Communal Violence in India

Communal Violence in India

P.R Rajgopal

Under the Auspices ofCentre for Policy Research

UPPAL PUBLISHING HOUSENEW DELHI

@ Centre for PolicY ResearchNew Dblhi

Fist Publishb4 1987

rsBN 8l-85024-14-6

use

10028

PRINTED IN INDIAPublished by B.S. Uppal, Uppal Publishing Ho

New Delhi-l10002i Phototypeset byEss Bee Printers, 8'117, Sector-S' NOIDA

and Printed at Efficient Offsetr Printers, New Delhi-l

FOREWORD

Not very long ago, Shri L P Singtr, one of our ablest

public officials, brought to the notice of the nation the

escalation of violence in India in recent years' The pro-

blem of violence is neither new to India nor to the other

nations in the world. But some nations and civilizationsappear to have tackled the issue better than some

others.

What is the nature of violence in lndia ? Is it a majorproblematique of the India civilization as Prof Rajnii<otttuti staies ? What are its sources ? And what are the

practical policy options to deal with them ?

These are some of the central issues which we at the

Centre for Policy Research debated at great length' We

ultimately decided to request Shri P R Rajgopal one of the

country's ablest police official to study the various dimen'sion of the problem from a practical policy angle rather

than from a wider academic point of view

Shri Rajgopal examined violence in three essential

dimensions in lndia' First the communal violence'

Second violence arising out of socio-political change in

India. And lastly organised crime and criminal justice'

We have decided to publish this triology as three

separate studies though obviously they are highly inter-

related.

The present study deals with the problem of com-

munal violence as a practical official sees iL There is

minimum of theory and a great deal of hard facts as they

are available.

We do_hope that the polic! makers and the people ingeneral will glve a careful clnsideration to the variousissues raised by Shri Rajgopaf

Cerltre for Policy Research V A pai panandikerNew Delhi.l1002l. DirecrorMarclr. 1987

Preface

This book is the hrst in a series of three studies These

studies are based on the research project'Violence in Indid'sponsored by the Centre for Policy Research, Neq Delhi*hen the Director of the Centre for Policy Researcl4 New

DElhi called upon me to utrdertake the studyinJuly 1985' myidea at that point of time was to bring within the framework ofone book the several aspects of violence that I intended to

include in the study. Since then however, and as the study progressed, I realised that I would not be able to do adequatejus-

iice to the variety and the complexity of this multi-di-mensional subject ofviolence unless I dealtwith at least two orthree of its important aspects in greater detait in so far as thgyhave direct and immediate relevance to the problems that are

currently aflticting certain parts of the county. Hence Idecided to split this study on violence in three separate parts.

They are: l) Communalism and communal violencq 2) Social

change and violencq 3) Violence and Response-a study of the

Criminal Justice System. This book is thus the first in theseries But for the support and financial help extendcd to me

by the Centre for Policy Research this study would not hcvebeen possible

This book does not s€ek to project any tleory on the subject of communalisrn Much less does it seek to sit in judge'ment sver the comparative merits and demerits of the religionlaws, customs and conventions governing the lives and lifes:

tyles ofthe different communities If thereforq in the course ofthis study, there is any observation which even vaguely gives

any such irnpression, I can only say that no slight or hurt isintended to any community or religion on any of thessaccounts This exercise is primarily an attempt at abstractingthe different practical, as distinct from theroretical aspectsthat characterise and contribute to the phenomenon of com-munalism, and the complexity and variety of causes that give

rise to communal violence. My ortly claim to write on a subjectas delicate and sensitive as ism is the fact of myhaving been a practising for over thirtv vears. Dur-ing this period, I have had occasions not only of han-

t had also been charseddling actual communal riots,with the responsibility ot e ring the peace of placeswhich were cornmunally highlyfollows I have. therefore. drawnsonal experiences in evaluating a

sensitive. In the study thatberally from my own per-d assessine the several fac-

tors that contribute to making averyimportantand, on that account regrettable fl of our national life. What

more a projection of myappears in the pages that followperception of the communal as I see it and the severalfactors that contribute to it and giving it an unpar-donable place irr the ic and political scheme ofthings. Even as the study over the year. the com-munal virus has thrown deeper d more vicious roots which

It is my genuine hope anddo not augur well for the couprayer that my prognosis of this as it unfolds in thecourse of the study. will be proved wrong by the wisdom ofourpeople and the $tatesmanship ofl our political leaders.

I am deeply grateful to Dr. V Pai Panandiker. DirectorNew Delhi for giving meof the Centre for Policy

complete freedom to decide myself the scope and thegenerous and never failingparameter of the study. His willi

help on several matters, both and academicconnected with the studv. I with utter gxateful-ness I cannot thank Shri LP. Singh for goingthrough the con0ents of thig line Iing and making severalmeaningful suggestions by way facts and ideas and aboveall, educating me on certain of the national life tomany of which he himself was a ringside observer if not anactive participant I am also to several of my friendswho had gone through the draftand helped me with their ideas

study at different stagessuggestions. For the views

expressed in the different in the course of this studv. Ialone am responsible. The extens secretarial help that Shri

invaluable,C Jayaraman extended to me

P.R RA.'GOPAL

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

I lntroduction

tl Incidence of Riots

IlI Factors Contributing to Communalism

lV Case Studies of Communal Riots inMoradabad (1980), Bhiwandi (1984)'

Malegaon (1982), Biharsharif (198 l)'

Belgaum (1984) and Ahmedabad

(1985 and 1986)

VII Role of the Police

VIII lmperatives of Secularism

IX Islands of HoPe

BibliograP-hY

V Commissions of lnquiry 94

\tr Role of the ArmY and the Para 102

Vfiiituw Units in Communal Situations

7

1l

l6

2l

75

106

ll8125

140

L

Introduction

"How inconceivably modest are human beings who bind

themselves to only one religion! I have very many religions'

and the one over-riding them is only forming throughout my

life" (Elias Canetti who won the Noble prize for literature inl98l), ts it not a pity that we shodld confine ourselves to only

one religion when loyalty to and faith in more than one could

have meant more by way of mutual peace and comaraderie?

Apparently, there is a curse on the prevailing culture of con-

sumerism which while rendering only a surplus of inanities as

integral to it rejects an additional one or more faith as an

avoidable excess.

One area which has given rise to considerable violence

during the last few years and which holds the potential for

much more frightening violence than any other single cause is

communalisrn It is unfortunately true thatwe have a very long

history of Hindu-Muslim communal violence, with a brie{

interval when it had distinctly abated in the years immediately

following the gruesome partition riots. One cannot just wish

away th; revitalised compon€nts in the communal life ofthe country.

This study will limit itself to discussing only Hindu'Muslim communalism and the riots that are inevitably the

wages of such communalism. This is, however, not to suggest

thai there are no other communal forces at play in the nationalscene. But Hindu-Muslim communalism has had a much lon-

ger history and deeper and more complex causes'

ll

l

COMt2 UNAL VIOLLNT'L IN INDIA

Until the eruption of the b problem in its presentmilitant form, Sikh co had not assumed thedimension that it is presently ing to. It would not bequite correct to refer to the of the Sikhs in Delhi. Kan-

places that followed thepur, Boliaro and a few oassassination of the then Prime Minister in 19g4. as com-munal riots. Even.according to otpeople killed in Delhi alone duri

frgures, the number ofthose five days following

the assassination was around The apparent justiflcationfor such mass killings was rhe fa]ct that Smt Indira Gandhiwas shot by her own security who happened to beSikhs. Wherever there were they were by andlarge a one-sided affair though] there were a few Hinducasualties also. The total reported frop Uttar

which were recoveredPradesh were 174 including 30from trains. Out of a total of properf valued at Rs. 3.7crores in Uttar Pnadesh, Kanpur {lone accounted for Rs. 2.64crores. In Bihar, 107 people in all killed Bokaro in Biharreported 75 deaths. The trouble ifr Bokaro was attributed to

Operation Blue Star, launched by the Army in the GoldenTemple at Amritsar, had roused thb ire of the Sikh populationgenerally all over the counJry agpinst the governmenr Theassassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, which can be said to be asequel to it, followed by the killing of the Sikhs in such largenumbers in certain places in the c{untry has brought about adegree of communal animosiry in relations benvein sectronsof'Hindus and Sikhs in the punjhb. The relations betweenthese rwo communities have s{ffered a further setbackbecause of the assassination ofthe !x-Chiefofthe Armv Staff,Gen. AS. Vaidya at Pune on l0th Aususl 19g6.

Intotluction l3

Even so, compared to Hindu-Muslim conflicts there is a

ouutituiiut diff...rroe at least as of norn-, in the Hindu'Sikh

"'"-r"r""f conflict that has surfaced in the first eight months

.iisti. Bottt "ommunities

have shown considerable restraint'

u"J ttt" -l"o.ity population of Hindus in the rural areas and

Itt"-S1tft, i" *t*pfitte ,trbatt areas of Punjab continue to live

ir "."..

