University School of Law and Legal Studies

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU)

Delhi

(2022)

Assignment on
“COMMUNALISM IN INDIA”
(HISTORICAL TO MODERN)

Under the supervision of:

Dr. Deepshikha Aggarwal

Professor, USLLS, GGSIPU

Presented by:

Aaishwary Tiwari

Enrollment id- 02016503821

Email id- aaishwarytiwari001@gmail.com

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................... 3
Keywords: Communalism, Nationalist, Secular, Media, Communal riots, political parties. ............. 3
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 4
OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 5
LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................. 6
METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................ 7
ROLE OF BRITISH EMPIRE IN ESCALATING COMMUNALISM ............................................... 7
ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES..................................................................................................... 9
COMMUNAL ORGANISATIONS ................................................................................................. 11
ROLE OF MEDIA IN SPREADING HATE .................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 14
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 15
ABSTRACT
Communalism is very dangerous for the integrity and socio-economic development of the
country. In this assignment, an attempt has been mad to trace the origin of communalism,
how it made a slow beginning during the rule of the British East India Company, and
emerged as one of the most potent enemy of the India over a period of time. Communalism is
not something which has emerged suddenly or developed by chance. It was rather deep-
rooted and has re-emerged like never before post 2014. The study aims at analysis of
communalism in general and some communal issues and riots in particular. A broad
understanding of the role of political parties has been analysed, as these political leaders
exploit communal emotions of the religious communities for their electoral gains. The role of
the two major political parties i.e. Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party has been analysed.
This paper also studies about the dramatic rise of religious organisation in India especially,
the right-wing Hindu organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP), Bajrang dal. This paper also analysed the Indian media’s credibility in
addressing the communal issues. The state actions against the accused of riots have been
discussed and how the victims of riots still wait for justice. They just wish to find closure
through the punishment of the perpetrators.

Keywords: Communalism, Nationalist, Secular, Media, Communal riots, political parties.

INTRODUCTION
Communalism is very dangerous for the integrity and socio-economic development of the
country which have diverse religions, communities and linguistic groups. Communal is
derived from the word “commune” which means the feeling of oneness or consciousness or
friendliness1. But in India this word has been used in a worst derogatory sense. It is used to
describe mistrust, hatred, rivalry, etc., among the people of different religions. Communalism
is basically an ideology which appears to be simple and easily understand notion. But this is,
perhaps, not so. Communalism is divided into three stages, one following the other. First, it is
the belief that the people of same religion share the common interests. It is these religious
based communities that are seen as the fundamental units of the country. It is believed that
these religious based communities can protect their collective or non-individual interests.
They unite as a communal leaders and then serve the wider category of the nation or country.
But in reality they are only leaders of their own communities. Second, this ideology is based
on the notion that in multi-religious country like India, the social, economic, cultural and
political interests of the followers of one religion are not similar and differ from the interest
of the followers of another. In the third stage of communalism it is believed that followers of
different religions are mutually incompatible, antagonistic and hostile. Their interests are
bound to be opposed to each other.

Communal ideology in a person starts with the first stage and these are the person
who saw themselves as Nationalist Hindus, Nationalist Muslims, Nationalist Sikhs, etc., and
not as simple nationalist. The second stage of communalism can be considered as a liberal or
moderate communalism. They are the believer and the practitioner of communal politics and
still holding on to some liberal, democratic and humanistic values. They believed that
different religious communities can be brought into harmony and their communal interests
can be accommodated and together developing the national interests and built India as a
nation. Communalist like Lajpat rai, and N.C kelkar, the Hindu Mahasabha, The Muslim
League, etc., all functioned within a liberal communal framework. The third stage of
communalism is extreme communalism which is based on fear and hatred. They use language
of violence and spread enmity against political opponents. Therefore, it is rightly said that a
communalist cannot be a religious and a religious person cannot be a communalist. Every
religion of the world preaches love, tolerance, mutual respect and welfare of humanity. There
is no doubt that preaching one’s own religion can generate mistrust or hatred between
communities. The burden of the argument in India is that, a religious community is an
economic as well as political community at the same time. Communalism definitely
dominates Indian political discourse. The word ‘Secularism’ has been used in our country in
the context of a secular state. All citizens are equal in the eyes of law, whether they profess
one religion or another or none at all. Every citizen is allowed to follow, practice or propagate
any religion according to his own belief. The main aim of the state is social justice and
providing equal opportunity for growth irrespective of the religious identity of a
person. Secularism is a concept or belief which refuses to accept the division of humanity
into religions and races based on caste. As Gandhi ji said, ‘’ the soul of religion is one but it

