Communalism (South Asia)
Encyclopedia
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 stereotype
s 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. 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, Muslim
s, 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.
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.
Communalism
Communalism is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'These include "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". "the principles and practice of communal ownership"...
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
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
to denote attempts to promote primarily religious stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s 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. The sense given to this word in South Asia is represented by the word sectarianism
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
outside South Asia.
In South Asia, "communalism" is seen as existing primarily between Hindus, Muslim
Islam in India
Islam is the second-most practiced religion in the Republic of India after Hinduism, with more than 13.4% of the country's population ....
s, Sikhs, and Christians
Christianity in India
Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to...
. 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 nationalismIndian Muslim NationalismMuslim nationalism in South Asia refers to the political and cultural expression of nationalism, founded upon the religious tenets and identity of Islam, of the Muslims of South Asia....
/Islamic FundamentalismIslamic fundamentalismIslamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
- National Development Front
- Fairazi movementFairazi movementFairazi movement was a movement in Bangladesh in the 18th century started by the Islamic reformer, Haji Shariatullah. He started this movement among the most depressed section of the Muslim society; the farmers and the artisans. He called upon the people to discard un-Islamic practices and customs,...
- Wahabist Tabligh-e-Islam and other Muslim extremist groups.
- Tablighi JamaatTablighi JamaatTablighi Jamaat is a religious movement which was founded in 1926 by Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in India. The movement primarily aims at Tablighi spiritual reformation by working at the grass roots level, reaching out to Muslims across all social and economic spectra to bring them closer to...
(DeobandiDeobandiDeobandi is a movement of Sunni Islam. The movement began at Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband, India, where its foundation was laid on 30 May 1866.-History:...
) - Students Islamic Movement of IndiaStudents Islamic Movement of IndiaThe Students Islamic Movement of India is an Islamic student organization that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ from Western materialistic cultural influence and to convert its Muslim society to live according to Muslim...
- Indian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim League is a state political party in the state of Kerala, India. The chief support base of the party falls inside northern and central Kerala...
- Peoples Democratic Party (Kerala)Peoples Democratic Party (India)Peoples Democratic Party , is a political party in Kerala, India. The PDP is known more as the party led by Abdul Nasser Madani, a popular Muslim leader in Kerala.- Office bearers of the party :...
- Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra KazaghamTamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra KazaghamTamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam is a Muslim non-governmental organization established in the state of Tamil Nadu in India in 1995...
- Students Islamic Organisation of IndiaStudents Islamic Organisation of IndiaStudents Islamic Organization of India is the students' wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Students Islamic Organisation was formed in 1982. According to its constitution, it aims at presenting Da’wah before students and youth, promote virtues, and moral values in educational institutions.The...
- Popular Front of IndiaPopular Front of IndiaThe Popular Front of India is a confederation of Muslim organizations in India, including National Development Front, Manitha Neethi Pasarai and Karnataka Forum for Dignity etc...
- Jamaat-e-IslamiJamaat-e-IslamiThis article is about Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. For other organizations of similar name see Jamaat-e-Islami The Jamaat-e-Islami , is a Pro-Muslim political party in Pakistan...
,- Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
- Jamaat-e-Islami HindJamaat-e-Islami HindJamaat-e-Islami Hind is one of the influential and hardline Islamic organization and movement within Sunni Islam in India...
- RazakarRazakarRazakar is an Urdu word for volunteer and may historically refer to:*Razakars : Islamist East Pakistani militia that aided the Pakistan Army against the Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh Liberation War...
- Al-Shams
- Hindu nationalismHindu nationalismHindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expressions of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of historical India...
- Bharatiya Janta Party
- Rashtriya Swayamsevak SanghRashtriya Swayamsevak SanghRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Patriotic Organization), also known the Sangh, is a right-wing Hindu nationalist, paramilitary, volunteer, and allegedly militant organization for Hindu males in India...
- Vishva Hindu ParishadVishva Hindu Parishad' , which is usually known more simply as the VHP, is an international Hindu organization, which was founded in India in 1964. Its slogan is "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ", which is supposed to mean "Dharma protects its protector"...
