In India eight major religious communities co-exist; namely, the Hindus, the Muslims,the Christians, the Sikhs, the Buddhist, the Jains, the Zorastrians or Parsies and theJews apart from tribes (6.9%) who were classified in Census-1991 as the Hindus andwho are mostly Christians now. Adherence or attachment to a religion or religioussystem is not communalism. But using a religious community against other communitiesor against the nation is communalism. A communalist is basically interested in using orexploiting religion and that too for political, electoral, factional or personal gain, in orderto get extra power, position, wealth and even cheap popularity. Communalism isexploitation of religion, sometimes open but quite often in a subtle manner. It is opposedto secular change. Communalism is the enemy of progress, social change, democracyand of the federal nation state based on rational scientific ideas. It goes against theconcepts of human decency, compassion and fraternity, so communalism is basically anideology of political allegiance to religious community as a primary and decisive group inthe polity.

Genesis and Growth of Communalism in India

Communalism in India was born nurtured and promoted by the British imperialism inorder to consolidate their rule and promote British interests. It served the colonialadministration to divide and rule over the country and therefore the prevailing religiousdifferences were first used to project the social and cultural variations and then topromote political divisions by treating Indians basically not as Indian but as members ofdifferent religious communities

One of the main causes of Hindu – muslim communalism is in the different way both the communities look at the history e.g. Barber for muslims was a hero but for hindus, he was a tyrant. Apart from at 2 lewvels – 1st ly divide & rule policy of British govt. & 2nd ly, at the level of use of religions symbols by leaders e.g. Ram Rajya by Gandhi, Ganpati Festival by Tilak.

Unhealthy competition for economic opportunities between different religions communities often give rise to communal tensions e.g. riots in Moradabad have the basis in the control over the intensil industry.

The problems generated during the partition of country inflicted permanent damages and conflict between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims communities.

vested interests of the politicians often or  may result in communal tensions between various communities as religion is often used as a vehicle.

Fundamentalist tendencies in religion give rise to communal tensions.

The insecurity among the minorities creates an identity crisis which leads to mobilization of people on the basis of religions identity and creation of boundaries which often  assume a closed and reactive nature thereby giving rise to communal tensions.

International conflicts between countries sometimes results in the deliberate attempts to cause communal tensions e.g. activities of Pakistan in J&K and in Assam.

Communalism as a Factor in Indian Politics

Communalism has remained with us even after the end of the British colonial rule partlybecause of old traditions and partly because certain elements in our body-politic continueto use communalism to divide the Indian nation and thereby serves their sectional orsectarian interests.Jawahar Lal Nehru once described communalism as the Indian version of fascism. Hewas of the view that all communalism is bad. However we must remember that minority,communalism is born out of fear, while majority communalism takes the form of politicalreaction. Nehru said, “There could be no compromise on the issue of communalism,

ContemporaryNational Concerns Hindu Communalism or Muslim Communalism, as it is a challenge to Indian nationhoodand Indian nationalism to use the issues of the bygone past for setting scores in thepresent against another community is communalism’’. To punish the present generationfor the real or imaginary misdeeds of the past generations is communalism.Communalism is also an attempt to generate inter-communal enmity by raking up eventsand episodes of the medieval past.Today communalism in its varied shapes has acquired a very dangerous form andalarming proportions in India. It is subversive of our democratic political stability. Bykilling each other in mindless communal strife, we are in effect killing ourselves, killingour glorious heritage of humianism and composite culture. Therefore communalismshould be recognized as enemy number one of our secular democratic policy. Thereforethere is a need for bringing about a massive re-awakening of citizens in all walks of lifeto restore the national consensus on unity and integrity of our nation, secularism anddemocracy, equal rights and building up a just and hwnan society in India.

How to Combat Communalism

There is an urgent need to recognize at the individual, collective and national levels thatcommunalism is the bigger threat to the basic values of our life, to the working of ourstate and to our new evolving national ethos. For combating the menace of communalism,appropriate and effective strategies should be employed. A concerted national actioncovering six major areas of national life is the need of the time.

These six areas are as under:

i)    State government -Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Electoral system

ii)   Political parties, socio-cultural associations, trade unions, youth and womenorganisations etc.

iii) Administration at central, state, district and local levels covering civic activitiesand law and order machinery and police etc.

iv) Press and mass media

v) Educational institutions viz.; school, colleges, universities etc.

vi) Citizens - as individuals and as neighbours, as functionaries. Producers andconsumers.

In each of the above mentioned six vital areas of national life, there is a need to spellout practical measures and possible effective strategies. After preparing a comprehensiveplan of action, a national consensus should be evolved for implementing the agreedupon course of action.

There exist other steps also to combat communalism, some of these are:

i)    De-recognition of political parties and associations, which by their policies andpractices encourage or promote communalism.

ii)   Removal of objectionable portions that offend the feelings of a community fromtextbooks and reading materials prepared for use in educational institutions.

iii) Enforcement of communal harmony and amity through TV and radio programmesand media to avoid coverage of news and views likely to promote communalprejudice and hatred.

iv) Punishment to police personnel found guilty of neglecting their duty, or connivingat or encouraging communal violence.

v)   Impartial and prompt action for restoring communal harmony wherever andwhenever needed.

vi) Persuading various communities to accept Common Civil Law.

vii) Encouraging joint celebration of festivals and functions of all communities etc.