1
S.L Malhotra Communalism in India: Causes and Cure, p.147 (New Delhi, Har Anand Publications, 1995.)
is in a multitude of forms’’. Similarly, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan remarked: Secularism does not
mean anything irreligious or atheism or even stress on material comforts. Rather it lays stress
on the universality of spiritual values which may be attained by a variety of ways” According
to Nehru ji” The real struggle in India is not between Hindu culture and Muslim culture but
between these two and the conquering scientific culture of modern civilization. His
conception of secularism was linked with the idea of the good society”. The freedom
movement in India was initially secular in character. But in the end, ‘Muslim nationalism and
Hindu nationalism emerged and this retarded the growth of secular nationalism and
ultimately caused the partition of the country in 1947. It is important to note that the word
‘Secular’ was absent in the original constitution. The constitution 42nd Amendment Act
which was passed in the Parliament in November 1976 for the first time speaks of India as
Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic’’. Secularism has been given great
importance in Indian constitution. Preamble is not considered as its integral part but it is non-
justiciable. The provisions related to secularism in Indian Constitution can be traced in Right
to Equality. Article 14 to 18 of the constitution deals with the Right to Equality.
Communalism and Secularism are tied to constitutionalism in India and thus we have laws to
interpret the laws.

OBJECTIVES
 How communalism re-emerged in post-partitioned India?
 What role political parties, especially, the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata
Party played?
 How religious organization or political parties are responsible to provoke
communalism between various social and religious groups?
 How media deal with the communal issues and role of media especially television in
spreading hatred and demonizing minorities post 2014?
 Are the state and law helpful to punish the accused or not?
LITERATURE REVIEW
This comprehensive review of the literature on communalism – and its virulent offshoot,
fundamentalism – in India considers the various perspectives from which the issue has sought to
be understood, from precolonial and colonial times to the post-Independence period. The writings
indicate that communalism is an outcome of the competitive aspirations of domination and
counter-domination that began in colonial times. Cynical distortions of the democratic process and
the politicisation of religion in the early decades of Independence intensified it. In recent years,
economic liberalisation, the growth of opportunities and a multiplying middle class have further
aggravated it.

Some of the famous literature on Communalism;

1. Bipan Chandra: Communalism in Modern India

The central thesis of this book is that communalism was one of the by-products of
colonialism and the retarded economic development of the country. Colonialism gave
rise to social classes and unleashed political forces which generated communalism. In
other words, the social base of communalism was provided by the new middle classes
who sought life chances in conditions of relative economic stagnation.Sectional
interests found expression rightly through a nationalist ideology and erroneously
through communal ideologies. These ideologies were erroneous because they were
obscured and distorted the real social division.

2. Richard D. Lambert: Hindu-Muslim Riots

A detailed account by an American sociologist of the riots between Muslims and
Hindus in Bengal, Bihar, the United Provinces, Punjab, and Bombay that led to the
partition of the sub-continent and the establishment of Pakistan and India. Written
shortly after the events, it is based on interviews, actual observation of events
including the accompaniment of police on efforts at control, official reviews, and
detailed newspaper coverage. It is important and has been widely quoted both for its
analysis of the sub-continent and for what it contributes to the analysis of urban riots
more generally.