."a "-ity under the most diflicult conditions' This is

i;J;;;;f d* ptovocations of a handful of terrorist groups and

a section of eitremists among the Sikhs, and a section of Hin-

Jus *ho are the followers of ihe Shiv Sena' The poi rts ofcon-

L.i u"O similarity in the wavs of life of the two communities

are so many that communal feelings between thenl one' hopes'

*iinoi ..u.rt trte point of becoming chronic as itunfortunatell

tru, U".o*. between Hindus and Muslims' This assumption

ir tut.a on the fact ofthe relationship that exists between the

t*o .o-rrrr,nities, which extends to what is termed as "Beti-

Roti' relationship i.e. a relationship which permits inter'

marriages and Partaking of fooC'

The relationship between Christians and Hindus has

g"n.rully b..tt cor<liil and harmonious, though occasionally

there have been some tensions caused by conversion in

ffibal areas.

This study is in three parts. The {irst part rvhile identify'

ing the factors which coniribute to communalisnr' has also

de-att briefly with communal politics in the context of Kerala'

tvturti- co--unalism arising out of the issue of Muslim Per-

sonal Law and the nature and level of Muslim educationhave

L..t ait"ut."A in some detail The reason for treating the sub-

iect of Muslim Personal Law at such length is that it is- a poten-

iiul.uur. of communal violence. Muslim education has been

Jiscu.sed in detail in the context of the charge that Muslims

".. U"i"g discriminated against, in the sphere of employ'

menL

The second part deals briefly with some of the. factors

which have been responsible for riots at certaln places rn

Bihar. Uttar Prades[ Gujara! Maharashtra and Karnataka'

14 collaruunnr- u,oro*a. rN rNDIA

An attempt has been made to ass{mble the factors resDonsiblefor creating the volatile conditilns and the atmosihere ofcommunal sensitivity in which e{ren the flimsiesr of incidentssparks offa communal carnage.fn effort has also been madeto draw a few irnportant lessons from the handling of the dif-ferell lotg that had taken place i]n the recent pasr-The extentto which tlre lessons so drawn aip applied onihe ground willdecide whether or not similar sitlrations arising irifuture canbe handled with much less loss ofitfe and p.oi.rry, and withgreater speed and efficiency. The point that is being sought tobe driven home is thaq even ifwe {annot completelieliminatecommunal riotq it is possible to iake steps in advance whichcan distinctly reduce the devastafion and cruelty and with itthe trail of agony and bittemess (hat are teft behind by thesesenseless riots.

The third part attempts to out the implications ofsecularisrn The study concludes a discussion on thoseaspects in the rolationship the communities which

in fact are our islands ofa democratic and secular

have kept thein together andhope. Ouronly chance of survivalnation is by enlarging and expan ing the nature and scope ofthese fruitful and goodwill ting relationships.

It is difficult to write on a like communalism andfire from communalistscommunal violence without

of whatever hug for views or opinions expressed,however honestly and obj But to muffle or mute themessage for that reason will be less than an exercise in

dishonesty. This exer-evasion if not in downrightcise has been undertaken with a to assess the extent andvolume ofcommunalism in the politic. It is not my inten-tion to apportion blame or ility to any of the com-

favour of or against onetimes, it only means that

communalisr4 unlike consumer does not lend itselfto weighing in a balance; nor is prudent or desirable to.approach this cancerous subiect the basis of"we" or"they''.

e established is that com-The point that is being sought to

munities If however, facts add upor the other community at differbl

Intoduction l5

munalism even as it prwails currently, be it of the Hindu or ofthe Muslim variety, has gone into the lethal stage in terms ofdosage Once the threshold is crosse4 it matters little whetherHindu communalism is more blatant than Muslim com-

munalism or the reverse' Hindu and Muslim communalismexist in each othet's perception, be it real or imaginary and are

both equallytoxic' Wheothe two conflictwith eachother' theyoonsume cruely all that comes their way, leaving neither vic-

tor nor vanquished behin4 but a nation wounded mortally. Ihave handled riots and I hate been a witness to the decima-

. tion that communal camage can cause. Every successive com-

munal riot ddals a body blow not so much to the Hindus or theMuslims, but to tbe India of our hopes and dreams Let it be

realised that with every riot the status and stature of Indiashdnks-maybe even irretrievably' As and when, therefore,

the communal bell tolls, let it be understood that it to.Us forthee, foreverylndian lfthereforg this paper is ableto ldentiffsome of the factors which contribute to communalisrn, and to

highlight our unforgivable failure to combat it as a nation, theexercise would have vindicated itsele

T

II.Incidence of Ridts

Numberof CommunalKilled arrd Injured

cidents and Personsthese Incidents

During 1 to 1985

Year Personsinjured

sl.No.

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

19621963

t9&1965

Personskilled

t4108

43

261919

34

512457

575316369

I J.t I

l.2.

J.

4.

5.

6.

342435

t27

4l262s93348

4892053

758

46o1

60ol

1070

173

7.

8.

9.

10.

ll.t2.

l6

Incidence of Riots 17

srNo.

Year No ofincidents

Persons Personskilled injured

13.

14.15.

16.

17.18.

19.

20.2t.22.

23.24.

25,26.27.

28.29.30.

31.

JZ.

196r1967

1968

t9691970t97l1972t973r9741975t9761977

197819791980

1981

t9821983

19841985

l4198

345195213212q242

248205r69188

23030442i319470500

476525

45251133

673

298103

6972

87

33

3936

110

261372196

238tt4345328

67880

13092702tffi11263

1056l3l8lt23890794

tt221853

2379269126133025365248363665

The figures quoted are from official sources. The officialfigures of casualties tend to be lower than the actual figures.Even sq ifone were to go only by the official frgureg the trendin terms of the number of incidents is sufficiently disturbilrgand the intensity of the problem as borne out by the number ofdead and injured is alarmingly large for us to feel concernedabout the current state of communal affairs in the country.Every communal riot, apart from being a reflection of thehealth of the society that we live in, also aggravates the diFferences between the communities to a point when over aperiod of time it may make reconciliation and peaceful co.existence between the communities more and more diffi-culL

|

18 UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

While the increase in the ce of communal riots isis the spread that this virus

by Gopal Knshna(I), in 196l'country which had exPerienr communal trouble in thatyear. By 1970, the number of afflicted by the virus hadspread to 216, representing 70 Per of the trasic administra'tive uhi'ts. Taking{he l97l town c tiorL 10.77 per cent ofall the towns in the country experienced communal

Parliament on 24th JulYviolence. Making a statement.in1986 on the communal situatio in the country the Home

been identified bs hyPer'cts from the communal

The states particularlY are: Assarn, West BengalBihaq Uttar Pradesll Guj ara Madhva Pradesh Maha-rashtra Karnataka" Kerala and ra Pradesh. Reckoned interms of serious communal ts, in 1982 there were 17

major incidents which for the death of l2l Personsand iniuries to 520; in 1983, the Assam incidents are

excluded, there were 9 serious t ts resulting in the death

of 89 persong with 910 About 2300 persons werein Assam in 1983 which

The Nelle carnage was onereported to have lost their liv

bad enough what makes ithas acquired over the Years.

Minister stated thatl8 districtssensitive and 98 as sensitivepoint of view.

included also the killings at Nellof the worst after the Partitionserious incidents which accoun2300 injured The official esticommounal riots were Rs. 18

1982, Rs. 1.34 crores in 1983

in 1984.

g to the study conductedwere 6l districts in the

In 1984 there were 17

for 344 perons killed andof the loss of property inin 1981, Rs. 3.62 crores in

a staggering Rs. 9.9 crores

Of the total of 525 incidents ln 1985,95 were in Gujarat' 65

in Bihar,6l in West Bengal,5l in Maharashtra 48 in Kar-nataka 45 in Andhra Pradesh,] 4l in Uttar Pradesh' 31 inMadhya Pradesll 24 in Rajasthhn,2l in Keral4 14 in TamilNadu, l0 in Orissa 8 in Jammu 4nd Kashmir, 7 in Assam and3 in Delhi. The spread of the i'irus is worth noting it has

spread to state$ which had beetp free lrom this in the pasL

Incidmce of Rio*

Table 2Population percentage in some

Prone cities

HyderabadBhiwandiKalyanMeerutMoradabadAligarhNalanda (Biharsharif)

of the communally

Hindus Muslims37.5% 59.3Vo

41.5o/o 52.4%

73.LVo l7.9Vo

55.4% 40.9Vo

51.2% 47A%63.70 34.40/0

6l.Wo 38.7n/o

l9

According to an analysis ofthe incidents that took place

in 1982. of the 4?0 incidents, 124 were due to religious causes

such as playing of music before mosques or taking outreligious processions on unapproved routes;45 wore due to

incidents of improper behaviour towards women; 43 due to

land disputes; 9 due to elections, and 249 due to miscel-

laneous causes.

y'rcording to an analysis of the incideats ofl985' in 132 ofthe riots the provocation was.due to religous causes. 47 tiotswere due to misbehaviour totirds womerL 261 due to mis'ceilaneous iauseg 45 due to land disputes and 40 were con-

cerned with the anti-reservation agitation The politicalparties contributed as usual to communal violenie during the

general elections of 1984 and 1985, apparently because of the

iduantage that they expected to derive therefrom by the

polarisation of the electorate on communal lines. Electioneer'ing.led to major communal violence in Uttar Pradesh Bihar'Karnataka and Gujarat

As a general propositioh, communal riots occur in places

where neither of the communities has a preponderance innumber. More riots occur in districts which have a Muslimpopulation varying between 15 per cent and 59.3 per cent The

population of Hindus and Muslims in the important cities

and towns which have been the scenes oi serious communalriots is given in table2 :

a

n COMMUNAL VTOLENCE tN rNDtA

In the pasl cornmunal' riots were largely an urbanphenomenon. But now the virus has spread to the rural areasalso. According to an official estirqatg the rural areas reported46 per cent of the communal incidents in 1985.

