Who is behind Communal Incidents?

-Saurabh Bajpayee

  • Kshitij Pandey

Communalism is the gravest political challenge of our times. In the last few years, this problem has become deep-seated. Communalism is fast spreading its wings in today’s era through its ideological and hegemonic power protection. A sort of unfounded in security is being created in the general public with the aid of all the resources of information; so as to create a situation of conflict within the society through these feelings and to further political ambitions and loot of resources.

If we look at the state of communal riots and the history of violence, their origins have always included acts of inciting riots under the head of rumours and well-thought-out conspiracies. This pattern has remained the same for a long time, from pre-independence to the present day. Deliberate rumours and provocative acts have been there in the backdrop of most of the riots. Insecurities and prejudices are installed in different parts of the society using these acts.

It has always been a political project, but for some time it has also been getting the patronage of the states in many places. At the same time, the completely unethical media, especially the electronic media, is indulged in converting these issues into national ones. Any information spreads like wildfire in this age of internet and social media. Apart from this, even the authenticity of the information does not matter in today’s times. Communalism has become a formidable challenge amidst the fusion of all these components and the protection of crony capitalism.

Feeding animosity against Muslims by drawing incidents from history has been a pastime of communal politics. The sudden spurt in communal incidents in the recent past is a fresh example of fuelling this animosity against Muslims. Such incidents have mostly happened in such states where elections are around the corner like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. On the pretext of some incidents here, we will try to understand the patterns behind this communal project.

Violence broke out between two groups during a religious pilgrimage in Khargone district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in which bulldozers were fired at the homes of a certain section of people. At the same time, one such person was also named in this case who has been disabled for the last several years. This bulldozer is a rare trend in the Indian judicial system. This invention of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has now come into practice in many other BJP-ruled states. Bulldozers are actually being run with a specific target in mind and it is an attempt to send a message to the public that even the state is not lagging behind in giving immediate punishment to the culprits. This is a kind of state mob lynching where the law’s principle of state is being sacrificed under the principle of fast-tracked justice. Obviously, bulldozers are being run in many cases by targeting a particular community. Similarly, in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh, two tribal people were lynched on suspicion of cow slaughter.

Whereas, when you look at the list of communal conflicts in Rajasthan, you will find that even there, the sporadic conflicts took a gruesome form. There were incidents of communal clashes, violence and arson in Karauli. There was an incident of stone pelting in Jodhpur on the day of Eid, due to which curfew was imposed there. On May 4, in Bhilwara, there was a clash between two groups of the same community in Sanganer area. In this sequence, the ruckus increased after the murder of a young man. Similarly, in Beawar of Alwar, an attempt was made to create communal tension through provocative slogans. In the violence ensuing this, many people were injured and a person died. These sporadic incidents have been undertaken with the intention of continuing the communal discord in Rajasthan so that the BJP can create communal polarization by creating insecurities among the Hindu masses. These small incidents are a kind of special communal method, which is adopted to maintain ‘Social tension’ in the atmosphere of the country so that the communal ideology continues to nurture its arguments.

It is very easy to convert religiosity into communalism and communal parties know this well. That is why many a times, religious festivals, rituals or pilgrimages etc. are targeted to carry out any kind of communal incident/tension. Whether it is the recent controversy being made about loudspeakers or the incidents of reciting ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ publicly - It is in a way pitting both the communities against each other in religious matters. Since it is a matter of religious belief of the people which is not private but also public; it is easily possible for people to be emotionally exploited. Such efforts are being made continuously from Gurgaon in Haryana to Maharashtra, and they are being done clearly at the behest of communal parties like BJP and MNS. The issue of hijab in Karnataka is also one such hallmark where controversy is created about the dress or food of a particular community.

On the day of any particular festival, there is enthusiasm in the public and people are also sensitive in the matters of their faith. Therefore, this time on the day of Ram Navami, violent incidents took place in different cities of the country under the patronage of the BJP. Stone pelting on the ‘Shobha yatra’ and then the ensuing violence, riots and curfew! - Governments and political top leadership in BJP-ruled states either encourage such troubled elements or have been mute instead of taking strict action against them.

Rather, the leaders associated with communal parties like BJP encouraged them. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra and other religious fanatic leaders including Raj Thackeray made the atmosphere worse by making provocative statements. In these incidents, most of the accused organizations or individuals are close to communal parties. The BJP-led governments have made the perpetrators of these incidents VIPs by providing them security instead.

At the core of all these developments, you will find that these are happening mostly in the states which have elections in the coming months. Even if one was to do a general geographical analysis of these incidents, then one can understand that BJP and RSS are behind these riots because it is the BJP’s electoral system and methodology which is heavily based on communal polarization. That is why, the poison of communalism is being cultivated to divert the attention of the public from the core issues. In the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where elections are being held, the BJP’s reputation is at stake. Because in both these states including Chhattisgarh, the Congress had defeated the BJP in the last elections.

If observed from close quarters, all these incidents are being carried out under a political project. Any communal project draws its energy only from such violent incidents. All these events have a particular pattern which is actually very old. From an enslaved India to a free India, communalism has been hell-bent on weakening our national unity and diverting our attention from developmental issues. It is our duty to get into a grand campaign to make people aware of the anti-national nature of communalism.

(Saurabh Bajpayee is the convener of the RashtriyaAndolan Front, an organization dedicated to the freedom struggle and is an assistant professor of history at Deshbandhu College, Delhi University.

Kshitij Pandey is a student of history and is in-charge of the social media wing of the National Andolan Front)