Communal Violence and political manipulation
Introduction
What is communal Violence?
Communal violence refers to the violence ignited by the arisal of a dispute between people from two or more communities or groups. It occurs when two groups with opposing interests are agitated and mobilised against each other and carry out hostile protests and violence.
These groups may be polarised on various lines such as ethnic, cultural,etc., more often than not, incidents of aggression and violence are seen on religious lines. Such riots and violence are driven by hatred and feeling of enmity, inferiority and the urge to assert supremacy over the other, relating to a certain hitch against the other religion.
Factors Contributing to Communal Violence
- Disruptive Effect of Social Media: Social Media played a critical role in circulating fake news at break-neck speed, as the copious audio-visual documentation of violence, hate messages are delivered to the masses almost immediately. However, these graphic depictions of inhumanity have not elicited remorse or changed minds; rather, they have deepened biases and hardened stances.
- Role of Mainstream Media: Instead of adhering to media ethics and neutrality, most of the media houses show an inclination towards particular political ideology, which in turn widens the societal cleavage.
- Lack of Value-Based Education: People are not equipped to think for themselves and this leads them to blindly follow the ‘trends’ instead of being able to differentiate the good from the bad themselves.
- Majoritarian Hegemony and Minority Insecurities: A group in majority often believes that it has the sole say in the progress of the country. This leads to acts of violence when smaller groups oppose the majoritarian ideas of progress.
On the contrary, minority groups often find themselves blamed for being ‘anti-national’ whenever they try to protect their way of life from transgression. This often creates violence in society.
Impact of Communal Violence
- Violation of Human Rights: During the communal violence, the innocent ordinary people get caught into the circumstances beyond their control. This leads to the violation of human rights.
- Economic Loss: Communal violence leads to loss of life and public property. It leads to exploitation by way of plundering and indulgence in activities only for personal gains.
- Social Dissonance: Communal Violence strengthens vote banks of ideologically aligned political parties and further disrupts the cohesiveness in society.
- It causes serious damage to communal harmony for a long period.
- It also tarnishes the country’s image as a pluralistic society in front of the world.
- Erosion of Constitutional Values: Communal violence dampens constitutional values like secularism and fraternity.
Causes Of Communal Violence
Colm Campbell has proposed, after studying the empirical data and sequence of events during communal violence in South Africa, Palestinian Territories and Northern Ireland, that communal violence typically follows when there is degradation of rule of law. The state fails to or is widely seen as unable to provide order, security and equal justice. This then leads to mass mobilization, followed by radicalization of anger among one or more communities, and ultimately violent mobilization. Targeted mass violence by a few from one community against innocent members of other community, suppression of complaints, refusal to prosecute, killing peaceful demonstrators, imprisonment of people of a single community while refusal to arrest members of other community in conflict, perceived or actual prisoner abuse by the state are often the greatest mobilizers of communal violence.
Role of politics in inciting Communal Violence
It would not be wrong to say that politics is omnipresent, it is present in every spectrum of life. The impact of politics is inevitable and cannot be evaded. Alongside, it plays a vital role in the social world and largely controls daily human life. Politicians exploit the world and manipulate public opinion to attain their ends. Religious sentiments are vulnerable and are thus easily preyed by political players.
Present day communal violence originates in identity politics. Identity politics stress the group nature of rights, experience and identity, whether based on race, sex, caste, class, language, religion or national or regional origin. In many cases, the political-cultural movements which engage in identity politics seek fundamental juridical changes, political power and, sometimes, cultural hegemony. Minority and women’s rights advocates embrace identity politics because it has increased awareness of the legitimacy and unique experience of different groups such as women or Asian Americans. In contrast, however, the sectarian strife that has repeatedly torn India, Ireland, Sri Lanka and Pakistan illustrates its potential dangers.
The experience of these countries demonstrates that identity politics not only fragments groups but also may render them “autistic.” The rhetoric of identity politics allows groups to enclose themselves in their own myths of self-righteous victimhood so that they cannot hear or learn from anyone other than themselves. By over-valuing their own identity, group members distort the identity of non-group members” and lose recognition of the common public interest which they share with those non-group members. This perceived lack of common ground undermines civic values, frustrates dialogue and facilitates inter-group hostility. Such hostility manifests itself in communal violence.
