Communalism in India — How secular is India?

Even after 70 years since the British left India, it’s still haunted by the hatred the British spawned in the minds of its people. What started as a policy to control people by creating conflicts between them has grown into a malice still wreaking havoc in the country. One which had led to the partition of a country and its people who once stood united to take down the British imperialism. While leaving India, the British had taken many of the Indian treasures and left behind a spark that would burn down the whole country. Leaving a lifelong cycle of hatred between the two religions and countries. Hatred inbred in generations to generations and continues to till date. As the future generations are made to carry the hatred not knowing the real reason for it.

When India won freedom on August 15, 1947, after 90 years of struggle there was nothing to celebrate because the victory of freedom came with the horrors of the partition. All the while British were leaving India their ‘divide and conquer’ policy was taking its final effects as it was prompting the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. The partition was done as a last resort to avoid large riots and disputes from taking place. But the damage was already done and large-scale violence broke out taking the lives of thousands of people. What started that day continues to till date. The cycle of hatred continues to roll as many battles being fought, people being killed, children thought to hate, minds and hearts torn apart.

To the outside world, India might seem a secular country with people from diverse religions living peacefully but a closer look will give you a different view. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, problems do exist. Though subtle it’s there. With the news of unrest or disputes happening here and there. Communalism is one of the major problems confronting society today. With people of different religious groups fighting each other to get the upper hand and to achieve their political agenda. What was once a system of faith and worship has become an instrument for the few to divide people and maintain control. With people too engrossed in the set of beliefs that they fail to judge it’s rationality it’s no wonder that people use it to maintain power and do one’s bidding.

So what is communalism? Prabha Dixit puts it as “communalism is a political doctrine which makes use of religious and cultural difference to achieve political ends”. It’s an ideology or say a political philosophy that promotes allegiance to one particular religious group to form a religious or ethnic identity, creating friction or tension between different communities which leads to communal violence. Communalism is the way of the few to take advantage of the blind loyalty of the people to his/her own religion to favor their political agenda. It has become a powerful tool for the opportunistic political groups to control the people and wreak havoc in the country. In a country like India with diverse religious groups like Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, were the followers of each religion have a common secular interest that’s different from another religion. It’s easy to divide them into groups taking advantage of the common interests of each religious group. Communalism is a big threat to national integration, democracy, and secularism. No good will ever come out when you have more commitment to your own religious group than to the wider society. What once almost destroyed our country and divided it has put its roots deep down into our nation and it’s finding hard to remove it completely.

But there are times when people forget about all these tainted ideals and beliefs and come together irrespective of their differences. Tragedies, crisis and difficult times have an ironic way of bringing people together and bring out the best in them. Like the time when they stood united to drive out the British and their rule. Hindus and Muslims had fought together at the Revolt of 1857 where religion was never taken into consideration. The day will come when a person is not judged on which religion he practices, what food he eats or what caste he belongs to. All religions are founded on the foundation of love, peace, and care. And all corrupted ideals that are added to it will not hold for long. Like Jimi Hendrix has said, “ When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”