BLOCK 4

RELIGION AND POLITICS

Religion and Politics
BLOCK 4 INTRODUCTION

This block is about relationship between religion and politics. It has two units.
Unit 9 is about secularism. It discusses the nature of relationship between religion
and the state, of religion with the community, individual and with democratic
values such as liberty and equality, and with ethics. Unit 10 explains how
communalism has been defined and how it is related to individual rights and the
state.

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 Secularism
UNIT 9 SECULARISM*

Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 What Is Secularism?
9.3 Secularism in Indian Constitution
9.4 “Anti-Secularism”
9.5 Secularism and religious groups
9.6 Let Us Sum Up
9.7 References
9.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise

9.0 OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this unit are to acquaint you with some crucial issues about
secularism in India. After reading this unit, you will be able:
To explain the meaning of secularism and secularization;
To explain the issues related to secularism;
To streamline main arguments in debate on secularism in India;
And after comparing this unit with unit 10, to underline differences between
secularism and communalism.

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Secularism is one of the most crucial issues in the current political scenario in
world. Yuval Noah Harari, the author of 21 Lessons for the 21st Century includes
secularism among 21 most urgent issues of the 21st century. In India too, secularism
has been at the core of academic, popular and political discourse. Some questions
are often raised about secularism: about its relationship with religion, state and
other institutions, faith, religious communities, place of individual, democratic
values such as freedom and equality about religion, and ethical values. This unit
will discuss secularism in the light of these questions.

9.2 WHAT IS SECULARISM?

The central issue in secularism is religion. Secularism in a society implies that
the religious supremacy of a community does not lead to discrimination and
persecution of religious minorities. The meaning of secularism depending on the
extent of relationship religion has with the attributes mentioned above, i.e,
relationship with religion, state and other institutions, faith, religious communities,
place of individual, democratic values such as freedom and equality about religion,
and ethical values.There are three meanings of secularism according to different

* Prof. Jagpal Singh, Professor of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, New
Delhi. This unit has been borrowed from the course BPSC-132 (Unit 13). 93
Religion and Politics perspectives: one talks about relationship between the religion and the state;
two, is about the possibility or impossibility of applicability of secularism in
India; and the third is about equal respect to all religions or sarva dharma sambhav.
These perspectives have been reflected in the debate within the Constituent
Assembly, popular and academic discourse in India. As you will read in this
unit, the debate on secularism in India, in the Constituent Assembly, and academic
discourse has involved these three meanings to varying levels.

According to Rajiv Bhargav success of secularism depends on certain factors.

These are democracy and independence of the state from pressure of classes and
ethnic groups in society which again depends on presence of state. Democracy
depends on pacification of politics, i.e. peaceful competition or competition
without violence. In fact, secularism is associated with values which are linked
with democracy and equal citizenship. Yuval Noah Harari underlines that in a
secular society, people belonging to different faiths – Hindus, Christians, Muslims,
and atheists follow certain ethical codes. These ethical codes are enshrined in
the values or secular ideals such as truth, compassion, equality, freedom, courage,
and responsibility. For secularists, truth is different from belief, and there is no
single source as custodian of truth. Compassion implies a “deep appreciation of
suffering”, to reduce sufferings in the world in best possible way. Since sufferings
are universal, the commitment to truth and compassion result in commitment to
equality. The search for truth can be achieved with freedom to think, investigate,
and experiment. Courage includes value to fight biases and oppressive regimes,
to admit ignorance and “venture into unknown”. Responsibility means to not
rely on higher power to address problems facing societies, no divine power needs
to be credited for it. The developments result from knowledge of human beings
themselves and their compassion.

According to DE Smith, Secularism can prevail in a secular state. What is secular

state? In DE Smith’s model in India as a Secular State, a secular state can be
identified by its dealing with three subjects: exclusion of state in relationship
between individual and the religion (religious liberty); relations between
individual and state in which religion is excluded (individual as citizen); and
state neutrality. In Smith’s perspective, India had prospects of success of
democracy: characteristics of secularism are present in Hinduism. However, there
have been challenges in consolidation of secular state in India: caste and
community loyalties which could easily turn into communal rivalry and conflict.
Gallenter finds Smith’s critique of Indian secularism unconvincing: countering
Smith, he contends that Indian state departs from principles of secularism by
giving subsidies to religious schools and bodies, promoting Hinduism, and
compromising its secular credentials. For him, precondition for a secular state to
succeed lies in presupposing a normative conception of religion with capacity to
judge and evaluate religion. In his opinion, the compromise in India on secularism,
could be visible in the Constituent Assembly the debate on religious liberty (right
to religious worship, religious practice, whether the state should recognise only
linguistic minorities or linguistic minorities as well); on citizenship (universal
civil code, religion-based political reservation); and on state neutrality (whether
the state should give instructions to the state aided schools).