Governments engage in identity politics when they –
- Claim the existence of a national monolithic identity.
- Use that identity as a rationale for judicial decisions against persons who do not share that identity.
- Excuse harassment of targeted communities.
- Fail to prosecute perpetrators of communal crime; or
- Promote or direct violence against non-majority or non-member communities.’
These actions incite communal thinking and sectarian violence. In India, government officials and political parties have engaged in identity politics, with disastrous consequences for majority and minorities to promote separatist and exclusionary agendas which condone violence against non-group members. This form of communalism has made it extremely difficult for Indians today to relate to each other as Indians.
To some extent, judicial decisions on communal questions absolve the people of their political responsibility to resolve these issues themselves. Hindus and Muslims must engage in extensive public debate in a variety of forums to determine how to solve majority-minority problems and to discuss the meaning of Indian nationhood and secularism.
India and Hindu-Muslim tension
Communal violence is one of the defining features of post-Independence Indian politics. Although Hindu-Muslim violence predominates, violence against Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus (in states where they are a minority) is not unknown. Recently, the intensity and nature of this violence has become more organised and gendered.
This course provides an advanced understanding of the causes of collective communal violence in India since 1947. It will outline the conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding collective communal violence. It will review primordialist, instrumentalist (especially electoral incentives and social capital), and post-structuralist approaches. The course will assess the utility of these approaches while introducing students to historical institutionalism as a way of better understanding the Indian experience in a comparative context.
Role of The Government
The myth that hatred and violence from time immemorial explain communal violence in India today is untenable. Rather, identity politics, communal thinking and sectarian violence are the direct result of government actions that have exploited group differences to win legitimacy and power. In fact, the experience of India parallels a global trend, wherein “The proximate cause of communal violence is government exploitation of communal differences.” The incidence of communal riots in post-partition India correlates
with the emergence of government-sponsored identity politics. Aside from the period immediately following independence, communal riots occurred infrequently during the 1950s and 1960s.46 Since then, however, the number of communal riots in India has grown at an unprecedented rate.
In a nation like India, the difficulties of sustaining effective dialogue on such issues are evident. Ultimately, the nation’s size and diversity suggest that its judiciary may be one branch of government truly able to effectuate this end. If so, the judicial role in propounding a doctrine of neutral principles which reinforce the layered identities of Indians must be underscored. Judicial decisions can encourage a heterogeneous public to affirm differences through their religion and culture and concurrently foster links between members of different groups as citizens in a democracy. In this manner, the judiciary may impede the formation of communal sentiment and increase awareness of the multiple and fluid identities which Indians have always had and shared.
Constitutional Provisions Relevant to Communal Violence
The provisions of the Indian Constitution reflect a delicate balance between fundamental rights and the state’s duty to safeguard public order and nondiscrimination. The Preamble underscores the nation’s commitment to secularism and people’s commitment to secure to all its citizens: justice, social, economic, political; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
Consonant with the Preamble, the State guarantees to all persons equal protection of the laws and prohibits State discrimination against any person on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
Concurrently, Article 25 ascribes to all persons in India – subject to public order, morality, and health – the right to freedom of conscience and to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion. Article 26 permits every religious denomination – subject to public order, morality, and health – to manage its own affairs in matters of religion and to establish institutions for that purpose. Thus, while the body of secular law consisting of the Constitution, the Code of Criminal Procedure and other statutory law governs the behavior of all persons in India, Articles 25 and Articles 26 permit individuals and groups to order.
Judicial Decisions
Judicial decisions which endorse a narrow, rigid view of the Indian identity contravene principles of Indian secularism and fuel xenophobic communal attitudes. In 1994, the Supreme Court re-emphasized the fact that the Constitution prohibits the state from identifying itself with or favoring any particular religion or religious sect or denomination. Judicial opinions which favor a monolithic view of Indian identity are therefore unconstitutional. Nonetheless, the decisions discussed below illustrate the influence of communal thinking on the judiciary and suggest one way in which the judiciary can trigger communal animosity.