IIIFactors Contributing toCommunalism

There are several factors which contribute to the genera-

tion and aggravation of communalisrn among religiousgroups. An attempt has been made to identify a few of the

more important among these' Each of these factors, in-dividually and collectively, contributes to creating the com-

munal atmosphere in which even the mildest of provocations

erupts into irrational violence. Both Hindu and Muslimgroups coirtribute to this communally combustible situation,and to that extent both the communities are equally respons'

ible. Above all, how the members of the respective com-

munities perceive each otheis conduct at the street level is

what determines the eruption and the scale of communalviolence. Thus considered, there is not much scope for for'mulating what in effect is an irrational and impulsive com-grunal aggressiveness within the confines of a neal

sociological theory.

It would be naive to suggest ttat there is any singlecause or a simple solution to this festering problem between

Hindus and Muslims, which has visibly increased over the

years. Even so, in Independent India we have not made any

comprehensive study of the problem in all its various com'plexities and ramifrcations. It would appear that we are livingirom riot to rioq using the intervening period not so much inunderstanding the basic causes which contributed to the

earlier ones, but without deliberate inten( in effect actually

2l

22

cbntributing to and promotingfuture riots possible. Wb are

UNAL VIOLENCE.IN INDIA

the causes which maketentionally making every

.succeeding riot easier to and more devastating anddestructive in result than the ones.

for giving exprbssion to the pent u$ anger that individuals andgoups have against the . as a wholq though the

The riots, any riot for that

immediate targets are the visiblesystem. The piime cause for this

communalism which will fattenbloodshed.

tter, are used as occasions

)ls of authbrity and theis lack of work lackof

grow on commun?l

' decent housing and other civic ties, and the lack ofhopethat things would improve in thb near future. It is easv tounderstand why they burn cars arld loot shops. For at least alittle while the rioter is someone. He and the fellow riotershave an.identity. The police nt them and the leaders

right In the case of communaf riot however, *;t ;;;sharpens the separate indentity of the communal groups andparticularly ihe identity of the mingrity groups. ThJpro-ess byitself, whether it is intendbd or notj promotei the role of com-'munal leadership and gives it an e{tra dimension. Thus over aperiod of timg communal, leadprship develops a vestedinteresl in communal riots, as witfr every successive riot thedemands and reliance on the comlnunai leaders increase. Inthe context of the prevailing anger and.hatred, the leader whirspeaks increasingly. in. favour of cir against the other group,grows in stature and importance in ihe eves ofthe peoole ofhis

appea! to them for ppace..For once,] on such occasions, th€y getthe satisfaction of being qoticed As individuals in their own

grows in stature and importance in ihe €yes ofthe peopleofhisgroup. Unscrupulous communalthis leadership for narrow

Cers. thereafter exploitends regardless of the

interestd of the society as a whole. accent today is on'theseparateness ofthe religious group$ rather than on the factorsintegrating them together as onf people of the country.Whether one likes io face it or nor, lhis is a fact of the nationalscene which one cannot eitherwish away or ignore. As long asthis trend persists. we will have td live with the monster of

Factorc Contributing to Communalism 23

As in the case of a hre, the immediate cause of a com-

rronal tiot by itself does not explain the entire run of cir-

."^""i""t itrtich may have contributed to its eventual

"riUr*f. ift. fact of such human combustibility has to be

ii.*"a u"a "nderstood

in the context of the several factors

*tti"i, -"t" the people of the area communally sensitive to

the slightest catalyst which may appearon the scene" But treat-

irn iiJ."orvt, a, th. -ain cuuse would be to misunderstand

il: ;;il;; ;y.holog5r of the rioters and the real causes behind

;i;;;;i E "ty

riot f,-as to be treated as an event in search of a

-.""i"g ""a iignifrcance It is exactly because we look ateach

of tfr, ,iitt itt isolation and are not prepar€d to go beyond the

".Joft.ty of each one of theni that we fail to understand the

'-"u'"ing u"a tfte message that tliey seek to convey' ln the pre."rS *" i"if to identiff the caoset precisely, and to apply the

correctiu.s which alone can p€vent riots from becoming

endemic.

Regardless ofwhat is orwhat is not contained in our Con-

stitutioi wtren two Gods lay claim to the same piece of land

"ttJ ptorno,t a fight between their respective followers in

which several innocnet persons lose their lives' the least that

;;;;" say of ourselv.i it thut we are far, far behind the

J.u.top."ttt of secular consciousness' Let us accepl this fact

in all honesty, instead of bandying about the worils secular

and secularism which mean many things to many people and

contrary things to conflicting communities

Communalism as an ideology is the ultimate source of all

communal riots. The beneficiaries of this ideology are also its

promoters who seek to achieve certain personal or group

i"t...to by articulating the secular needs of the community

;;-;;;-;""1 lines When demands raised on communal

lines are even considered lei alone accepted by the goyern-

ment, it is not so much the comniunity which ben-efits but the

i"* "o-*u"ulists

who use the occasion to build up their

image in the communiry.

COIUMUNAL VIOLENCE tN INDIA(a) Religious Revival an{ Hindu and Muslim

Perceptions about each other

There. is a ggneral religous fevival among the differentcommunities in our country. This by itself is ,roibud. The newfound faith in religion by the conimunities has however Ueengiving rise to several problems. Orie of these is that the fervourfor one's religion is often measuted by fanatics against theferocity that_they display against dhe other retigioo. ifrey glvethe. impression that they are not so much imiued rvith theDetlet ln the tenets of their own religion aS by the fana:ficismand the muscle power that they display in saieguarding whatthey think are the legitimate interests of tt" ,.ip.ltiu."C"a..They would almost have us believe that shorn Lf the musclepower ofthe followers, the Gods are powerles uJ fr"ipf.r, or,their own When our faith in prolvidence is reduceJ to suchabsurd and meaningless trials of strength, religion becomes afacade and an alibi for

.short-tprm -p".rorr-ut

or politicalmileage. What these fanatical Rr{tagonists of the respectivereligions do not understnad or do not want to understand isthat they cannot save their religiorl by such methods. What ismorg roligions which can be saved only by such violentmethods do not deserve to be savpd-

- When Emerson said, "Once we had wooden chalices andgolden priests; now we have golden chalices and woodenpriests", he was saying something lvhich is very fundamentalto the change that has come aboui i1r the relationship that menhave to their religious institution$ There was u o.*rpup..report to the effect that the temple at Ayodhya is likelytoberebuilt at a cost of Rs.25 crores. Vagt sums of money are beingspent-on renovating and restructudng mosques. If the currentmanifestations- of what passes for, feigous iaith is any guide,we seem to be.for ever building bigger and biggertemples andmosques and killirqg the creed If rhe particulir religion thatpeople profess does not create in them the spirit of iesolvingthe differences when possible and rising above ihem wherenecessary it only means that the people concerned areinterested in the form rather than the substance of relieion.

24

Factorc Contibuting to Communalism 25

For such people secularism is an anathema They do not

una..ttutta .*n the implications of the concept They are far'

far removed from Practising it

The tone and tenor of the articles wfitten by Hindu and

Muslim coftmunalists and the beliefs that they ourse about

the other community have been brought out by the Centre for

Rural Research and Industrial Development Chandigarb

which did a study of the Bhiwandi riot.s of 1984 and the Pune

riots of 1982. Tire following extracts are reproduced from

the studY (2).

"In Bhiwandi and Pune cities the generally prevailing

impression about the Muslims among the Hindus are:

Islam is devouring Hinduism; Islam is a militant religionIt preaches brutality. Muslims believe in one God and one

Bo6k and are more organized They are orthodox and fanati-

cal. Muslims continue to be aliens and they do not adhere to

the Indian Civil Code. lf you visit a Muslim family, you willhnd one Muslim married to at least four women and each one

of these women bears many children. Muslims halt no work

other than reproduction. Since Muslims do not follow the

' Indian Civil Code, they will have to pay the penalty of leaving

lndia. Muslims are immoral. Muslirns want to numerically

out-number Hindus through conversion and the violation ofthe small family norms so as to establish another Pakistan

in lndia.

Similarly, impressions which are prevalent among sec-

tions of the i4uslim groups about Hindus in Bhiwandi and

Pune are as follows:

Except Islanl all religions are adulterated Supersti'

tion is the nick name of Hinduism. Hindus are stingy

and money-minded. Hindus can mortgage their wives

and daughters for money. I{indus charge interest on

money. They loan money on extraordinary interest rates

whereas interest is prohibited in lslam. While Muslims

26 CO\,TMUNAL vIoLENcE IN INDIA

impart moral te4chings to fhildren Hindus teach theiryoung ones methods of splnning money.