AkilBilgrami contests the notion of secularism as merely state’s neutrality and

equidistance from different religions. Bilgrami rejects this notion and provides
94
an alternative notion. He argues secularism does not emerge in all historical Secularism
contexts. It emerges in some historical contexts. It emerges where there is threat
of “majoritarianism”. It can also emerge in the contexts which are not fully
modernist. Secularism is different from secular and secularisation. Secularism is
a political doctrine. A person may remain secular simultaneously retaining his/
her religious identity.

9.3 SECULARSIM IN INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Indian constitution did not include the word secularism when it commenced on
January 26, 1951. Although secularism was not mentioned in the Constitution,
the fact that Independent India became a democracy, secularism was implied in
it as a cardinal principle, a fait accompli, not needing its mention. Butit was
incorporated in the Preamble of the Constitution by 42nd Constitutional
Amendment in 1976. Later, the Supreme Court ruled in the Bhommai judgement
that secularism is a basic feature of the Constitution. Besides, provisions in Articles
25-30 protecting the rights of religious minorities in the Constitution emerged
from debate in the Constituent Assembly of India: these signify values of
secularism. The questions whether word secularism should be included in Indian
Constitution, what kind of secular state India needed to become (“a secular state
in a religious country”), whether separation of state from religion was a testimony
for secularism, whether a secular state was contingent on a secular society or
whether state that respects all religions equally meant presence of secularism in
India, were discussed on October 17, 1949. The opinions on these questions
were divided in the Constituent Assembly. Finally, the assembly decided to not
include the word secular in the Preamble. However, there was an agreement
among all members of the Constituent Assembly to establish India as a secular
state. And most of them agreed that separation of religion and state was related
to democratisation of society.

Shefali Jha identifies three alternative arguments on secularism which were

debated in the Constituent Assembly. She terms the first argument as “no concern
theory of secularism”. The proponents of this argument argued that religion should
not be concern of the state. Religion is a private affair and there should be
separation between religion as a private affair and the state (public affair). People
have liberty to practice religion as a private affair. The state should recognise an
individual as a citizen not as a person from a religion. The principal representative
of this argument were K.T. Shah, Tajamul Husain and M. Masani. The second
line of argument also suggested that religion and state should be separated. But
their argument was just opposite to the first argument. While the first kind of
argument contended religion was a personal matter for the state to intervene, this
argument suggested that religion was a system of absolute truth. Association of
religion would not weaken the state but would demean religion. Whims of the
majorities which keep changing should not be allowed to have a say in a
democratic state. The third theory which Shefali Jha describes as “Equal Respect
Theory of Secularism” argues that since in India religion was the most important
part of people’s life, the state should respect all religions equally along with
maintaining a distance from religions. The most vocal advocate of this argument
was K.M. Munshi. He argued “we had to evolve a characteristically Indian
Secularism”. In his opinion, India can not have a state religion; nor can a rigid
95
Religion and Politics line be drawn between the religion and the state. In this view a people’s state can
not be founded on a kind of secularism that is contemptuous of religion. Since
most religions preach tolerance, if the state allows public sphere to religion it
would not lead to inter-sectarian strife. Jaya Prakash Narayan argued that it was
not religion but use of religion for social, economic, and political purposes that
leads to communal violence.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: i) Use the space below for your answer.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of the unit.
1) What is secularism?
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2) What were main points in debate on secularism in the Constituent Assembly?
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9.4 “ANTI-SECULARISM”
The points in debate on secularism which were discussed in the Constituent
Assembly and in the 1950s were discussed in the debate on the theme which
occurred later. One such debate represented a term which came to be alluded to
as “anti-secularism”. Like an argument given in the Constituent Assembly,
advocates of anti-secularism are not opposed to secularism per se. What they are
opposed to is the notion of secularism which suggests separation between religion
and the state. They are critical of both communal-fundamentalist (Hindutva) and
secularists. According to the advocates of anti-secularism, since India is a religious
society, religion and the state can not be separated. They consider the notion of
separation of religion and the state a western notion, which is not applicable to a
religious society like India. Roots of real secularism can be traced in Indian
traditions, which have been tolerant. Secularism can be achieved by equal respect
for all religions (Sarva Dharma Sambhava). The main advocates of anti-secularist
perspective are Bhikhu Parekh, T.N. Madan and Ashis Nandi. Especially, Madan
considers secularism as a “gift of Christianity”, and Nandi has “an anti-secularist
agenda” to critique secularism.According to Achin Vanaik, they focus on six
general themes regarding Indian society: modernity, understanding of culture,
civilisation, religion and Hinduism, past and present; secularism and secularisation;
96
particularism and universalism, individualism and communitarianism; and neo- Secularism
Gandhianism. While they share common point that state should respect all
religions equally and Indian tradition has been a tolerant tradition, they have
differences.