- Sangh ParivarSangh ParivarThe Sangh Parivar refers to the family of organisations of Hindu nationalists which have been started by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or are inspired by its ideas. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement. It includes the RSS and several dozen smaller...
- Shiv SenaShiv SenaShiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...
- DalitDalitDalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
self-respect movementSelf-Respect MovementThe Self-Respect Movement was founded in 1925 by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu, India. The movement has the aim of achieving a society where backward castes have equal human rights, and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste based society that...
- Dalit VoiceDalit VoiceDalit Voice is a political magazine published in Bangalore, India that claims to express the views of Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes of India which it claims make up 85% of India's population...
- DalitstanDalitstanDalitstan.org was a Dalit advocacy website run advocating for a Dalit homeland and the breakup of India into several separate nations. According to its website, "The Dalitstan Organization is a Human Rights Organization working for the Upliftment of Dalits, the Black Untouchables of India...
- Dalit Voice
- Christian fundamentalist/Secessionist
- National Liberation Front of TripuraNational Liberation Front of TripuraThe National Liberation Front of Tripura is a Tripuri nationalist militant organization based in Tripura, India.The NLFT seeks to secede from India and establish an independent Tripuri state, and has actively participated in the Tripura Rebellion...
- Tripura Baptist Christian UnionTripura Baptist Christian UnionThe Tripura Baptist Christian Union is the largest protestant church body in the Indian state of Tripura. It has its head office in Agartala, the state capital. It has been found lending support to the banned terrorist organization, NLFT.-History:...
- National Liberation Front of Tripura
- Various Secessionists
- Nagaland Rebels
- Insurgent groups in Northeast IndiaInsurgent groups in Northeast IndiaVarious groups are involved in the Insurgency in Northeast India, India's north east states, which are connected to the rest of India by a narrow strip of land known as the Siliguri Corridor. Much of the region is notably ethnically and linguistically different from the rest of India. In the region...
- the Khalistan movementKhalistan movementKhalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
(SikhSikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
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 1921 Moplah Rebellion
- the 1931 Hindu-Muslim Benares riot
- the 1931 Cawnpore Riots
- ManzilgahManzilgahManzilgah was originally a mosque built by Mughal emperor Akbar the Great in 1007 AH.In the 1940s an Islamic institution named Jamia Hammadia Manzilgah Sukkur was established, which is now at its full swing. It is near the city of Sukkur....
and SukkurSukkurSukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...
(Sind) Riots, 15th Feb. 1940 - the 1946 Calcutta riotsDirect Action DayDirect Action Day , also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, was a day of widespread riot and manslaughter in the city of Calcutta in the Bengal province of British India...
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 riots1984 anti-Sikh riotsThe 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms / riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre was a sikh genocide there was four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs killed Sikhs, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked gurdwaras, in response to the...
[First and only, All India riots] in which the Congress partyIndian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
played a major active role in the killing of more than 20,000 Sikhs & Over 50,000 displaced following the assassination of Indira GandhiIndira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
. - the 1992 Bombay RiotsBombay RiotsThe Bombay Riots usually refers to the riots in Mumbai, in December 1992 and January 1993, in which around 900 people died. An estimated 575 Muslims and 275 Hindus died, and 2,000 people were injured in the riots. . An investigative commission was formed under Justice B.N. Srikrishna, but the...
in Bombay more than 200,000 people (both Hindus and Muslims) fled the city or their homes during the time of the riots, 900-3000 people died. - 1992 December 2- Babri masjid demolition by Sangparivar and subsequent communal violence in various parts of India
- the 1998 Wandhama massacreWandhama massacreThe 1998 Wandhama massacre refers to the murder of 23 Kashmiri Pandit Hindus in the town of Wandhama in the Muslim-majority Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on 25 January 1998. The victims included four children, nine women and 10 men...
, 25 Hindu victims. - the 2000 Chittisinghpura massacreChittisinghpura massacreThe Chittisinghpura massacre refers to the shooting to death of 36 Sikhs on 20 March 2000, in the Anantnag district of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in India. The Indian government asserts that it was conducted by the Islamic Fundamentalist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba which is based in Muridke...
, 35 Sikhs killed. - the 2002 Godhra Train BurningGodhra Train BurningThe Godhra train burning was an incident in which a sleeper coach on a passenger train was set on fire in 2002 by Muslims in Godhra, Gujarat, India in a conspiracy...