"Muslim India" is a monthlyjOurnal of referencq researchand. d.ocumentation. Aglance at spme of the issues oi,.MuslimIndia" leavei one wjth the impre$sion that it is prone to feed_ing Muslim communalism. Thls is done in it e-lotowingmanner.:-

Highlighting the under-reliresentation of Muslims injobs and services in one o[ its isbues, rhe said journal giveselaborate statistics on Muslim representatio; in differentclasses of functionaries in High C[urts. A High Court judge istreated as a representative of the vi,hole Muslim religiousgroup and his apointment is shown to be a service t6 thereligbus group to which he belon!s.... political and other com-munal groups use this data by fee$ing ro the perceprion of thepeople that benelits are distributep on communal

-basis. Such

propaganda also identifres the caIses ofdeprivation falsely...Cbmmunal categories are. spari{l while quoting figures onInstitutions which are commonly believed io havi be'en mon_opolised by different religous groups. For example, the dataon Aligarh Muslim University is lrsented withoui identiSingthe strength ofstudents, reachers, dte. on religious group lines.The Hindu communalists genefally interpret this as anajtempt by Muslim'communalistslto hide the gradual aliena-tion of non-Muslims from the Uniyersity. Theffurther accusethe journal of dishonesty by always 6.utng it, Ureuri onmissed opportunities, but concealing its grin on the availedones."

'Sobat', a Marathi weelily, in its issue dated May 6, l9g4under a.blatantly communal title "lMusulmans canriot live inHindustan" published the followitrg:.

"The very concept of a natiln is opposed ro KoranThereforg if they are not having {ny feeling of affection forthis country.it is Koran Charalter of Koran Shariat ie.Islamic system of governance is opposed to our Constitution

Factors Contibuting to Cornrnunalism 27

and Law. If we have faith in our Co4stitution, we will have to

ban Koran and Islamic system of governance"'

Some of the Kannada and Marathi writings which had

appeared at Belgaum in Karnataka on the eve ofthe 1984 riot

would have put io shame the worst communalists' Yet lothingmuch was dbne by the authorities to stop this scurrilous anti-

Muslim propaganda Hindu and Muslim communalism feed

on and iue[ each other. With such supreme indifference to

rank communalism displayed unhindere4 why should we be

surprised if this poison erupts periodically into vicious com-

munal violence?

The reports of commissions on communal riots devote

considerabie time and space to describing the immediate

cause s which had provoked the riots. What is important is that

in an atmosphere which is charged witlr communal passiorl '

the immediate cause which ignites communatr feelings inin4Mdirals can be even the flimsiest one. To emphasize that

to the exclusion of the breeding and imbibing of the com-

munal ideology in day to day politics and conduc[ all ofwhich over

" pi.ioO ot'time divide the communities into dis-

tinct groups, who react to even the most trivial thing such as a

qoatt"l bttt".tn two children belonging to nro different com-

munities in a communal manner, is to dlistake the tree for the

forest For communal leaders the number of men of the res-

pective communities who get killed and- whose houses get

iooted or burnt are merely means to the furtherarrce of their'own vested interests. These poor victims are fed on the diet of. communalism day in and day out, and in their g€nuine but blind

faith in lheir religion they willingly become mere ppwns in the

games that the- communal vested interests play' The in-

iividuals who get killed in communal riots or who suffer

damages can be compared to the bulldts which one who han-

dles a firearm uses to achieve a particular objective He uses

the bullets as expendable items towards the furtherance of his

cause. He doesi not 'feel sonly for them. He does not have

second thoughts for the sient buliets The story is the same

with the communalists who use these poor people living in

28

congested localities huddled tqgether and without even thebasic civic amertities, and whq perpetually are in a state ofglsgqTforL anger and tension, as just buliets to serve theirdiabolical communal design. I[ thirefore, we are to make adent- into communalisrq this will have to begin with thepoliticians, the intellectuals arld the businessm-en who willhave to pursue their respective professions on non-communallines: rather a tall order, more 0asilv siven than acted unonlines: rather a tall order, more gasily given than acted upon.Cominunalism was exploited ln the-pre_partition days byIeaders lor a shart of power at the centrq which eventuallyculminated in the partition of fthe country. In Independent

VIOLENCE IN TNDIA

India" ironically enough. commrlnalism has been expl'oited bythe communalists for secular e4ds. The passions oithe massof the population who are illitepate ard ignorant are playedupon by the m.inoriry community leaciers bllre;id;; ;r;;;sense of insecurity, discrimihatioq persecution anj above alla sense of loss of identity, should they qot combine to stand upagainst the common enemy wfiich is projected as Hindu

organlsarlons such as Vishwa FXindu parishad (V.H.p.) havelggn nronaeating through their fritings and speeches that theMuslims are c.onspiring_ to upset the demographic composi_uon ot the lndian population by not falling in line with thestate- sponsorcd Family plannipg programme to'limit thenumber of childre4 and also thiough c-onversion. The masscolversion of Harijans to Islam in fueenakshipururrr o-orrgother places in Tamil Nadu is clted as evidence.

chauvinism. As against this, the Hindu communalists andorganisations such as Vishwa FXindu parishad rV r{ p ) ho,-

. The increase in population of the Muslims may be due towhatever reason The V.H.p. citp the Census figures in support oftheir sfand The net result is the grist that-all these addto the communal mill.

29Factors Contibuting to Communalism

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The V.ILP. has been the rloving spirit behind the agita-tion te.get the disputed tegple at Ayodhya opeoei!. How anostemibly ieligious demand $ grven a communal slant forpolitical purposes is eyident frop the declaration made by theV.ILP. as far back as October, lbg4 that the Hindus exercisingtheir franchise in the then imsending general .l..tion. *.,contingent on the ,{yodhya temple beirig reopened forworship. One of the pamphleb issued by the V.fLp. carriedthe observation that. "lack of collective thinking for the pretection of Hindu interests... is thle main pause of ihe miserableand disgraceful condition of the Hindu society..,. Eachindividual of Hindu Samaj.... should cast his vote in theforthcoming election for a candfldatg irrespective of his partyaffiliationg who gives an undedaking to support the 5 pbintsenumcrated One of these pointj was: ..to pass an act, to return.g Hildu-Samaj the original pfaces of Ram Janma Bhumi,Shri Krishna Jamma Bhumi {td Kashi Vishwandth tem_ple"(3).

C0MMUNAL vrolENCE rN rNDtA

It needs to be realised Hindu communal organi-sations like the V.EP. and the u Mahasabha which did

until recently, are nownot have much politicalbeginning to have a larger saycountry in some states, Though

the plectoral politics of the

they do fuel the communaltage of during the elections.

impact is only marginalwhich others take advan-

influence the voting patternthough they themselves do not €lectoral successes in theabsence of any electoral There is nothing tochoose between Hindu and communalism

The events that followed unlocking of the Ayodhyay Ist 1986 are now a part oftemple/Babari mosque on F

history. The Pakistani shadow Indian communal politicswas evident when Pakistan,s Minister Noorani iradea statement in the pak Assembly that Pakistan

fate of their co- religionistswould not remain indifferenr toin India This was followed bv attack on the Hindu templesand the fewHindus in Karachi was a sequel to the com-munal riots in Delhi and other in India To pretend thatsuch policy pronouncements bv akistani leaders do not have

Facton Contibuting to Communalism

an impact on the communal situation in our country is not to

.understand what Pakistan stands for and'seeks to achieve in{he subcontinent This tiend is likely to persist because of the

historical background arising out of the partition of India.Exploiting the communal happenings in Ildia has been an

integral part ofthe geopolitics of Pakistan. Pakistan stands togain consideiable diplomatic mileage by fuelling communalpolitics in India as with every communal riot IndiA's stockwith Middle East and other Islamic countries suffers a

diplomatic setback Considering the advantages Pakisianstands to gain in this regard, it should be reasonable to suspect

that Pakistan would also have a vested idterest in promoting itOne tends to agree with the observations of the Minoritycommissioq which is obviously pointing to Pakistan in theextract quoted below.

The Minority Commission in its Fourth Annual Reportfor the period 01-01-1981 to 3143-1982 observed "We cannotoverlook the fact that there are foreign as well as internalelements likely to be interested in creating disorder and mak-ing out that therc is genocide and maltreaiment of minoritiesin India. There are some political parties also interested inshowing that governments in power are unable to preserve lawand order to safeguard the inte rests of the minorities. The exis-tence of unscrupulous schemers abroad and in our countrywho think on these lines rather than on the welfare ofminorities in India or of the whole country should not surprise

anybody."

On the morning of l5th Augus! 1985 Kashmir Valleywoke up to prePak and anti'India slogans: "Long live Pakis-tan Indian dogs go back'. Within hours, Pakistani flags werehoisted on top of the electric poles. India' Independence Daywas obse rved as a Black Day by some anti-national elements.

Ghulam Nabi Khayal writing under the title: 'Unrest in theValley' (4) observed : "On every Friday from pulpits of 20,000

odd mosques and shrines over the Valley, Muslim priests raisetheir hands and pray loudly from the Koran: "Fa-Ansura AlalQuamil Kaalireen (2:286) (give us victory over the non-believers, the Kafirs) and millions of faithfuls say'Amen in

3l

.32 Factors Qontibuting to Communalism

thunderous supplication. The no[r-believers i.e. the Kalirs formany Kashmiri Muslims are nbne othei- than ihe Hindusof India."

_ _ In another instancg the Janrlma & Kashmir government

claimed to have arrested 500 pers$ns stated to be aiti_nationalelements in different parts of the state on the eve of RepublicDay in 1986. Some of them had been planning to hoist thePakistan. flag according to the police. All su-ch activities,?pparently inspired by the furf damenralisrs among theMuslims, are not likely to bd igriored and go withoui beingreacted to by the bigotbd among trhe Hindus in other parts o"fthe country.