Rajiv Bhargava argues that the notion of secularism needs to be reconceptualised

or re-imagined. Instead of focusing on state-church relationship the following is
needed: (i) secularism should be focused as a response to deep religious diversity;
(ii) diversity must be understood as enmeshed in power relations; hidden potential
of religion-related domination must be understood; (iii) the two moves can help
us to view secularism as a response to institutionalised religion (inter-and intra-
religious) domination: secularism is not against religion; and it is opposed to
institutionalised religion-based domination; (iv) and, only by maintaining
principles distance a secular state can show critical respect to all religions and
philosophical world views. He explains Indian secularism in terms of the notion
of principled distance. He states “the idea of principled distance entails a flexible
approach to the issue of state’s inclusion or exclusion of religions, and to the
issue of engagement with or disengagement from religion, which at the level of
law and order depends on the context.” He classifies secularism into two kinds:
political and secular.

According to some scholars (Smith, Tambia) secularism, secularism in India is

facing crisis. There are external and internal factors responsible for this. External
factors include - breakdown of Congress, increasing centralisation of power of
the state, and secessionist movements in the 1980s- in Punjab and Kashmir and
implementation of Mandal Commission Report. Internal factors include –
totalising world-view of which secularism is a part (Madan and Nandi), and
demand for equidistance which can not be met by any state (Chatterjee).

9.5 SECULARISM AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS

Secularism and secularisation are two inter-related concepts. But in the academic
and political discourse, it is the former which has received more attention. Several
articles published in Economic and Political Weekly(Vol. 58, No. 50 Dec. 14,
2013) discuss the notion of secularisation and its relationship with secularism,
and several related aspects with reference to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It
is about the nature of relationship about rights of religious groups and individuals
within them. It is also about ethics or morality.

Secularisation means absence of influence of religion on public policies and

social relations. But it does not negate religion itself. It is about how religion is
the basis of favour or discrimination. It is about modernisation and modernity.
Secularisation must be “collective normative project”; whereas secularism in
Europe was not “launched as a programme of collective action” (Rajiv Bhargava).
Using notion of secularisation, Joya Chatterjee explains how that following the
partition, both India and Pakistan followed policy of secularisation, which was
partial. Both got busy in addressing non-religious issues of partition-affected
families: rehabilitation of the refugees. However, the secularisation was partial.
It was a limited secularisation which did not permeate lower parts of state
machinery.
97
Religion and Politics
9.6 LET US SUM UP
Secularism has broadly two meanings: one, separation of religion from the state;
and two, equal respect to all religions by the state or sarvadharmsambhav.
Originally, the Preamble of the Constitution did not mention the word secularism.
It was inserted into the Preamble by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment. The
Constituent Assembly discussed whether secularism should be mentioned in the
Constitution. There were three broad arguments in the Constituent Assembly:
One argument suggested that since religion was a personal affair, there was no
need to discuss it; Second argument contended that there should be separation
between religion and that state; and, the third argument stated that the state should
respect all religions equally or there should be sarva dharma sambhav.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: i) Use the space below for your answer.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of the unit.
1) What are the main arguments of anti-secularists?
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2) What is the difference between secularism and secularization?
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3) What is meant by the notion of principled distance?
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 Secularism
9.7 REFERENCES
Bhargava, Rajeev (eds), Secularism and Its Critics, Oxford University Press,
New Delhi, 1999.
Bilgrami, Akil, “Secularism: Its Content and Context”, Economic and Political
Weekly, No.4, Vol. 57, 2012.
Chandhoke, Neera, Beyond Secularism: The Rights and Religious Minorities,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999.
Economic and Political Weekly, Issue on Secularisation, Vol. 58, No. 50,
December 14.
Harari, Yuval Noah, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Jonathan Cape, London,
2018.
Vanaik, Achin, Hindutva Rising: Secular Claims, Communal Realities, Tulika,
New Delhi, 2017.