3. Khushwant Singh: The End of India

I thought the nation was coming to an end;' wrote Khushwant Singh; looking back on
the violence of Partition that he was witness to over half a century ago. He believed
then; and for years afterwards; that he had seen the worst that India could do to
herself. Over the last few years; however; he has had reason to feel that the worst;
perhaps; is still to come. In this fierce; uncompromising book he shows us what few
of us wish to see: why it is entirely likely that India will come undone in the
foreseeable future. Analysing the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002; the anti-Sikh
riots of 1984; the burning of Graham Staines and his children; the targeted killings by
terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir; Khushwant Singh forces us to confront the absolute
corruption of religion that has made us among the most brutal people on earth.
METHODOLOGY
The research is purely empirical, this study is based on secondary documentary, historical,
analytical and descriptive methods. The data has been collected from secondary sources
which are mainly books and articles. The additional sources are census reports and various
government documents. The newspapers, magazines and internet services are also the part of
my source material.

ROLE OF BRITISH EMPIRE IN ESCALATING COMMUNALISM

British came in India as traders, but soon they had become the masters of all things. Before,
British came in India. Most of the feudal lords were settled in India. All they were living in
peace. They had assessed one thing here, that the role of religion was quite dominated. They
thought, it was a better option to divide the people on the basis of religion. Earlier they could
not divide the people; there was great stability in India. But when the fight for freedom
started against them, they grew apprehensive to restore the stability of their empire in India.
For this sake, they adopted every means to furtherance their interest in India. The matter
remained very silent up to 1857. By getting, the Hindus Muslims unity in the First War of
Independence .They had been worried about their immovability in India. They had moved the
policy of divide and Role. They had started every means to divide the people of India, some
encouraging every community on the basis of religions, some time on the basis of castes.
They encourage people for their representation, their separate identities. In this way the
hatred between communities increased in India. 2

RE-EMERGENCE OF COMMUNALISM

It can be said without contention that communalism is not something that has emerged
suddenly or developed by chance 3. It was rather deep-rooted and has re-emerged like never
before post 2014. During the first war of independence that’s the revolt of 1857, Hindus and
Muslims fought together and were united to defeat their common enemy. Soon, the Britishers
realized their survival rested on being able to keep the people divided and religion is one of
the best factors to divide the people in India. The seeds of communalism were first sown by
Britishers as part of the policy of “divide and rule” and it resulted into the partition of the
country in 1947. In India the confrontation is between Hindus and Muslims as they are the
two major religious groups and definitely the main vote-banks and that’s why the conflicts
and riots in India emanate from Hindus – Muslims communalism. Communal riots prior to
1947 were mainly rooted in the policy of colonial rulers. But after the partition a section of
Indian people from both Hindu and Muslim community are blamed for creating the rift
between the two communities. There are several factors responsible for communalism post -
independence. Unfortunately, the socio-economic condition of our country after
independence favored communalism. It is the upper class who enjoyed the fruits of limited
growth and hence enjoyed the political power. The community leaders have always