One of the features of Kas politics in recent times hasbe'en the rise of a type of lead ip in Kashmir which seesnothing wrong in openly Islamic fundamentalismin the affairs of the state. The onal lamily planning pro-

Muslims are advised not togramme is opposed openly and thfollow the programme. One of the eaders even offers to shelterthe wards of the poor Muslim Ir ies who arb unable to lookafter their children.

The Kashmir Pradesh Congrgss-I president Mufti Mohd.Syed, addressing a series of publiq meetings at several placesin the Kashmir Valley in the third Week of April, 19g6, is repor_ted to have said that the fundafnentalists and anti-socialelements were busy conducting a "hate campaign againstnationalists" and forging unity wlth the secession-ists in thestate. He is reported to have uriged that unless the stateadministration checks them with dn iron hand. the situationwill continue to be disturbing5).

,For a section of the population in Jammu and Kashmir,Kashmir continues to be a dispute{ issue. Thii attitude can bea cause of giving an edge to Hindu-Muslim communal dis-cord in other parts of the country. The threat by a section ofKashmiri Muslims to launch a 'Jfhad' for the liberation ofKashmir from India is not likely to !e viewed with equanimityby the rest of the country.

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 33

In the Kashmir Valley, there have been in the last cduple

of years cases of explosion and arson affecting road com-

munication These have been attributed to pro'Pak elements.

According to reliable source$ as against 13 bomb explosions

and 12 arson cases during 1984, the number of such incidentswent up to 20 and 34 respectively during 1985.

The communalists and the extremists among the Sikhs

add an extra dimension to the communal problem in Jammu

and Kashmir. In view of the support that Pakistan has been

extending to both the Sikh extremists and the proPak anti-national elements among the Muslims in Jammu andKashmir, it is to be expected that the communal situation inJammu and Kashmir will get more heated This is likely toaggravate the communal situation in the other parts of the

country. That the Sikh extremidts and the pro-Pak andsecessionist elements in Jammu and Kashmir have a pro-gramme of subversion and sabotage should be evident from

the abortive effort made jointly by the Sikh extremists and the

pro-Pak anti-national Muslim elements in Jammu and

Kashmir to hijack an Indian Airlines plane from Jammu to

Pakistan in September, 1985. This operation was to coincidewith the date of the elections in Punjab. Fortunately, the

attempt was foiled because of the vigilance of the security

forces.

Frank Camper who runs a private paramilitary trainingcamp in Alabama United States, in the course of an article inthe American magagine Penthouse in March, 1986 quoted an

unidentified Sikh as telling him that some of the Sikhextremists who had undergone training in his school had toldhim that both China and Pakistan have been aiding the

extremist Sikh causq providing money. weapons as well as

safe areas inside their own respective borders for trainingand hiding(6).

The communal riot that rocked Jammu and Kashmir inFebruary-Marclt, 1986, which was a sequel to the AyodhyaTemple/Babari Mosque issug and which brought down in the

process the Shah Ministry is also a pointer to the potential the

34 coMMUNAL vToLENCE tN rNDrA

communal virus has in creating turmoil in the country.

An additional element which is likely to intensiS com-munal feeling is the belief that is gaining ground both amongthe Sikh extremists and the pro-Fak elements in Jammu andKashmir, that should Khalistarl come into being the seces-sion of the Kashmir Valley from India may be facilitated. Thecommunalism that had been raging in Jammu and Kashmiras also in the rest ofthe country fas to be viewed not as a pass-ing phenomenon between the two communities but as anintegral component of the geo-politics of Pakistan and theother foreign powers who may $e interesbd in destabilisingthe coun1ry.

Hindu communalists have also been organising them-selves under an organisation callled Shiv Sena in the Jammuregion. where during 1985 they plashed with Sikh extemistsseveral times. The clashes havg however remained largelylocalised.

b) Communal Politics

Musli;ns in India as a cqmmunity had suffered thetrauma of the partition of the cOlrntry. They started emergingout of this state from the sixties a{rd have become once again aself-confident and asseritve grtrup wanting to take theirlegitimate place in the naticnal s(heme of things, while retain-ing their distinct identity. Therd is also the emergence of ,a

middle class among the Muslitns which was almost non-existent immediately lollowing (he Partition, as most of themiddle class Muslims from seVeral states had migrated toPakistan. leaving behind Muslihs who were economicallyand educationally backward, an{ also a few who were part ofthe professional elite. The nerV middle class among theMuslims that has come up has d$ne so on the basis of its,ownstrenuous eflbrts and inspite of the several factors which mayhave impeded their progress.

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 35

The socio-economic changes in the country being

brought about through the various planned programmes

havebenefitted the different communities in varying degrees'

The Muslims as a community have also gained from several ofthese programmes. The boom in the economy of the Arab

countries in the Middle East has been a blessing to thousands

of Indian job seekers belonging to all the communities inlndia. The youth and the entrepreneum among the Muslims

have also captitalised on this boom. This accounts for a dis'

tinct spurt in the economic affluence oi Muslims in certain

parts of the country. Reports from Moradabad and Varanasi

in Uttar Pradesh and Mallapuram, Kasargode and Calicut

districts of Keral4 and other places in the country point to the

fact of the Muslims making considerable investments in real

estate. Large and affluent Muslim townships have sprung up

particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala during the last cou-

ple of decades. All these are postive trends which should in

iu" ao.r.r. corlntribute, one expects, to the development of a

healthy relationship between the communities. Because of the

active and the avowed interest that the governrnent has taken

to promote the concept of reservatior! regrettably a belief has

come into being that the government would respond only ifdemands are projected on the basis of a group identity such as

caste or communify. The result has been that the communities

have also tended to consolidate themselves in an effort to pro'ject their identity -to demand their share of fhe scarce

Lconomic resources, and educational and job opportuni-

ties.

Politics in general is a process of conflict resolution' In

trying to resolve this conflict each ol the participating and

contending groups and communities seeks to gain terms as

advantageous and favourable to it as possible The democratic

constitution which we have given ourselves has unfortunately

tended to become a very fertile breeding ground for the

manipulative politics of the conimunities and the groups. and

this has not been without its injurious impact on the general

political health of the country. Since democracy iir its ultimate

form is a function of numbers and a game of pressure groups.

36

the different caste and communiinerests of their resirectivepolitical leverage that they haveible. The effort therefore of eachmuch political power asleverage as a means to furtherinterests. The growth of commseen as a mean$ to achieve asiblg since the leverage whichthe communal linders thinksation that the communitypower. Nowhere is thisclear and unmistakeable termsdealt with in detail later.

It is indeed unfortunateshould at all have grown thatcommuntiy can get justice onlyidentifiable groups andcreated for whatever reasons ieconomic inheritance" itstrengthened by the successivegroups and communitiesdemands made on communalgives a fresh lease of hope andwhile at the same time erodingintegration. In an atmosphereanthing done in the national lifemeasures, education, socio-econmercg is seen by thecemed who cannot cashbenefits as an act ofthe community as a whole.munities as a wholg arethat for every individual of theappointed and frustrated thereappointed in the other commfrustration of individuals anddeveloping country and more_so a country like India with

ln on

UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

groups seek to promote theunities by exercising thethe maximum extent poss-

f the groups is to acquire asand with it the political

commumly or castetherefore should be

political power as poss-ical power confers is what.tely matters in the dispen-to get from the centres of

demonstrated in suchin Kerala today. This will be

in the lirst place a beliefindividual or a group or aorganising themselves into

This belief having beenthq context of our socio-to get perpetuated and

ions that some of thesereceived in response to

Every such concessionto communalism.

e roots of secularism andlluted by cominunalism

regard to administratiyechangq trade and com-

of the communities con-of these for their personalby the government against

as also the com-or even callous to the fact

unity who has been dis-several others similarly dis-

Disappointment andis inevitable in any

Such

Factors Contrib uting to Communalism

its exploding populatio4 scarce resources and limited oppor-tunities. When what in fact is a socio-economic disability orinadequacy is sought to be attributed to communalmotivations and discriminationg we have the different com-munities of the country set on a collision course. In anatmosphere which stands thus vitiated on communal linesone would have expected the political parties ofthe country torefrain from doing anything which would only feed andstrengthen the communal virus. Instead if the political partiesin their anxiety to ceme to or stay in power communalise thegame to a pitch which would neutralize or even dilute theseveral factors which have contributed to secularising andintegrating the country as a wholg it would be a greattragedy.

c) Communal Politics of Kerala : A warning

Considered in this context the present state of affairs inKerala has an increasing relevance to the communal scenarioin the rest of the country. I have therefore discussed the com-munal politics of Kerala in some detail in the hope that politi-cal parties in other parts of the country will look upon thepolitics of Kerala not as an example to be followed but as anunmistakeable warning about the dangers that lie ahead if thepolitics of the country is reduced to an equation of politicalstrength with the vigour of communal organisation. Keralapresents a classic illustration of how politics when played withonly short term interests in view can contribute substantiallyto communalism.