9.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1

1) Secularism denotes relationship between religion, state, institutions, social

groups and individual. There two notions of it: One, suggests a distance
between religion and the state or equal distance or request to all religions by
the state; another, talks about the relationship of religion with communities
and individuals about democratic values such as freedom and equality, and
morality.

2) In the Constituent Assembly, there were three types of arguments on

secularism: One, the state should not interfere in religious matter; two, state
and religion should be separate because religion is higher than the state/
beyond the scope of the state; and three, the state should pay equal respect
to all religions.

Check Your Progress Exercise 2

1) The anti-secularists argue that secularism which preaches distance between

religion and state is western context. In a country like India where religion
is an essential aspect of like, religion and state can not be delinked. The real
secularism can be traced in Indian traditions, which is marked by tolerance.
True secularism can be achieved by following the principle of sarva dharma
sambhav (equal respect to all religions).

2) Secularism denotes distance between religion and the state or equal respect
to all religions. Secularisation denotes absence of the impact of religion on
the state policies about social groups. It is also about how moral or ethical
values shape attitudes about followers of different religions.

99
Religion and Politics 3) The idea of principled distance is propounded by Rajeev Bhargava. It denotes
a flexible approach to state’s engagement or disengagements with religions,
and to their inclusion or exclusion by the state. The level of engagement,
exclusion or inclusion depends on context, nature, and current state of
religions.

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 Secularism
UNIT 10 COMMUNALISM*

Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 What is Communalism?
10.3 Origin of Communalism
10.4 Communalism and the State
10.5 Communalism and Media
10.6 Let Us Sum Up
10.7 References
10.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise

10.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you should be able to:
Explain the meaning of communalism;
Trace the growth of communalism in India;
Discuss relationship between media and communalism; and
Analyse the relationship between the state and communalism.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
Identity forms an important aspect of the life of an individual or group in a society.
In a diverse society, there are multiple factors that shape identities. Such factors
are culture, language, religion, customs, history, region, economy, etc. In shaping
an identity, the numbers of these factors vary. The numbers and effectiveness of
the factors depend on the context in which identities are formed. Even though
multiple factors shape an identity, sometime a single or some of them plays more
dominant role than the other factors. This is true of the role of religion also in
shaping an identity. As India is a multi-religious society, it is relevant to understand
how religion helps in shaping identities of people, in building harmonious or
conflictual relations between people following different religions.

10.2 WHAT IS COMMUNALISM?

Communalism is an ideology which shapes the vision of members of a community,
formed on the basis of common religion, about themselves, other religious
communities, nationalism and the state. In their book India’s Struggle for Freedom,
Bipan Chandra and others, underline that communal ideology consists of three
elements. The first element underlines the belief that people from similar religious
community have similar secular interests such as political, economic, social and
cultural interests. The authors of the book term it as “the first bedrock of communal

* Dr. Rakesh Batabyal,Associate Professor, Centre for Media Studies, School of Social Sciences,
JNU, New Delhi-110068. This unit has been borrowed from the course BPSC-132 (Unit 14). 101
Religion and Politics ideology”. The second element denotes that the people belonging to different
religious communities do not have common secular interests – social, economic,
cultural or political interest. The third element or phase of communalism shows
a stage in which the relations between different religious communities are seen
as mutually incompatible, hostile and antagonistic.

Communalism is linked to another concept, e.g., communal violence. Both are

different but inter-related. Communalism is a consciousness and when this
consciousness gets expressed in terms of violence between two different religious
communities it is called communal violence. Different religious communities do
not become communal own their own. Nor do their relations turn into communal
violence automatically. Religious communities are turned into communal
communities by certain sections of society, and they can convert relations between
such communities into communal riots. Such sections can be political leaders,
activists, middle classes or community leaders. They explain to the members of
their respective communities that the other community is responsible for their
problems. In certain politically suitable situation or context they are able to
mobilize their respective communities into communal violence.