2
Monica Roy, The Growth of Communalism in India, History discussion,
https://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/communalism/the-growth-of-communalism-in-india/6310
3
Zenab Banu, Politics of communalism, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1984, p.4.
encouraged the communal feelings to strengthen their political support. If we check out the
bare facts of any communal riot in India, we would stand amazed to see how such trifling
matter could cause so much Larson, loot and murders. It is so obvious that these trivial
incidents cannot be the real cause of the riots. There needs to be a communal atmosphere and
communal tension built up between the communities to cause the rifts. The communal
atmosphere provides a ready tilled soil for communal minded people to sow seeds of
communal hatred and nurture them until the bitter harvest of communal riots are
reaped4. Political parties, for their political considerations always take decisions which
promote communal violence. And this has been one of the major factors responsible for the
growth of communalism in India since 1960’s. Political leaders have often permitted the
intrusion of religion into politics and have tended to vacillate and retreat in the face of the
communal onslaught. They have compromised with and often accommodated the communal
forces for their electoral gains. It is in the history how Political parties has associated and
entered into alliances with communal parties. Congress was the first to do so by allying with
the Muslim League in Kerala and Akali Dal in Punjab in the late 1960’s, justifying their
action by declaring that this is not extreme communalism and this minority communalism is
understandable and democratic, and hence not bad and dangerous for the country. In 1967,
the Socialists and other secular parties and groups did not hesitate to join the communal Jan
Sangh first in seat adjustment in elections and then in forming non-Congress governments in
several states in North India. In 1974–75, Jayaprakash Narayan permitted the RSS, Jan Sangh
and Jamaat-i-Islami to become the backbone of his movement of ‘Total Revolution’ against
Congress and Indira Gandhi. In 1977, the Jan Sangh became a part of the Janata Party. In
November 1989 elections, the Janata Dal, under the leadership of V.P. Singh, formed an
indirect electoral alliance with the BJP and then formed a government at the Centre with its
support. The Communist parties sanctioned both steps, though indirectly 5. Political leaders
often indulge in all types of concessions to pander to communal sentiments. For example,
Shah Bano case, Muslims reacted aggressively against the Supreme Court judgement which
granted a Muslim divorcee, Shah Bano, maintenance in excess and in protraction of the
Shari’ah, which permits maintenance only for the iddah period. The then Prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi overturned the judgement by passing the Muslim Women’s Act 1986 or be it
the case of opening the gates of the then disputed Ayodhya mosque-temple in 1986.These
concessions to Hindu and Muslims communalism did not lessen communal tension but only
aggravate them. This political appeasement has been one of the main factor responsible for
the growth of communalism. Rumours, abetted by media have worsened the situation in
recent years. Media has often received the flak for biased reporting. Recently the Hindu tinge
in Nationalists thoughts and propaganda is not good for the communal harmony. In reality
very little has been done to address the situation and all these factors have just aggravated the
situation.

4
UKEssay, (November 2018), Introduction To Communalism In India, Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/introduction-to-communalism-in-india-media-essay.php?vref=1
5
Erenow.com, Revival and Growth of Communalism, https://erenow.net/exams/indiasinceindependence/37.php
ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
The Congress party claims that it has always fought communalism but this does not reflect
the whole truth. When communal marauders are on the rampage, the congress party has
looked the other way around be it the case of anti-Sikh riots, or the babri demolition and in
many other such situations when the fire of communal violence is raging.

It is for this reason that many a critics blame Congress being more communal than
BJP, as lot of communal violence has taken place when congress has been in power. These
criticisms, though incorrect, shows the failure on the part of the congress party and their
inability to solve the communal issues. The Congress party hardly intervened to stop the
communal violence. There are two main reasons responsible for this. One, the communal
forces have infiltrated various wings of our state apparatus, police, bureaucracy, even army
and judiciary as pointed out by Digvijay Singh. And second, as Nehru had correctly warned
that many a power seekers who are communal have entered Congress without any conviction
for secular values6. The Congress party has been very lax, and has kept short term electoral
gains over their principled politics. Recently, the party has officially maintained that it will
abide by the top court’s verdict on Ayodhya and its stand on the biased judgment shows that
this party is not bold enough to call the spade a spade. The Congress kept quiet on Ayodhya
verdict while as a matter of fact this judgment has been far away from the values of Indian
Constitution, from the secular and democratic ethos of our freedom movement of which
Congress under Gandhi and Nehru was the moving force. If only the Congress party is firm
on their secularism it must take up the affirmative actions for minorities in full the political
discourse of India gear. The events post 2014 shows how secularism is clawing back into. It
should be ensured by the congress party that the new recruits are not carrying the baggage of
communal biases prevalent in the society. There is an in-depth need for the congress party to
return to its core value of upholding secularism. Otherwise, the claims of being a secular
party will just remain a declaration of the intent lacking in any substance.

