Communalism (South Asia)

This article deals with the use of the word communalism in South Asia, as a name for a force separating different communities based on some form of social or sectarian discrimination. See the article communalism for the use of the word to denote a force uniting people into a community as well as a libertarian socialist political ideology, as it is used in other parts of the world where English is a major language.

Communalism is used in South Asia to denote attempts to promote primarily religious stereotypes between groups of people identified as different communities and to stimulate violence between those groups. It derives not from community but from "tensions between the (religious) communities.^[1] The sense given to this word in South Asia is represented by the word sectarianism outside South Asia.

In South Asia, "communalism" is seen as existing primarily between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians. In contemporary India, "communalism" designates not only the conflicts between extremist religious communities, but also those between people of the same religion but from different regions and states.

Political parties are generally considered to play an important role in stimulating, supporting and/or suppressing communalism.

Movements and groups

• Indian Muslim nationalism/Islamic Fundamentalism
  • National Development Front
  • Fairazi movement
  • Wahabist Tabligh-e-Islam and other Muslim extremist groups.
  • Tablighi Jamaat (Deobandi)
  • Students Islamic Movement of India
  • Indian Union Muslim League
  • Peoples Democratic Party (Kerala)
  • Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham
  • Students Islamic Organisation of India
  • Popular Front of India
  • Jamaat-e-Islami,
    • Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
    • Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
  • Razakar
  • Al-Shams
• Hindu nationalism
  • Bharatiya Janta Party
  • Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
  • Vishva Hindu Parishad
  • Sangh Parivar
  • Shiv Sena
• Dalit self-respect movement
  • Dalit Voice
  • Dalitstan
• Christian fundamentalist/Secessionist
  • National Liberation Front of Tripura
  • Tripura Baptist Christian Union
• Various Secessionists
  • Nagaland Rebels
  • Insurgent groups in Northeast India
  • the Khalistan movement (Sikh guerilla warfare)

Incidents of communal violence

Examples of communalist violence, with strong motivations based on religious identity include:

• the 1809-1811 Hindu-Muslim Lat Bhairo riots
• the 1819 Hep-Hep riots
• the 1921 Moplah Rebellion
• the 1931 Hindu-Muslim Benares riot
• the 1931 Cawnpore Riots
• Manzilgah and Sukkur (Sind) Riots, 15th Feb. 1940
• the 1946 Calcutta riots death toll estimated at 6,000, most of the victims were Hindus.
• the 1947 "population exchanges" at the partition of India, resulting in an estimated 500,000 deaths.
• the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which the Congress party played a major active role in the killing of more than 3,000 Sikhs following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
• the 1992 Bombay Riots in Bombay more than 200,000 people (both Hindus and Muslims) fled the city or their homes during the time of the riots.
• 1992 December 2- Babri masjid demolition by Sangparivar and susequent communal voilence in variouse parts of India
• the 1998 Wandhama massacre, 25 Hindu victims.
• the 2000 Chittisinghpura massacre, 35 Sikhs killed.
• the 2002 Godhra Train Burning, 58 Hindus killed.
• the 2002 Gujarat violence, 900-2000 dead, mostly Muslims
• the 2002 Kaluchak massacre, 31 Hindus killed.
• the 2002 Marad massacre, 14 Hindu deaths - Indian Union Muslim League conspired and executed the massacre.^[2]
• the 2006 Kherlanji massacre, lynching of four Dalits.
• the 2008 Indore Riots, 7 people killed, 6 of whom were Muslims
• the 2007–2009 religious violence in Orissa, Christians mostly targeted, Hindu houses burnt.
• the 2010 Deganga riots, Hindus targeted, Hindu businesses, houses and other property destroyed.

Incidents of "communal violence" cannot clearly be separated by incidents of terrorism. "Communal violence" tends to refer to mob killings, while terrorism describes concerted attacks by small groups of militants (see definition of terrorism). See also Terrorism in India#Chronology of major incidents.

See also

• Persecution of Hindus
• Ayodhya debate
• Terrorism in India
• Indian nationalism
• Pakistani nationalism
• Saffronization
• NCERT controversy
• Religion in India
• Persecution of Muslims
• Anti-Hinduism
• Islamic Terrorism
• Language conflicts in India
• Sectarianism
• Hate group

References

• Manuel, Peter. "Music, the Media, and Communal Relations in North India, Past and Present," in Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India, edited by David Ludden (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1996), pp. 119–39.
• M. E. Marty, R. S. Appleby (eds.), Fundamentalisms Observed The Fundamentalism Project vol. 4, eds., University Of Chicago Press (1994), ISBN 978-0-226-50878-8
  • Mumtaz Ahmad, 'Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia: The Jamaat-i-Islami and the Tablighi Jamaat', pp. 457–530.
  • Gold, Daniel, 'Organized Hinduisms: From Vedic Truths to Hindu Nation', pp. 531–593.
  • T. N. Madan, 'The Double-Edged Sword: Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition', pp. 594–627.
• Asgharali Engineer. Lifting the veil: communal violence and communal harmony in contemporary India. Sangam Books, 1995. ISBN 81-7370-040-0.
• Ludden, David, editor. Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India, edited by David Ludden (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1996).
• A History of the Hindu-Muslim Problem in India from the Earliest Contacts Up to its Present Phase With Suggestions for Its Solution. Allahabad, 1933. Congress report on the 1931 Cawnpur Riots.
• Nandini Gooptu, The Urban Poor and Militant Hinduism in Early Twentieth-Century Uttar Pradesh, Modern Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press (1997).

External links

• Communalists and their communities
• The riot-torn history of Hindu-Muslim relations, 1920-1940
• http://www.svabhinava.org/violence/violence-main.html