There have been different approaches to the way communalism can be studied.
First has been the approach which may be called empirical approach used by
various scholars starting Ashgar Ali Engineer, in which different communal riots
were studied and general conclusion have been drawn. A large number of scholars
such as Amrita Basu, Paul Brass, Asutosh Varshney etc., have followed this
approach to test their theories.

The second approach has been Materialist approach. This approach underlines
the need to study social and economic conditions, role and nature of the state,
and ideology to understand communalism. In this approach, the incidents of
communal violence are studied as a reflection of these factors. K.T. Shah, Bipan
Chandra, AchinVnaik, C.P. Bhambhri, Aditya Mukherjee have followed this
approach. The third approach has been the essentialist approach where the
communities are already seen to be different and living across fault lines with
separate identities. Huntington, the American political scientist in his very
celebrated book Clash of Civilizationshas presented an outline of such approach.

10.3 ORIGINS OF COMMUNALISM

Communalism as a belief or an ideology has been the product of the colonial
rule in India. In this sense it is product of modern times in India. Earlier also,
there were large number of instances of inter-sect or inter-cult or religious conflicts
and violence. But they were not communal in the sense it came to be understood
from the mid-nineteenth century. The communalism in India largely was product
of the colonial policies towards different communities, especially after the 1857
mutiny. The challenges faced by the colonial rulers in the latter half of the
nineteenth century became the reasons for them to devise policies that promoted
communalism. Among these challenges included criticism of the colonial
administration by a new intelligentsia, which had emerged in India by mid-
nineteenth century. This intelligentsia, most often, was the product of the new
English education. This intelligentsia began to realize that people of India were
102 suffering due to the colonial rule. Transcending linguistic, caste sectarianism or
cultic identities the new intelligentsia sought to generate national consciousness Communalism
against the colonial administration. Thus, the new intelligentsia, trained in both
traditional knowledge and the new western knowledge through English Medium
wanted a Indian people emerge as nation. This consciousness led them to attempt
to constitute a ‘national community’ consisting of Indians of different sections
of society. This was to contest the colonial constructs of a society and polity.
The colonial authorities responded to the challenge of growing national
consciousness being generated by the efforts of the new intelligentsia. They did
so by the following strategies: debunking the notion that Indians who had multiple
diversities could be united as a nation, by creating a colonial knowledge, and by
highlighting differences among people which existed on the basis of religion,
caste, language, etc. and by introducing religion-based representation in the
legislative/political bodies. As a part of such knowledge, James Mill wrote a
book The History of British India, in which he argued that history of India can be
divided on the basis of religion into three periods: ancient, medieval and modern.
Mill argued that ancient period in India’s history symbolized India’s golden period
when she was the ruled by the Hindus; in medieval period, the Muslim invaders
destroyed the glorious ancient Indian history and established Muslim rule; and
the modern period denoted the end of the Mughal rule and establishment of the
British rule in India. Such periodization of Indian history has been used by the
communal historians and the colonial authorities to divide the society on
communal lines. As most of the intelligentsia came from the upper crust of the
Hindu society, its growth and ideas could be shown to be detrimental to the
interest of Muslims by the Muslim intelligentsia and traditional elite. In 1987,
Dufferin (Viceroy) and A. Colvin, Lt-Governor of UP attacked Congress for
being anti-imperialism. Syed Ahmad joined the attack thinking that it would
help in getting Muslim share in administrative and professional positions
increased. He believed that with the growth of Hindu intelligentsia and middle
classes, the dominance of Muslims declined. Solution to Muslims dominance
lay in enabling Muslims to get English education. For this purpose, he founded
Anglo Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 which later became AMU
(Aligarh Muslim University). Meanwhile, a new Muslim middle class too was
emerging at that time. However, its late arrival witnessed an already entrenched
Hindu middle class which by 1870s onwards was quite vocal and anticolonial in
its approach. One of the strategies of the traditional Muslim elite and new middle
class was to demand that they should be given preferences of representation in
public institutions. The demand for reservation in jobs and educational institutions
by the Middle class soon got converged with the demand of the Muslim elite for
more political power via statutory reservations in the legislative and other bodies.
This led to the formation of the Muslim League in 1906 which also saw the
active prompting by the British colonial government. In other areas, for example,
the British encouraged sections from among the Hindus too with such favours as
they seemed to divide the emerging national unity under the Indian National
Congress. The demand for reservation in government jobs and representation of
legislative bodies to the Muslims resulted in similar demands from some sections
of the Hindus. And a competition between some sections of Hindu and Muslim
intelligentsia took place for reservation in government jobs and legislative bodies.
Later, these demands views were voiced by Muslim League. In fact, the earlier
Muslim intelligentsia and later Muslim League represented sections of Muslim
landlords and middle classes and their vision and demands were common. 103
Religion and Politics For some historians, Hindus had all the glory which was destroyed by the Muslim
invaders while the Muslim communal historians saw the British as destroyer of
the glory of Islam. According to them the Islamic glory had to be restored once
again. This could be done by establishing an Islamic rule. These two versions
represented two-nation theory. The policy level intervention to divide the Indians
on communal lines included introduction of separate electorate in 1909 (Morley-
Minto Reform). According to the policy of separate electorate, in 1909 municipal
elections, Hindu and Muslims contested from separate constituencies, where
candidates and the electorate belong to the same religion. Separate electorate
was political manifestation of communal divide. From the 1920s, the demands
for more representation in the councils etc., was needed to be widened and so
was popular participation. The 1920s saw the emergence of Khilafat movement
which for the first time brought many Muslim into the larger political fold. This
meant that the seeds of separate identities based on non-religious interests but
along with the religious lines planted.The Colonial government however tried to
fragment the movement by organizing the Round Table Conference in 1930-32
in which representative of all conceivable groups and sectional interests were
invited.