On the other hand, BJP openly used the communal card for political purpose and
declared itself a Hindu Party and using Hindutava ideologies in elections. It would take
eighteen years for Bharatiya janata party Hindutva agenda to help realise Vajpayee’s
prophecy. But hindutava wasn’t always the BJP’s war cry. In the 1980’s Hindu unity was
more of a social cause than an election issue but it just took one election for the bharatiya
janata party to find its ideological calling. In 1977 general elections, a non-congress
government came into the power for the very first time. The janata party was essentially an
amalgamation of various political parties that represented hindutava socialist and communist
school of thoughts. But it soon becomes clear that a shaky alliance is equal to unstable
government. After the binding force of this alliance passed away, the ideological differences
came to the fore. To build cohesive party socialist leaders of the government asked their party
men to give up their dual membership. What they really wanted was for the Jan Sangh
leaders to quit the RSS.Jan Sangh leaders had a choice to make and so on 6th April 1980 Jan
Sangh leaders quit the Janata party and formed the Bhartiya Janata party. The newly formed

6
Dr. Prem Singh, ‘Communalism has overtaken the Constitution’,countercurrents.org,
https://countercurrents.org/2022/01/communalism-has-overtaken-the-constitution/
BJP had the experience of being in the government with the support of some prominent Jan
Sangh leaders and the backing of the RSS. Yet they chose to adopt a Gandhian Socialist
ideology of self-rule and lok neeti. It was believed that Vajpayee was afraid of alienating
non-upper caste voters and so, did not embrace the RSS’ Hindutava ideology. In fact, he
insisted on adding the term secular to the party’s constitution. But in the 1984 election, the
BJP could win only 2 loksabha seats. This defeat changed everything. Vajpayee remained the
face of the party and Lal Krishna Advani became the poster boy of BJP and RSS’ Hindutava
agenda. Together they launched the Rath Yatra and changed the political course and the
BJP’s electoral fortunes forever. Ram ke Naam a documentary by Anand patwardhan (1991)
which is based on the ground report and brings out real secular nature of India behind the
noise of Hindu dominance. This documentary exposes the true agenda of political leaders
who used Bhagwan Shri Ram only to win elections. The Ayodhya issue was not religious, but
it was absolutely political. When the Rath Yatra (September 1990) was being performed
under the leadership of LK Advani, Bhanu Kumar Shastri, a former member of Parliament,
bluntly told, the times of India, that, “The election campaign has begun. The real question is
whether or not, Ram Bhakti will translate into votes.” In the election of 1989 they won an
eye-opening 80 seats and Advani being the party’s public face. His unapologetically shrill
Rath Yatra, the demolition of the babri masjid and the communal violence that accompanied
these events changed Indian politics. In 1996 the BJP emerged as a single largest party in the
country, well it was the hindutava that got them there. The government collapsed after 13
days. But then the collision govt. was formed and from 1999-2004 Vajpayee ruled the full
term. In 2004 BJP suffered a shock defeat and BJP became invincible. But in 2014, it was
Narendra Modi’s political air who led the lotus party back to the power. He caught the voter’s
imagination like no political leader ever did. And Modi promised to bring his ‘Gujarat model
‘of high growth rates but the ‘Gujarat Model’ has also promoted the right-wing populist
politics. Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat when the massive series of Hindu
Muslim riots happened, following the horrible killing of fifty seen kar sevaks travelling in a
train, in the town of Godhra, was the direct sequel of communal politics 7. Post 2014 a lot has
happened and the BJP’s hypocrisy on Indian Muslims and secularism can be seen out there in
the politics. It has always been questioned why Muslims can’t trust the BJP’s government.
But there are enough reasons for Muslims to not trust the BJP’s regime. Many Member of
Parliament, MLA’s, chief ministers or senior officials have openly aired the communal
sentiments and making hate speeches. This has become the new normal in our country. In
2015, Yogi Adityanath, the current chief minister then Member of Parliament said that,
“There is no difference between the language of Shah Rukh Khan and that of Hafiz Saeed”.
Once he also said “Hindus and Muslims have different cultures, these two cannot coexist, this
clash will definitely happen”. All such instances of hate speech by him were made before he
was promoted to his chief, minister’s post. It is so disappointing to see person with such
communal mind has been given the post of chief minister. And what shocks me the most is
that he is also considered as the face of BJP after modi. People look him up to as the future
Prime Minister. In March 2016, Anant Kumar Hegde, who was Member of Parliament from