, 58 Hindus killed. - the 2002 Gujarat violence2002 Gujarat violenceThe 2002 Gujarat violence describes the Godhra train burning and resulting communal riots between Hindus and Muslims. On 27 February 2002 at Godhra City in the state of Gujarat, the Sabarmati Express train was attacked by a large Muslim mob in a conspiracy. But some authentic sources deny the claim...
, 900-2000 dead, mostly MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s - the 2002 Kaluchak massacreKaluchak massacre2002 Kaluchak Massacre refers to an incident on 14 May 2002 near the town of Kaluchak in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir when three terrorists attacked a tourist bus from the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and killed 31 people.-The Massacre:...
, 31 Hindus killed. - the 2002 Marad massacreMarad MassacreThe Marad massacre was the killing of eight Hindus by a Muslim mob on 2 May 2003 at the Marad beach of the Kozhikode district, Kerala, India. One attacker, Mohammed Ashker was hit by accident and was also killed. The judicial commission that probed the incident concluded that the Indian Union...
, 14 Hindu deaths - Indian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim League is a state political party in the state of Kerala, India. The chief support base of the party falls inside northern and central Kerala...
conspired and executed the massacreMassacreA massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
. - the 2006 Kherlanji massacreKherlanji massacreThe Kherlanji massacre refers to the 2006 lynching-style murders of a Dalit family by members of the politically dominant, but backward Kunbi caste. The killings took place in a small village in India named Khairlanji, located in the Bhandara district of the state of Maharashtra...
, lynching of four Dalits. - the 2008 IndoreIndoreIndore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...
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 riots2010 Deganga riotsThe 2010 Deganga riots began on 6 September when mobs resorted to arson and violence over a disputed structure at Deganga, Kartikpur and Beliaghata under the Deganga police station area. The violence began late in the evening and continued throughout the night into the next morning...
, Hindus targeted, Hindu businesses, houses and other property destroyed.
Incidents of "communal violence" cannot clearly be separated by incidents of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. "Communal violence" tends to refer to mob killings, while terrorism describes concerted attacks by small groups of militants (see definition of terrorism
Definition of terrorism
There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper definition of the word "terrorism". Various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of "terrorism". Moreover, the international community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed...
). See also Terrorism in India#Chronology of major incidents.
See also
- Persecution of HindusPersecution of HindusPersecution of Hindus refers to the religious persecution inflicted upon Hindus. Hindus have been historically persecuted during Islamic rule of the Indian subcontinent and during the Goa Inquisition...
- Ayodhya debateAyodhya debateThe Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, located in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh...
- Terrorism in IndiaTerrorism in IndiaTerrorism in India is primarily attributable to religious communities and Naxalite radical movements.The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India and the Seven Sister States...
- Indian nationalismIndian nationalismIndian nationalism refers to the many underlying forces that molded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society...
- Pakistani nationalismPakistani nationalismPakistani nationalism refers to the political, cultural, linguistic, historical and religious expression of patriotism by people of Pakistan, of pride in the history, culture, identity and heritage of Pakistan, and visions for its future....
- SaffronizationSaffronizationSaffronization or saffronisation is an Indian political neologism used by critics to refer to the politics of right-wing Hindu nationalism that seek to make the Indian state adopt social policies that recall and glorify the...
- NCERT controversyNCERT controversyThe National Council of Educational Research and Training is an apex resource organisation set up by the Government of India, with headquarters at New Delhi, to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on academic matters related to school education.NCERT publishes books that are used...
- Religion in IndiaReligion in IndiaIndian religions is a classification for religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. These religions are also classified as Eastern religions...
- Persecution of MuslimsPersecution of MuslimsPersecution of Muslims is the religious persecution of Muslims as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era.-Anatolia:...
- Anti-Hinduism
- Islamic Terrorism
- Language conflicts in India
- SectarianismSectarianismSectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
- Hate groupHate groupA hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other designated sector of society...
External links
- Communalists and their communities
- The riot-torn history of Hindu-Muslim relations, 1920-1940
- http://www.svabhinava.org/violence/violence-main.html