Kerala is distinctly different in certain aspects from therest of the country. It has the highest density of populationThe human settlements in the state are stretched from end toend in one vast and continuous urban like set up. The com-position of the population is also different from the rest ofthecountry. According to the l98l Census, the religious composi-tion of the population is as follows:

JI

Percentage

Religions

HindusMuslimsChristiansOthers

India*Yo

82.UI 1.35

2.43

3.58

KeralaVo

58.162t.2520.56

0.03

Note: * Excludes Assam

The minority communities in the State while formingsubstantial groups are also the dominant communities in cer-

tain districts. The size and thd distribution of the minoritypopulation have had distinct Nocio'economic and politicalimplications. The proportion oflthe educated in Kerala is 60%,

which is the highest in the land With it educated unemploy-ment has also been rather hlgh even though an average

keralite is a compulsive migrant to distant lands and pastures

new in search of employment This State, inspite of its highrate of educatiorL stands vertlcally divided on communallines. The politics of the State r[uring the last more than twodecades has been played on g{ounds of short-term politicalexpediency rather than long t{rm national interests. Whengovernmental favours are grafrted selectively to the com-munities and not uniformly to the people as a whole this is aninvitation to'communalism of a vicious variety. What lends anedge to communalism is veri often the manner in whichgovernment decisions are taken with a view to favoul a par-

ticular communal group. Such governmental dispensationsand policy formulations have o{rly helped to nourish and con-solidate communal identities id Kerala. Thus we sce in Keralaa.stage in the evolution of cohmunalism which is distinctfrom the rest of the country.

Kerala has been ruled by boalition govemments almostuninterruptedly from 1969 ofrwards. The political com-pulsions of successive coalition governments have greatly

helped communal and caste grpups to consolidate their posi-

Factors Contributing to Communalism

tion among the people of their respective communities andcastes by conferrring respectability and relevance to com-munal and caste consciousness. Several decisions of suc-

cessive govemments such as the formation of districts,

creating of new Universities, applicability of laws andregulations, have all, in their respective ways, put a premium

on communal demands and further accentuated the com-

munal divide. Because of the decisive political leverage thatthe Muslims through the Muslim League and the Christiansthrough the Kerala Congress, in which they form the domi-nant group, can exercise on the Congress or the communistparties, one of which invariably is the major coalition partner,

it has come to be believed, and even accepted, that allgovernmental decisions are to be tailored to placate the com-

munal groups in the coalition. The Kerala Congress has been

controlling Finance and Law for over sii years and Revenue

and Education during the last three and a half years. TheMuslim League controlled Education and Public Works forseveral years and has been controlling Industries, PublicWorks and Civil Supplies for the last three and a half years.

The decisions of the government taken in these departmentsare invariably seen as communally rnotivated and as such pre-judicial to the larger interests of the state as a whole. Some ofthe examples citied in support of these allegations are:

l5 technical schools were sanctioned in 1986 at a cost ofRs. 6 crores even though this had not been provided for in theplan. This is seen by Hindu communalists as a favoui exten-

ded by the Christian Education Minister to the Christiandominated Kerala Congress for their continued support tothe Congress-led coalition.

Recently a move has been initiated to bring the two

years in the 10*2 sy.stem under the administration of a Pre'Degree Board This would mean separating it from theUniversities under whose control this stage of the educationhas been until recently. This decisioq according to oneestimate, will result in 90% ol the private institutions gettingthe responsibility for organizing the plus two courses. Most of

39

,!0

these instirutions are reportedtian community- The. majoritymunal stand on this issue and it iMinister who is Christian hasinstitutions belonging to histo the fact that this move hasquence of the recently annou:tion This unfortunate episodealmost state-wide agitation istrust that has csme tothe cpmmunities. The plus twoing course for admission tomaJorlry communrty acial stage in education bysely affect the chances of itsprofessional colleges. The impthat the suspicion between theassumed such distressing

Dr. P.K Gopala KrishnanCommittee on the EconomicCongress Committee (l) hadmunal partieg surrenderthe coalition governmentnote:

l) Kerala spends liberallythere has been a fall in the ratemore than six hundred schools1986 in the private sector,tian management According toof about Rs. 25 crores isteachers. Currently the stateexpenditure incurred by thesalaries. It is alleged that th€because of the financial interesthas in the appointment ofbeen accused of taking largeteachers' appoiqtments.

VIOLENCE IN INDIA

be controlled by the Chris-has taken a com.

alleging that the Educationthis move to benefit the

. They are imperviousinitiated as a direct conse.national policy on educa-

had taken the form ofanof the degree of dis-

the relationship betweenconstitut€s the qualiff-

bssional colleges. Thethat the control of this.cru-

community would advor-getting admission to the

ions are evident It is sadcommunities should have

was the Chairman of theof the Kerala Pradesh

in 1986 a lNote on com-and the deepening crisis of

state'. According to his

educatioL Even thoughgrowth of the populatiorlbeen started during 1982-ofwhich are under Chris-estimate, an expenditure

every on surplusfully the

on teachers'for starting schools is

t the school managementThe management has

of money as bribe for

year c

meets

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 4l

2) An ordinance which has been promulgated several

times deals with making the law relating to cutting of trees

from forests stricter. It has been alleged that the MuslimLeague is against the ordinance being converted into an Act as

this wouldadversely affect such ofthem as have been benefit-

ting so far by the prevailing laxity. It has been alleged thatdelaying the enactment of this Act was the specific concession

that the Congress, which is the leading coalition partner'

extended to the League to get the Congtess nominee elected to

the Rajya Sabha-

3) The Muslim League had decided to give pension to the

Mukries (Muslim priests). They had therefore requested the

government to contribute a substantial amount to the WAKFBoard. Since the commitment would have.been large andwould have led to demands from other communities, the

government did not agree to this. But on the eve of the

Parliamentary elections in 1984, they insisted and got thegovernment to contribute Rs. 15 lakhs. It was reported that thiswas objected to even by the Election Commission' Though the

payment of pension has not been started, the Musllim League

is accumulating the funds released by the government and it is

expected that the pensions will be announced in due course.

They have pressed and got an allotment of another Rs. 15

lakhs in 1985-1986 even though this had notbeen provided fqrin the state Budget

In all such decisions, the gains from the issues sought tobe settled or the benefits conferred do not extend to the com-

munity as a .whole but are limited to placating the vested

interests within that community. Even if the community as a

whole stands to gain by such decisions, this does not make itany less invidious and discriminatory stemmin; as it does

from coercive politics. In fact, under the facade of serving theparticular community s interests. lt only compounds what is

wrong

All these various concessions are seen by the Hindus inparticular as 'surrender politics' eating into the vitals of the

.A COMMLTNAL VTOLENCE tN INDIA

political life and administrationl of rhe state. What is beingresented is the partisan nature of the decisions and the man-ner in which they are brought abbut by coercive pclitical pre-ssure. These various instances Xrave brought into the openHindu communalism in its most militant form. In April 1986two'Hindu Sangamams'(convenltions) were held, one each inTrivandrum and Cannanore. By all accountq these conven-tions were most impressive and were conducted with a veryhigh degree of organizational discipline. The RashtriyaSwayam Sewak Sangh (RS.S.) chief, in the course of hisaddress to these gatherings, had 4dvised them to meet aggres.sively any attack on them physigaliy or culturally.

One of the other aspects of Hlndu revivalism has been themigration of Hindu members the Marxist fold a rarepolitical phenomenon It needs tb be made clear at this stagethat the rank and lile of Kerala cbmmunists of whatever per-suasion are not agnostics who co4sider religion as an opiate ofthe people. The communist are composed prepon-

caste lines. Rightly orderantly of Hindug cutting awrongly a number of them come to believe that in thetype of politics that is played in state the inteiests of themajority community are getting in the anxiety oftlieleading political parties to come io power or to stay in power.In the procesg the Marxist which had a considerablecadre strengh has suffered a jolt because of a largenumber of the members over to the RS.S. which is

organisatio[ Hindus areconsidered a highly commbeginning to feel that their in would be safe onlv if thevfought for it by organizing th on communal lines. Afallout from this trend has bee n the rise of a Hindu communalpolitical party which calls itself as "Hindu Munnani". One ofthe surest indicators of the of growth of Hinducommunalism is provided by the ri'otes polled by the BhartiyaJanta Party in a Parliamentary ituency from Trivandrum

constituency during the Parliame$tary elections held in 1985,the Hindu 'Munnani' secured 1,10,449 votes. The figures areeloquent enogh to carry the mess[ge loud anf,.elear.

__,_.i

during 1982. It had secured 7,806 vores. In rhe same

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 43

Thus we have in Kerala all the three communities con-

solidating their respective positions on communal lines lor a

share in ihe distrubution of political power. The communal

divide seems to be complete as of now and mutual provoca-

tion is also much in evidence between the Hindus and the

Muslims. The youth in the state is far more affectt d by the

communal virus than the elders' As a matter of fact the elders

among both the Hindus 4nd the Muslims continue to exerclse

a sobeiihg and restraining influence on the youths oftheir res-

pective communities. There are a number of train-ing camps-organized

by the RS.S. and the Students Islamic Movement

oflndia ( S. i. M.l.). There has been an increase in the number '

of Islamic cultural centres where indoctrination of Islam and

communal consciousness is inculcated regularly' Followingthe second annual convention of the S.LM.I. in January, 1986

there was a rash of Malayalam posters in several parts of the

state. The heading of the posters in Malayalam would read

something as follows when translated: "The liberation ofIndia through Islarn" The RS.S. replied with a rash of pos-

ters the heading of which ran as follows: "The end of Islam inIndia". With zuch ptouocative slolans can violence be far

behind?