In comparison to Hindus, the rise of Muslim educated in English was limited.

Educated Hindus and Muslims competed for government jobs. It gave a feeling
among some sections of the new elite/middle class from both communities that
because of the other community, they were not getting jobs and representation in
political institutions. The Hindus viewed that their interests were antagonistic to
Muslims’ interests and vice-versa. As you have read above, in communalism the
secular interests of different religions communities are antagonistic. Thus,
communalism in India grew between the late nineteenth century and the partition
of the country.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: i) Use the space below for your answer.
ii) Check your answers with the answers give at the end of the unit.
1) What is communalism?
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2) What is the relationship between communalism and communal violence?
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3) Briefly narrate the origin of communalism in India. Communalism

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10.4 COMMUNALISM AND THE STATE

Communalism often leads to communal violence between different religious
communities. There are several examples of communal violence in India.
Communal violence is also result of intermingling of religion and politics. In the
post Independent India, communalism has become part of the competitive
electoral politics. According to K.N. Pannikar (1990), politics and communalism
have become complementary, reinforcing each other in the post-Independence
period. State can devise policies which can either stop or encourage
communalism. It can also play partisan role in communal politics. The state can
play an important role in the spread or prevention of communalism. The nature
of state’s role on communalism depends on the nature of pressure of social groups
on it, and composition of the personnel in the state institutions, and political
context. Thus, the state functions under the pressure of different social groups
and classes. These also include religious communities. As you have read above,
the colonial rule promoted religious divisions: the policy was based on preferential
treatment and discrimination. According to C.P. Bhambri, the post-Independence
India inherited the legacy of religious backwardness and religious conflict. The
state in India is placed in paradoxical situation: on the one hand it has to act
through rules and regulations, new technology; on the other hand, it has to deal
with the society where symbols, rituals and inherited social regulatory mechanisms
exist. Indian state faced the challenge of losing loyalty if it is perceived to be
acting against traditional practices – Muslim personal law (1985), Operation
Blue Star (1984), Sabrimala (2019).In democratic society such as India, the state
functions under the pressure of different social forces. It becomes a site of multiple
ideologies and tendencies – including secularists and communalists. In the post-
Independence period, the Indian state has followed the strategy for managing
conflicts – of oppression and cooptation: it makes compromises with
communalism and casteism. And the exploiting classes have exploited religious
sentiments to legitimize exploitation in the society. Zoya Hasan (1990) argues
that the state surrendered to the pressure of religious fundamentalist in Muslim
Women’s Bill and Ram Janma Bhumi case.