7
Dipankar Gupta, “Between Ethnicity and Communalism: The significance of the Nation State”, in Ravindra
Kumar (ed.), Religion, Violence and Political Mobilization in South Asia, New Delhi: publication, 2005, p.101.
Karnataka, said “As long as we have Islam in the world, there will be no end to terrorism. If
we are unable to end Islam, we won’t be able to end terrorism”. Despite such statements,
Modi government made him the union minister of skill and development and
entrepreneurship in September 2017.And in December 2017 he said that party would remove
the term “secular’’ from the constitution, saying “These people who call themselves
secularists are like people without parentage or who don’t know their blood line”. Varun
Gandhi, BJP’s Minister of Parliament, has once said, “After the elections my hand will slits
the throats of these Muslim dogs”. According to the report of NDTV, from May 2014 to the
present, there have been 124 instances of hate speech by 45 politicians, compared to 21
instances under UPA 2, an increase of 490%. 90% of hateful comments made during the
NDA term are by BJP politicians.Since 2014 many ministers and senior party leaders have
supported the ideology of Hindutva openly. There is no doubt that the attacks against the
minorities have risen sharply. Issues like cow-slaughter have been raised continuously as a
means of dividing communities. Through all these ways they always keep Muslims in a state
of constant fear and insecurity. This rivalry between the different castes and religious
communities will result into slow and uneven socio-economic development of our country.

COMMUNAL ORGANISATIONS
There has been dramatic rise of religious organisation in India especially, the right-wing
Hindu organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), Bajrang dal. Moreover, and political parties like BJP and shiv sena are also the right –
wing Hindu organisations. They all functions on the ideology of Hindutva and are anti-
minority in their stance. Bharatiya Janata Party is backed by the RSS or say, it is the political
front of RSS. RSS is politically significant organisation and it cannot be ignored. RSS
spreads its message all over India by establishing local branches that encourage young men to
join as cadres. The RSS was banned for few years after Gandhi assassination. But after the
ban was lifted the movement grew. In the 1960’s RSS volunteers joined or initiated different
movements across the country from student organisation to labour unions, religious groups to
healthcare services. The Sangh Parivar, the Hindu nationalist movement began to creep into
the social and political space of India. Most of the BJP leaders, even the current Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah were the member of RSS. Even
Narendra Modi before becoming the Prime Minister once said, “The nation and Hindus are
one. Only if Hindus develop will the nation develop. Unity of Hindus will strengthen the
nation”. This reflects their commitment to the ideology of Hindutva. Since 2014 the ruling
government has been accused of rewriting India’s history through curriculum and cultural
reforms that play down the country’s rich diverse past. Hindu nationalist’s mobs have been
emboldened to attack Muslims and Dalits for slaughtering cows. The minorities feel more
insecure and vulnerable since the BJP has come to power in 2014.Issues like cow slaughter,
building Ram temple, ghar vapasi program that is, enforced conversion of minorities back to
Hinduism has been again raised by RSS. The word ‘mob lynching’ is no alien to our country.
But a sudden upsurge in the cases of mob lynching has been only post 2014.It would not be
hard to say that the RSS has nothing to do with these mob attacks. Post 2014 more than 47
people have been killed in cow-related hate crime, 76% of these were Muslims. They were
attacked by groups of cow vigilantes, who claimed to protect the cow that is worshipped by
Hindus. There has been no cow related lynching between 2010-2013. The cow worshipped
by Hindus, is now a means of Hindu Nationalism. And Muslims are being murdered in the
name of cow, Even the Supreme Court has asked the government to frame strict laws against
mob lynching but till now there has been no bill or law passed regarding mob-lynching. In
Alwar alone Akbar khan was killed in July 2018, Umar khan shot dead in November 2017
and pehlu khan was lynched in public view in April 2017.Mob lynching is not something
which rarely happens in the heat of the moment but these are pre-planned and organised
attacks. There are hundreds of WhatsApp groups in name of gaurakshaks, propaganda videos
of gau raksha are circulated non-stop and these videos just take seconds to go viral even if
they are fake. This is to point out that these cow vigilantes have no legal authority to stop
search and harass anyone but support from the police ensures that they function with
impunity. The police will have nothing against you because there is no nature of mob. In right
sense if you are a leader, you have got to lead by example. When the deed is done, condemn
those who did it, but in India elected leaders justify their crime, garland the criminals, deny it
ever happened or blame the victim. People who were involved these crimes were treated as
heroes as the protector of nation or many come out in their support, etc. So much so, many
accused in mob –lynching plan to contest elections. The impact of this lynchistan world is
fear, the loss, and the hatred. The worst impact of it all is how easy it has become now to
replicate the model of cow vigilantism culture. As the cops are complicit, vigilantes are
encouraged, minorities persecuted and often their patriotism is questioned. Recently, Delhi
has experience some of its worst religious riots over India’s controversial citizenship law.
The clashes between Hindus and Muslims began on 23 February after Kapil Mishra, a local
leader from BJP party was said to have riled up a Hindu group to attack protesting Muslims
groups. And till now there has been no legal action taken against him. Delhi witnessed a
really gruesome 72-hour period violence that broke out between Hindus and Muslims group
in north-eastern part of Delhi .53 people have died and more than hundreds were injured
Mosques have been attacked, cars and petrol stations set on fire, and shops vandalised. There
have been reports of looting n some Muslim homes which had been abandoned out of fear. It
is true that there has been brutality on both sides, but it was Muslim community of Delhi who
were overwhelming targeted by Hindu mobs in their tens of thousands 8. Many of the videos
and images of violence shared online shows the perpetrators were affiliated to RSS, as they
can be recognised by their chants and Hindu prayers. Police has been accused of stirring the
violence as there are videos explicitly showing their support to one particular group. Since
the Modi government came back to power in May 2019. It has moved with a real sense of
urgency and kind of a clarity and purpose of enacting a pro-Hindu agenda.

