracy and poverty that had set apart the low caste people remain
unresolved for them, as the foreign elite that rubbed never shared power with them. Their

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work ended with the conversion of the Indians and the converts began by imitating the
masters in thought, speech and dress. It caused their alienation. Gradually, elements of
communalism entered in the Muslim community. The separatist elements in the Muslim
community, from the very start of the national resurgence had discouraged others of their
community, from associating themselves with it. As a result Muslim league was formed
which demanded partition of the country.

Social Causes

Cultural similarity is a powerful factor in fostering amicable relations between any two social
groups. But the social institutions, customs and practices of Hindus and Muslims are so
divergent that they think themselves to be two distinct communities.

Psychological Causes

Psychological factors play an important role in the development of communalism. The

Hindus think that the Muslims are fanatics and fundamentalists. They also believe that
Muslims are unpatriotic. On the contrary, the Muslims feel that they are being treated as
second rate citizens in India and their religious beliefs and practices are inferior. These
feelings lead to communal ill-feeing.

The problem of communalism after independence from 1947 to 1990, has been analysed in
historical and political perspective. This chapter traces the growth of communal trends in
Indian politics since independence and against this background, it attempts to reconstruct the
case of Ramjanmabhumi-Babri Masjid.

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 CONCLUSION

Indian society is pluralistic from religious point of view. Here, we have the followers of all
the great religious systems. Hindus constitute the bulk of the population and they inhabit in
all parts of the country. Muslims constitute the largest religious minority. But the adjustment
between the Hindus and Muslims has been a failure several times, resulting in violent
communal riots. Communal riots during the period of independence. Communalism was
responsible for the division of the country into India and Pakistan. The partition was expected
to resolve the riddle, but it failed.

British also boosted communalism in india. In the revolt of 1857, when both the community
of hindu and muslim came together in against of british, they experienced danger for the first
time. Then they follow up the policy of “DIVIDE AND RULE”. Some of the times they
favoured muslim community to get their support and some time they favoured hindu for the
support.

Public awareness needs to be raised about the harmful impact of communalism. Our
constitution, which labels India as a secular nation makes provisions to protect the interests of
all religions and goes beyond the code of any religion. Hence one must learn to put national
interests above one’s religious views.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Websites Referred:
• https://www.drishtiias.com/mains-practice-question/question-131
• http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/society/problems-of-communalism-in-india-essay/4091
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communalism-what-role-does-it-play-in-indian-politic/70424

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