One of the points which the Hindu communalists are

agitated about is the rate of increase in the Muslim population

oi Ke.ala as shown by the 1981 Census. The decadal growth

rate of population in Kerala in l98l was only 19.24o/o cornpared

to the national growth rate of 24.69Yo' The increase of Hindus

of Kerala was l6.7Yo, of Christians l6.4oh and of Muslims

29.6%. This records an increase of 13% in Muslim population

over the two other communities, which is viewed with concern

by the Hindu communalists.

There have been reports oflarge scale funds from abroad

flowing to communal organizalions. The number of Muslim

orphaiages run with thi assistance of such funds has

increased visibly. Those Muslim children wbose parents

cannot afford to look after them are sent to these orphanages'

There have been reports not only about the large scale receipt

4 UNAL VIOLENCL, IN INDIA

of unaccounted funds but alsoduals and institutions.

: gross misuse by indivi-

That funds are being receivedcertain Muslim organisations has

m the Gulf countries byalleged for some time.

There is reason to believe that is to some extent iustified.The latest report refers to the acti of two Kuwaitis whohad visited Kerala in the month o ebruary 1986 even thoughthey had been debarred from vi the State for their allegedrole in funding an organisation i ved in conversion anddistribution of money arnong in Muslim organisations.The circumstances of their visit tosome Muslim League MLAs and

and the complicty ofgovernment function-

aries are all the sort of elements communal politics whichdo not augur well for the growth secularism. Any groupwhich draws on extra territorial introduce s in the pro.cess foreign interest in what sh d strictly be a domesticaffair. And this has an obvious on national integrity.

The Act which seeks to and regulate receipt offoreign funds is more honouredvance. According to a reporgMuslim organisations each of25 lakhs annually from abroad.come through normal banking c

its breach than in obser-are 20 Christian and

are receiving about Rs.of these contributions

els and are meant to be

th

spent for legitimate purposes. of the funds received bythe Islamic institrttions are report$dly used for propagatingfundamentalist ideas and for conv(rsions. Inquiries into this,if at all made by the local policg a{e ofa perfunctory nature.

large scale and grobs violation of th{ law in the receipt and useof these funds received from abroa! is a fact, going by whatunimpeachable sources have to sdv on the subiect Unless

Facmn Contibuting to Communalism 45

therefore the requisite political will is forthcoming to closely

inquire into thJ sources and manner of expenditure of the

funds ofthese various institutions through an agency which is

independent of the state governmen! nothing worthwhile is

likely to come oul This is a matter which can bear closer and

keener scrutiny.

One of the sources offunds is the operation of stnugglers

along the Kerala coasL Considering the nexus between the

underworld and the communal forces whose spread and

strength in fomenting and sustaining communat viglencq has

been demonstrated again and again in Ahmedabad and even

in Bombay, the smuggling operations have to be taken

extremely seriously. A joint operation by the Income-tax and

Enforcement Directorate authorities ought to be a regular fea'

ture, and the outcome continuously monitored' for worth

while results.

There has been rc thinking among certain sections oftheMarxist leadership in Kerala on the subject of aligning with

communal parties. One of their leaders has recently made a

policy statement to the effect that his party will not align itselfwith communal parties in future. But this is a realisation to

which the party has come rather late in the day, chastened bybeing out of power for long and by the depletion of its ranks

"u.r.id by the migration of the disenchanted members to the

RS.S. The real test will be when the Marxist or the Congress

or any other rlational party is able to resist the pull of power,

when what keeps it away from power is lack of a small support

which can be had only by compromising with a communalgroup.

Kerala today represents a very crucial stage in the evolu'

tion of communalism and communaf politics. This is the

direction in which the coudtry in its macro level will be head'ing if the current nexus between politics and communali5m

continues to grow and thrive as in Kerala. Thgugh in the all'India setting communal parties still do not enjoy the status ofan arbiter of the political destiny bf the natioq given time this

46 COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

and sobering influence ofthe elde4.who have been wltnesses rothe traditional peace between the unities over the years.But given the increasing pressures and the sharpercommunal dividg one cannot say fiow long the tenuous peacewill last in this atmosphere, in the best who constitutethe right thinking minority lack the courage of their convic-tions, and the communalised whq constitute the majority arefull of passionate intensities.

d) Visitors from Pakistan and Bangladesh

There is yet another factor which though by itself is in there of a human problenr, tends ito assume communal over-s in the prevailing circumst4nces of Kerala There arert a thousand Pakistani natioirals scattered over the dis-

nature of a human probler& tendstones in the prevailing

tricts of Cannanorq Mallapuram pnd Calicut Many of themdo not want to go back as they afie not wanted in Pakistanwhere they feel that they are as second class citizens.

to these Kerala Muslimsland with plenty of job

Pakistan must have presentedback in the early 1950s as aopportunitieg just as the Gulf have been lookedupon by Indians belonging to all in the recentpast Many of them regret their initflal decision to have gone toPakistan in search of better iob and in the processgetting themselves declared as i citizens-a situationfor which their illiteracv. and poverty had con-tributed in no small measure. But now if theywant to stay,backin Kerala because of family ties thQy are hit by the travel rulesand restrictions that cover theMany such Pakistani nationls

of the two countries.have been. deported on

grounds of overstay have back to their orieinal

about a thousand Pakistani

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 47

places in Kerala and have further overstayed But even among

ihis category there are now two types: those who have

managed to acquire Indian citizenship and those whq even

though located. have not been arrested and deported The

police will not be able to satistactonly explain the anomalous

situation projected by the second type withcut embar?ssment

to themselves. The obvious conclusion is that the police may

have beon told to keep thbir hands offthese persons by politi'cal party leaders in general, and in particular by the MuslimLeague legislators who wield considerable political and

administrative influence in the coalition politics of Kerala- Inany case the problem presented by these Pakistanis gets mixed

up with the coalition politics of Kerala to which it inevitablylends a communal edge.

If one takes into account the number of visiting Pakis-

tanis who remain untraced in India at any given point of timqit becomes easy to conclude that there could be enough agent

provocateurs among them to create problems between the

communities which woulti in turn subserve geo-political andanti-India interests.

It can be stated authentically that since 1980' the average

number of Pakistanis visiting India would bo above.two lakhs,

ofwhom at least about seven to eight thousand remain behind

every year and go underground. The figures of Pakistaniarrivals and those who go untraced in the country have

increased since the 70s.

The large number of Pakistanis visiting India has to be

viewed in the context of the thousands of families which got

divided during the partition and parts ofwhich continue to be

in both the countries. The majority of the visitors are

$enuinely motivated by sentimental considerations and are

iot interisted in politics of any iype that keeps the two coun-

tries aparl If anything they would like to see the countries

coming closer because of the several cultural ties which con'tinue to be common beF.veen them. What should be a matter lorconcern is, when some of these visitors overstay and worse,

48

State of Bihar, Gujarag Madhyaand Uttar Pradesh. Apart from th

run missions for Pakistani

Hindus in India but arePakistan

COIIMUNAL VIOLbNCE IN INDIA

and cattle lifting They alsoence Agencies and many of

espionage work for

they become untraced and go un{erground. T[us the persourwho have remained untraced ovef the years arc those that con-stitute the security hazard

Some of the little knovm aboul Pakistani aatiooalsvisiting India ar€:.oftsn a of them furoish incompleteor false addresses of theirreport their arrivals and/or

in India Many do notto tho police, which is a

statutory requirement Quite a lr of them secretly visitto visit under their visaplaces which they are not

stipulations. A aumber of themoff their Passports and merged

been known tohave torn

them had tried !o pass oll asthe local people. Some ofcitizens. and have moved

the Couds to frustrate actions by the autborities todeport them out of the The problem of untraced

serious particularly in thePradesll Raj asthan, Kerala

Pakistani nationals is

entry ofPakistanis on validdocuments, hundreds of them tratre through the bordersof Rajasthan and Punjab. They mostly smugglers. Theyindulge in crimes such as

them have been known to have aud s€ttled down as

In February 1987 the Chief Jludicial Magistrate of Jam_na_gar had awarded four years rlgorous imprisonment anda fine to a Pakistani national for illegally staying in India andpretending to be an Indian natlional. The Maeistrate hadobserved in his judgement rhar the offender wii holdine aPakistani passport and identify cdrd. yet lie had eot his na;eentered in the voters list on the basis of which he had alsovoted in the last assembly electioins in Guiaral He had alsomanaged to get a ration card.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat idrformed the State Assemblyin February 1987 that as many Ns 303 pakistans had beenundergoing imprisonment in the Jails in the state for the lastone year on various charges.

Factors Contib,uting to Communalism 49

The seizure of31 kgs. ofgold in Delhi on 20th April 1986

from the house of a person who was trying to pass off as anIndian national by name Sunil led to the discovery that Sunilwas a Pakistani national living under an assumed Hinduname andindulgingin smuggling Whathe and his ilkmay be

contributing to the communal virus in India can only beguessed

The then Minister for Intemal Security said in Parliament on24th April 1986 that during the three months preceeding thestatement, ,f4 Pak inlruders and spies were shot dead by oursecurity forceq and 1,333 Pak ihtruders and 13 spies werearrested on the Pakistan border. The number of persons

illegatly crossing from Pakistan to India and vice versa

apprehended by the security forces during the six monthsfollowing Ist October 1985 was 8,547. This was at a time whenvigilance on the IndoPak border by our security forces was

suppoSed to be at is peak This should give an idea of thedimension of the problems of snruggling and related activitiesby Pak nationals who have necessarily their collaborators onthis side of the border.