10.5 COMMUNALISM AND MEDIA

Media, in both its traditional and newer forms, helpe ideologies and ideas to
spread. As has been discussed in the rise of public sphere by Jurgen Habermas in
the context of Europe, the public associations, clubs, public gatherings and later
on print media which included newspapers, novels, textbooks, etc., have all helped
many ideas to spread. Benedict Anderson, for example, called nation as an
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Religion and Politics Imagined Community as it was created because of spread of imagined ideas of
nation by the print media since the 18th century onwards. In relation to
communalism in India, the media plays an influential role in creation and spread
of communalism. Its role becomes crucial in reporting, explaining and
commenting on communal riots or violence; about the reasons for occurrence of
communal violence, role of leaders of different communities and politicians.
The media includes print media – newspapers, magazines, and electronic media
(television channels), and social media (WhatsApp, face book, tweeter, email).
While media plays a decisive role in generating awareness among the people, on
several occasions it has contributed to the spread of communal divide in the
country. In the recent past, fake news, have become quite frequent to arouse
communal passion in the society. Many of the news in the media are based on
rumours and unverified facts. The social media for example has a reach which
very few previous media had. It is also not controlled through censorship and
other ways; any news or information, which may cause violence or animosity
among different groups of people travels rapidly.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: i) Use the space below for your answer.
ii) Check your answers with the answers give at the end of the unit.
1) How does the state play a role in communalism?
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2) Briefly describe the nature of relationship between communalism and media.
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10.6 LET US SUM UP

Communalism is an ideology which preaches that communities are formed on
religious lines. And members of a community share common interests which are
incompatible with the interests of other religious communities. In certain political
contexts, communalism can lead to communal violence. This happens because
of the role of political or community leaders. Communal violence which the
post-independent India has seen can be traced to the colonial period. Sometimes
communalism gets expressed in the form of communal violence. This can happen
when some sections of leaders or political activists convert relations between
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religious communities into conflict. In past few years social media have also Communalism
become source of communal divide.

10.7 REFERENCES
Batbyal, Rakesh (2005), Communalism in Bengal: From Famine to Noakhali,
1943-47, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Bhambri, C.P. (1990), “State and Communalism in India”, Social Scientist, Vol.18,
Nos. 8-9, Aug.-Sept., pp. 22-26.
Chandra, Bipan; Mukherjee, Mridula; Mukherjee, Adiya; Mahajan, Suchitra;
Panikkar, K.N. (1988), India’s Struggle for Independence, New Delhi, Penguin.
Hasan, Zoya (1990), “Changing Orientation of the State and the Emergence of
Majoritarianism in the 1980s”, Social Scientist, Vol. 18, Nos. 8-9, August-
September.
Pannikar, K.N. (1990), “Introduction”, The Social Scientist, Vol.18, Nos 8-9,
Aug.-Sept.

10.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1

1) Communalism is an ideology which shares the visions of members a

community formed on the basis of religion about themselves, other
communities and nationalism. It has three elements: first, members of a
religious community share common interests; two, people from two different
religious communities do not share common interests; and three, relations
between different religious communities are incompatible and hostile.

2) Communalism and communal violence are different but inter-related. The

former is an ideology which preaches that people from a religious community
share common social, economic, political and other kinds of interests which
are incompatible with the interests of other communities. Communal violence
is violent expression of the differences between different religious
communities.

3) It emerged during the second half of the nineteenth century, the colonial
period. It was product of the divide and rule policy of the British. The policy
was reaction to critique of colonial policies by the newly emergent
intelligentsia. The responded to the critique of colonial rule by encouraging
the intelligentsia and middle classes to make demands for reservation in
jobs and representation in political institution on religious lines. They
introduced separate electorates through Morley-Minto reforms on 1909.
Consequently, it resulted in genesis of communalism in India.

Check Your Progress 2

1) The state can play an effective role in communalism in two ways: One, by
devising policies which can either encourage or impede communalism; two, 107
Religion and Politics by taking action against people or agencies involved in spread of
communalism or communal violence. The role of state depends on political
ideologies of those who control the state and on its capacity to manage
pressures of different communities.

2) Media and communalism are related. Media not only plays role in either
creating and spread or combatting it. During the second decade of the twenty
first century, social media has become more decisive in shaping
communalism in India. Quite often, media spread fake news, unverified
information which contribute to communalism.

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