ROLE OF RELIGION IN POLITICS

ROLE OF RELIGION IN POLITICS

Introduction

1. known as communalism
1. political ideology where religion is seen as means for political mobilization
2. since end of CW, rise in religious ideologies as evident in clash of civilization
3. politics of religion is politics of identity
1. based on appeals to passion, rather than reason
2. people are emotional about one's identity
3. identity politics is always violent and lead to communal violence

Evolution of communal violence in India

1. British scholar project Indians as communal. eg- fight between Aurangzeb and Shivaji
2. Romila Thapar: there were no communal riots in India before the advent of British, although there were sectarian violence

Evolution of communal politics since revolt of 1857

1. British started appeasement of Hindus since they believed Muslims to be responsible for revolt
2. to prevent marginalisation of Muslims, Sir Khan promised Muslim loyalty to British
1. since minorities are better partner, British abandoned Hindus
3. to weaken nationalism, Britishers partitioned Bengal, supported Muslim League and introduced separate electorate in 1909
4. 1915: Savarkar formed Hindu Mahasabha.
5. 1919: separate electorate was introduced to all minorities
6. 1923: Savarkar gave Hindu nationalism, named Hindutva
1. person's fatherland and spiritual land must be same
2. Iqbal gave the concept of Muslim Ummah-Muslim brotherhood
1. un-Islamic to live under man-made laws
2. Muslims are one community, can't be divided territorially
7. 1925: RSS was formed to counter pan-Islamism and counter Hindu sense of vulnerability
8. 1932: British announced Ramsay McDonald award- divided Hindus and reduce congress as party of upper caste minority

Evolution of Communalism after independence

1. till 1960s, no communal violence
1. govt had banned communal organisations
2. Nehru's emphasis on secular agenda
2. Salig Harrison: 1960s as dangerous decade
1. beginning of communal violence
2. communal riots started in Aligarh, Jabalpur, Ahmedabad, Nagpur
3. linguistic reorganisation of states
4. opposition to declare Hindi as only official language
5. breakdown of congress system
3. western scholars predicted that by 1960s, experiment of India will be over
4. 1970s-1980s
1. non-congress govt in states
2. political competition became tough, beginning of criminalisation of politics
3. greater use of caste, religion was started
4. communal violence in Punjab led to Operation Bluestar followed by anti-Sikh riots
5. communal violence in 1990s
1. Mandal-Kamandal became idioms of Indian politics
2. coalition politics made politics more competitive
3. Thomas Houson Blom- book- the saffron wave
1. projected communalisation of Indian politics with rise of BJP
4. evolution in phases
1. role of VP Singh
1. unable to manage coalition
2. territorial violence in Punjab and Kashmir
3. deteriorating economic condition
4. played mandal card to consolidate his position
5. it was seen as way to divide Hindus, hence Mandir politics started
2. role of Rajiv Gandhi
1. double appeasement
2. opening of Ram-Janmbhumi and Shilanyas Pujan
3. diluted revolutionary verdict of SC in Shah Bano case
3. role of Advani
1. BJP became insecure that congress has hijacked mandir issue
2. it started rath yatra which resulted in culmination of Babri Mosque demolition, followed by Mumbai riots, followed by Godhra riots

Analysis of Communal riots in country

1. Paul Brass;
1. not spontaneous, rather planned
2. not riots, rather pogroms
3. well developed riot machinery exist
4. implemented in most professional manner
5. benefit to all parties as voters get polarised
6. if administration wants, riots can stop within 2-3 hours
7. 3-stages in evolution of riots
1. preparatory stage: proper rehersals
2. Precipitation stage: when communal violence starts. role of conversion specialists
3. explanatory stage: blame-game starts
8. finally, issue is over, preparation of next starts
2. Prof. Dipankar Gupta
1. picnic riots. party takes place, activists are awarded

Explanation of communalism in India

1. 4 school of thoughts
1. Essentialists: Hindus and Muslims are antagonistic communities
1. Louis Dummont
2. Instrumentalists: Bipin Chandra
1. because of elites.
2. people are not communal, hence normalcy comes back
3. Institutionalists: Asgar Ali Engineer
1. state policies promote communalism
2. makes communities insecure
4. social constructivists
1. communities nurture stereotypes against each other
2. lack of communication forces community to live with stereotypes
2. conclusion
1. communalism is result of plebianisation of Indian democracy
2. Indian variant of fascism

 

Daily News

1. Shaikh Mujibur Rehman: Hindutva is on rise
1. Mob lynching is perhaps the most pernicious consequence of the growing aggression of Hindutva politics since 2014

Charles taylor, the communitarian scholar mentions that secularism is a necessity for a diverse country like India.