Increasingly in India today, the terms “true Indian,” “un-Hindu,” or “true Muslim” surface in judicial decisions. Typically, the “true Indian” argument appears with respect to cases where religious law conflicts with other religious or secular law. For example, when the pressure brought to bear on one divorced Muslim woman induced her to renounce the Supreme Court order for maintenance which she had won, Muslim fundamentalist groups hailed her for having become a true Muslim woman.
Timeline of Major Communal Violence / Riots in India
1983: Nellie massacre
More than 2,000 Muslims, who were labeled as foreigners, were killed in the northeastern Assam state. This blood-curling violence went on for six hours on Feb 18.
1984: Anti-Sikh riots
For five days, starting Oct. 31, reports claim 2,800 to 8,000 Sikhs were killed across India. The violence, however, was centered in Delhi.
A series of anti-Sikh pogroms were launched after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards.
1985–1995: Exodus from Kashmir
In the period of 1985 to 1995 Kashmir saw a mass movement of its native population ‘Kashmiri pandits’. According to estimates, out of 100,000 of the total Kashmiri Pandit population, 140,000 were forced to leave their homes. The same happened due to eruption of militancy, following persecution and threats by radical Islamists and militants. The events of 19 January 1990 were particularly vicious. On that day, mosques issued declarations that the Kashmiri Pandits were Kafirs and that the males had to leave Kashmir, convert to Islam or be killed.
1992-1993: Babri Masjid demolition / Bombay riots
Hindu mobs attacked and destroyed the historical Babri Mosque in Ayodhya city of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The mosque was built by 16th-century Mughal Emperor Babur. Following this incident, wide-scale communal riots took place in Mumbai, India’s glitzy commercial capital.The riots began on Dec. 6 and raged on for a month. Some 900 people were killed and 2,000 injured.
2002: Gujarat riots
Nearly 1,000 people were killed in the western state of Gujarat on Feb. 28.
Another 2,500 were injured as mobs went on a rape, loot and kill rampage. Some 20,000 homes and businesses and 360 places of worship were destroyed. Roughly, 150,000 people were displaced.
The riots started after Muslims burned a train which left 59 Hindu people dead.
2020: Delhi Riots
Running battles between Hindu and Muslim groups which started February 24. Following a long stood protests by Muslim majorities in Shaheen Bagh in the Indian capital Delhi claimed hundreds of lives and injured uncountables.
The violence spiked as the U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in India on a two-day maiden visit.
The seemingly ‘peaceful’ protests took a violent turn, following a triumphant victory of AAP in Delhi, leading to arson and road rages.
Suggestions & Conclusion
The police need to be well equipped to curb communal violence. Local intelligence network can be strengthened to preempt such events.
Peace Committees can be set up in which individuals belonging to different religious communities can work together to spread goodwill and fellow-feeling and remove feelings of fear and hatred in the riot-affected areas.
This will be effective not only in diffusing communal tensions but also in preventing riots from breaking out.
There is a need to initiate the process of de-communalising the people at all levels via education. Values-based education can instil compassion and empathy which can minimise the possibilities of the impact that any kind of communal polarisation can have on people.
Pluralism and unity witnessed from the struggle for India’s independence can be emphasised upon. Leaders with communal ideas and ideologies pressurise the government to act in a manner which is always against the principle of secularism. It is here that intellectuals and voluntary organisations can be most effective.
There is a need to strengthen cybersecurity architecture.o Social media platforms should be asked to regulate hateful content and generate awareness about rumours and any kind of content that can incite communal tension. Maintaining communal harmony and respecting pluralism in a country as diverse as India can be a challenge. However, it is important to address the collective conscience of people of the country to uphold the constitutional values like fraternity and secularism. While on the one hand, this can take into consideration the insecurities of the people, on the other hand, it can significantly contribute to the nation-building process. A strong nation, which is built by the contribution of communities working together for its prosperity can further contribute to the maintenance of global peace and harmony.
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