Ram Rattan Sharma
Among the diverse challenges that Indian democracy is facing today, not only for the survival of the system, but also of the people and community, quite serious challenges are those of communalism and casteism. They are afflicting our national life, social relations, disrupting the bonds of unity among the people and affecting the process of development, communal and caste tensions are disturbing the social peace and order, diverting the state resources from developmental activities to unproductive expenditure on maintenance of law and order. What is more disturbing is the fact that these phenomena are affecting even those sections of society, which are generally, considered to be modern, tolerant and liberal. It is generally said, that technological and economic development leads to the decline of traditional, irrational beliefs and integrations and the emergence of new bonds of socio economic roles, under estimates communal and caste identities. But in India even after more than 75 years of independence, in spite of modernization and industrialization, tremendous expansion of education and urbanization, it is, important to cope with these challenges. And for that, it is necessary that we understand what these problems are. What are the causes for their emergence and growth and what can be done to tackle them.
Communal is a multi dimensional complex, social phenomena. There are social political, economic, cultural and religious factors, which account for the genesis of communalism and communal violence. It has generally been seen that determining the role in creating communalism is not played by religion but by non-religious forces. Careful scrutiny of the demands which have been and are made by communal leaders will reveal the true channel and objective of communal politics under the mask of religion, tradition and culture. Seen in historical context, British imperialism used it as a divide and rule policy. The same has been continued by vested interests after independence using various factors. The British administration was more interested in the exploitation of India and not in its welfare. Reaction to this was the emergence and growth of nationalism posing a serious threat to the continuation of colonial rule. It served the colonial administration to divide and rule. They therefore nurtured and promoted religious differences. They first projected social and cultural variations and then promoted Pol divisions by playing up social, economic and political claims of Hindus, Muslims, Tribals and lower castes. The communal award, separate electorates, recognition of communal demands, etc, infact the type of politics approved, tolerated and encouraged by the British imperialism was solely communal politics. It is in this historical context that communalism came to acquire the meaning of being opposed to national identity of being against secularization process, of being too narrowly and negatively attached to one’s own religious community and use of religion for Pol purposes. Response to colonial rule was nationalism and national movement, unfortunately, it could not counter the British policy of divide and rule. As such, both the policies of British colonial administration and failure of the national movement to counter that on a firm social and secular basis, helped consolidating communal, caste, Tribal and linguistic identities. The most serious consequence of this was the partition of India and its after math in Independent India.
At the time of Independence, as a result of British colonial policies and other factors mentioned above, there was an atmosphere of various religious, linguistic, caste and cultural groups having gone into narrow sectarian loyalties. In this situation, the partition of the country on religious basis and consequent violence surcharged the communal situation. Minorities were feeling a bit insecure and worried about their future position in independent India. The new government and the framers of the constitution were very much concerned for unity and integrity of the country. All these were the values to which the national movement was committed. Farmers of the constitution, therefore rightly decided to establish India as a secular state. It means respect for all religions and no support or favour to any religion by the state. Along with secularism were adopted democracy and a commitment to economic development. It was expected that in a secular democratic set up Government and people would get involved in an economic development collectively there by building a new Indian society. What was expected was a new Pol culture based on full respect for human liberty, justice and equality.
Socio- Eco causes:- At the time of independence resources were limited and expectations were very high. In this situation planning was introduced to maintain a balanced development. But the planning could not achieve the desired goals as a whole. Soon, there emerged a competition for limited resources. In this competition the vested interests found an easy way to mobilize people on caste, communal and regional basis to demand better share. Similarly, the Pol parties and governments have failed to fulfill the expectations of people, used religion and tradition as diverting tactics. Almost all political parties have failed to keep their promises for removing inequalities or poverty and afraid of people’s wrath in elections to create and raise communal issues. While the constitutional framework provides a strong basis for the separation of democracy and religion, the actual practice of democracy has revealed that the political parties and governmental functionaries have not been able to internalize the constitutional framework, religious rituals are being used at state functions. Needless to say, the introduction of the universal adult franchise was a bold and revolutionary step on the part of the founders of the Indian constitution. But unfortunately, soon after independence, political parties and politicians rather than strengthening democratic traditions of competing on the basis of programmes and ideologies, started looking for easy ways of mobilizing voters. They found in religion and caste easy factors to strengthen their vote banks. The law in India does not debar political parties to be organized on the basis of caste or religion. The use of religion in electoral politics and in nomination of candidates and campaigning on communal appeal has accentuated the process of communalism to a serious level. The marriage of politics and religion has led to the growing accidents of communal hatred. Mosques, temples and Gurudwaras are being used not only for political mobilization, but also to stockpile arms and weapons. Communal and quasi-religious groups are emerging as Pol organizations. Religious passions are being whipped up for the sake of Pol power. Communal issues are being given importance and the real issue of socio-economic development and transformation are being sidelined.
Measures to combat communalism:- Communalism should be dealt with an iron hand. The Government should not yield to communal pressures. The formation of Pol parties on communal lines should not be encouraged. Pol parties should either evolve a code of conduct not to use religion for electioneering or let the election commission or parliament enact such a code, we need State machinery which is efficient, strong and impartial enough to put down communalism and communal violence and ensure safety to all sections of the society. Pol, religious or other compulsions should not be allowed to come on the way of this. Educational system must be reconstructed to emphasize the composite nature of our culture and in calculate secular and scientific temper among young students. We have to realize that communalism hinders social and economic change, which is so essential for all of us. If the Pol process is not de communalised then democracy itself is likely to perish. The alternative to democracy is fascism or dictatorship. The history of many countries is proof that fascism and dictatorship are good neither for the majority nor for minorities.
The need of the hour is to face this challenge to democracy, development and social harmony in a proper way.
Those who are exploiting ordinary people’s emotions, their religious beliefs and ignorance need to be exposed. Since religion teaches respect to others and tolerance. It never teaches violence. Existence of different religions, therefore, does not lead to communalism. It is fundamentalism and communalism which is distorting it.
(The author is former Dy Librarian of Jammu University)
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