8
Samanth Subramanian, ‘How Hindu Supremacists are tearing India apart’, The Guardian(Thursday
20thFeb,2020), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/hindu-supremacists-nationalism-tearing-india-
apart-modi-bjp-rss-jnu-attacks
ROLE OF MEDIA IN SPREADING HATE
Is India’s media facing a credibility crisis? News channels in India have become a platform to
peddle hatred against Muslims. The Muslims are being openly targeted and ridiculed on live
television debates and in reporting. Senior India journalists Gulf News spoke to for this
article admitted that a large section of mainstream media is pursuing an agenda to vilify
Muslims and projecting the entire community as backward and disloyal to India, they said.
On live televisions ,they are openly called ‘anti-national’ and these sustained daily attacks on
Muslims are causing fissures in the society .Moreover, this hatred has acquired primetime
legitimacy due to the massive reach of these channels 9. TV media should cover the
communal dispute in a manner that upholds the secular nature of the country, and refrains
from inciting communal passions. But the opposite happens. They ridicule the community
and pass their verdicts on news channels. For example, Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary
recited the NBSA guidelines, only to suggest that the best solution would be for a temple to
be built at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and that Muslims should agree to such a
proposition. Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami, while calling for peace, repeatedly
criticised lawyers representing the “Muslim side” and called their legal appeals a “craft of
distraction”. Goswami, time and again, described the legal defence mounted by the “Muslim
side” as delay tactics. Many reporters or anchors are seen as aggressive right-wingers and
they think pandering communal sentiments helps in gaining attention. Recently, worst was
making a pandemic covid19 a communal issue after the Tablighi Jamat gatherings in Delhi.
Media is supposed to question the people in power but what has happened in the past six
years is that the media has become a stooge of the ruling government. They have stopped
questioning the ruling government and to make matters worse they have been propagating the
divisive and even the negative agendas of ruling party. A string of high –profile resignations
at ABP News last year laid bare the extent of the pressure journalists are under. Journalist
Abhishar Sharma, managing editor Milind Kandekar and an anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai
resigned in 2018 when ABP called out Modi for the claim he made that farmers were
doubling their income as a result of his policies. After leaving, Bajpai wrote an expose
detailing the extent of censorship. And he goes on to say, “The message sharp and clear for
news channel was this Go against us and your business will suffer”. Threats and violence are
becoming a new normal for journalists in India. Around 50 journalists have lost their life
within the last 12 years. The country has also slipped in the world freedom index to 140 out
of the 180 countries listed. That’s behind even Afghanistan and South Sudan. Rigorous
journalism is still taking place mostly through online outlets. Mainstream news channels,
whether the newspaper are under a lot of pressure from the ruling government. This lack of
freedom of media can lead to death of democracy in India.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, started from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), where Indira Gandhi’s body had been brought. Mobs armed with weapons thronged
the areas with a large Sikh presence and began looting and burning shops and business
establishments belonging to Sikhs. Members of the Sikh community were dragged out of

9
Bobby Naqvi, How Indian news channels are peddling hatred against Muslims on primetime TV, Gulfnews
(October20,2019) , https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/how-indian-news-channels-are-peddling-hatred-
against-muslims-on-primetime-tv-1.67265166
their homes, beaten mercilessly and slaughtered in the four days that followed 10. It’s been 36
years and the victim of riots still awaits for justice. They just wish to find closure through the
punishment of the perpetrators. Is it right or wrong to expect from the current government for
some serious actions against the accused of riots or hate speech after the Gujarat riots in 2002
when Modi was the chief Minister of Gujarat? After the Gujarat riots in 2002, both media and
official enquiry reports said gangs of rioters went around with lists of people and houses to be
targeted. A cross-mark was put on the doors of Muslim households, and a day later they were
attacked. People were pulled out of their home, raped, butchered on the streets or whole
buildings were set on fire and people burnt alive. The rest is history. Narendra Modi became
Hindu Hriday Samrat. Then, facing worldwide opprobrium, transformed into ‘Vikas Purush’.
And eventually became the Prime Minister. This says enough about the state actions against
the riot accused. Government should work towards framing the strict laws for mob lynching
as the cases are increasing rapidly. Strict actions should be taken against the people who
make the hate speech. And the perpetrators of the communal riots should not go unpunished.
Nothing is more important than the socio-economic development of our country. It’s the
cultural and religious diversity of India which makes it different from other countries in the
world.

CONCLUSION
Communal politics in India has been on the rise. The political parties continuously incite
communalism. India’s secularism is in danger as the ruling party i.e. Bhartiya Janata Party is
the political front of the RSS, a communal right-wing organisation which is rooted on the
ideology of Hindutva and are anti-minority in their stance. Lately, media needs to be more
responsible in addressing the communal issues. Primetime of the news channels has become
the platform of harbouring hate towards Muslim community. The need of the hour is to find a
viable solution, to this national problem urgently at political, social and religious levels. As
Dr. Ambedhkar noted seven decades ago that, “If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no
doubt be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is
menace to liberty equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy.
Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost…. they take every move to exclude the lower
classes of Hindus from wealth, education and power as a close preserve for themselves and
refusing to share it, which the high-caste Hindus have developed in their relation with lower
classes of Hindus, is sought to be extended by them to the Muslims” (cited in Salam, 2016).

10
Shriya Ramakrishnan,1984 Sikh Riots: Calls for Justice in India, Al Jazeera (October7, 2016),
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/10/7/1984-anti-sikh-riots-calls-for-justice-in-india
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:-

 Constitution of India, N Shukla (Eastern Book Company)

 Communalism in Modern India, Bipin Chandra (Vikas Publishing House)
 Indian Muslims: A Social Question, Dharmendra Kaur J.

Editorials:-

 Asghar Ali Engineer and Ram Puniyani(ed), Ayodhya verdict: Towards efforts for
peaceful solution, New Delhi: Vitasta Publication ,2012.
 Rafiq Zakaria, Communal Rage in Secular India, Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 2003.

Websites:-

 http://www.hindu.com/
 http://www.decanherald.com/
 http://www.guardian.com/
 http://www.ukessays.com/
 http://erenow.net/
 http://www.countercurrents.org/
 http://www.theguardian.com/
 http://gulfnews.com/
 http://aljazeera.com/