Ever since the trouble in Punjab got intensified and inparticular immediately before operation Blue Star there hadbeen reports ofPakistani nationals being found in the Punjabgoing about disguised as Sikhs. There could only be onemotive for their presence under the prevailing conditions andthat is to fuel anti-national activities in Punjab, which is onceagain an integral part of Pakistan's political objectives. Pakis-tan is not likely to relax till it has exacted the price according toits reckoning for the dismemberment that it had suffered,and for which it holds India responsible The problem that we

are- facing in Punjab has to be seen in this perspective. Theimplications can'be sinister and will have to be faced-

In this context the observations of Arun Nehru in Parlia-ment in Apri[ 1986 while speaking on the situation in Punjabare relevant.He said: In the last six months 20 to 30 terroristshad been caught (Mr. Nehru had said that he was not giving

50

the exact figures deliberately)tan had been established that hlocationg training schedulestan had given to these terrorists;months nearly L200 wercofwhom 2,050 had been pushedded over to the Puniab Police.

About the complicity ofPunjab there should be no douGen. Mujibur-Rehmarl whoPakistan's Secrotary for Sportstrained specialist in psychsupervising a upecialisedoperations in Punjab. He wasreliable reports handed over aSikh hiiacker of an InJianInterpol had confirmed thatfrom the hijackers wasment from the Company, Wmanv,

India's then Extemalanswering questions at a jointforeign policy committee onIndian Chamber of Commerceber, 1986 is reported to have saidhad given 'day-by-day andIslamabad to show how thePuniab and elsewhere in Indiahow weapons were beingmany disgiused as Sikhs, werethe context of suchauthentic sourc€, about thePakistan to the problems ofvisiting Pakistani who does nottions and regulationg andunderground, is a serious

MUNAL VIOLENCI] IN INDIA

their clear link with Pakis-had all the details of namesthe type of assistance Pakisj

t in the past two and a halfon the westem border.

and the remaining han-

in terrorist actMties inAccording to a report{1),Ltthe time of reporting wasCulture and an Americanwarfare, was incharge ofto undertake subversive

same man who according toWalther pistol to the

plane in August 1984.German pistol recoveredby the Pakistani govern-

Gmbh of West Ger-

Minister P. Shiv Shankarmeetins with the nationalS. foreign policy and theNew York on 25th Septem-

that the Indian governmentby-hour' evidence towho are operating in

being trained in Pakistartto them and how people,

infiltrated into India. Inevidence from the mostiw and contribution of

unalisnr in India- evervbrm to the visa restric-if he gets lost and goes

hazard

Factors Contributing to Communalism 5l

The problem has also to be viewed in the context of the

constant and continuitrg influx of Bangladesh nationals inlarge numbers. They merge easily because of the languageaffrnity with the Bengalis. This subject has to be viewed innational terms rather than in merely narrow political terms inthe context of winning or losing local alections Unless anduntil this subject is viewed by divorcing it from the electionpolitics of interested politicians in the States affected, this preblem can result in violence. Anything short of this will merelybe politics of expediency with consequences which will echofar into the future.

Ashim Mukhopadhyad8) had furnished several detailsabout the inllux of Bangladeshis into West Bengal In thetown of Dhulian in Murshidabad district against the town'spopulation of 24000 the number of ration cards issued was30,000. There are more such places. In 1985, the number oIBangladeshi infiltrants who were pushed back by the BorderSecurity Force on the West Bengal border rvas put at 30,0m.The number who might have escaped detection can onlybe guessed

According to.the flgures of the l98l Censug while WestBengal's total population had risen by 23.17% since the Cen-sus of 1971, the population of the border districts viz. 24Parganas rose by 27.1%, West Dinajpur by 29.3%, Darjeelingby3l%, Cooch Bihgby25%, Nadia by33%, Murshidabad by25.76% an'd Malda by 26%.

West Bengal has a border extending'over 2,100 kilomet-res through paddy lieldg rivers and rivulets and even cuttingthrough houses Fencing a border ofthis t51pe is going to be anextremely dilEcult job. What is worse, the maintenance of thisfencing may well cost more than even the inital cost of fencingThe Border Security Force outposts stretched along the bordernumber about 3fi). The nature of the terrain does rot permitan uninterrupted freld of vision The guarding as of now isclearly inadequatrg if we are to go by the increase in infiltra-tion According to Ashis K Biswas (9) category-wise figures of

I-

52 COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

Bangladeshis who were arrested {nd pushed back by the Bor-der Security Force and other {gencies in 1983 and 1984were:

Table 5Bangladeshis arrested and pushed back at the

West Bengal Bangl{desh Border

1983: Arrested "nd pushed back by the BSFHindus :

[dg3lirns;BurmcssPekistanis

l9E4: Anested and pushed back by the BSFHindus:Muslins:

BurmesgPakistanis

2,57 |6,634

184

159

By other agenciesr347

l0;406,l{U

lfotherS

2,674932s

68

Nil

1,887

7,790)79

The figures of people who h:id entered West Bengal withvalid entry documents but are relorted to have stayed back isbelieved to be over 50,000. They cpnnot be traced because theaddresses in their documents wefe apparently false. Accord-ing to the Inspector General of P$lice, Border Security Force.Calcutta who addressed a Press Conference in 1985. the num-ber ofpeople from Bangladesh who had crossed over withoutthe beneht of legal formalities worlrld be over4O,000 in GreaterCalcutta alone. All these figuSes fuill assume significance inthe years to come.

In recent years there have be$n infiltrations into India bythose among several streams of inigrants from Banglades[who are known as Bifar Muslirris They were the victims ofHindu communalism of the p+partition days Since theycould not I esh with the Punjabi Muslims of West Pakistarlthey wengto East Pakistan where fhe Bengali Muslims inden-titied them with ths eggressive an$ overlording West PakistanMuslims When Bangladesh secdded from Pakistan thoughthere was an understanding that lakistan would take back theBihari Muslim$, this never rf aterialised Nor did theBangladeshis assimilate thern On the countrary theBangladeshis did everything pos$ible to make it difficult forthe Bihari Muslims to continue id Baneladesh. The result has

'I

__ _.1

Facton Contibuting to Communalism 53

been that these Bihari Muslims have been infiltrating back to

the state to which they belonged earlier' This can be another

source of communal trouble in Bihar.

e) Muslim Personal Iaw

Oae of the points of conllicts in recent moaths which has

been agitating a section of the Muslims is their fear'that theirPerso",rl Law is being interfered with because ofthe Supreme

Court judgement in the Shah Bano casa

I owe an explanation for dealing with this sensitive subject of the Muslim Personal Law at some lengtb I.€t me say at-the

outset that I am not going into the merits or the demerits ofthe Muslim Personal Law as I am just trot competent to do soThe reason why I have drawn on the writings of some of the

eminent Muslim scholars is only to indicate that thcre is avolume of progressive Muslim opinion ia India whichdemands some changes which would involve a little departurefrom the Muslim Personal Iaw as construd by th€ Muslimorthodox scction When this demand is resisted successfully

by the orthodox section of the Mustms' it gives rise to aa

impressioq whether rightly or nrongly among the norMuslims in India that the section of the Muslims who are

averse to the idea of change have had their way on matlers inwhich even the otler Islamic couptries have themselves

advocated and adopted wide rangiog changes .This haE

created an impression among a sectioq-of the Hindus aboutthe ascendency of Muslim fundamentalism' and its ability toinfluence government's action These sections of the Hindusin turn have tried to match this with their own brand of strl'dent and aggressive Hindu communalism- My purpose indealing with this subject therefore is limited to the extdt ofrecognising the existence of this gonfrontation, as it is cortributing towards vitiating an atmospher€ which alreadystands charged with communalism. The peace of any place

largely depends on how an average man perceiv,es a problem'a situation, or €veo a commudty's behaviour.'.What one ItcFceives as tnrth has no relevance to what the truth in fact iq in acomplex social context In a plural society like the one that we

54 UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

are Uving in, hou' each comm perceives the othcr com:munitv becomes a factor to peace as well as strife.

Muslim Personal Law has vast changes in thcdilferent Muslim countries as Tunisia, Pakistan andothers Pakistan enacted the M Familylawof 196l giv-ing effect to a ntrmper of demands of Patistaniwomert" According to one of its divorce must becarried out under judicial and it is no longer a purelyprivate unilateral act It has beeo thatwhenGen Ziadeclared martial Jaw with the of the socallcd fun-damentalistg thcy demanded as price for their support therepeal of the FamilyLaws The oppositionto such

widespread from somea demand was so very vociferousof the leading women members Pakistan society that GenZia had to yield" It is said that wife told him that if he didnot scrap the repealing Bi[ would herself publiclyassociate with theto the women s

Bil(10).prctests and

Muslim scholars from allSrinagar on 7th October, 1985week According to the scholargment in the Shnh Bano case

Shariat or the Koran As

against it Getr Zia bowedscrapped the repealing

the country collected atparticipate in the Shariat

the Suprcme Court judgemisinterpreted the Koran

and ignored the traditions of the Sulaiman Sait President of the Indian Uni,on m kague was of the vicw

to create conflict betweenthat there is a deliberateMuslim men and women and a conspiracy to weaken thecommunty as a whole G.M. MP, saidtheMusllnPersonal Law is an inseparable of their religion

The Supreme Court on the Shah Bano cas€the Muslims themselves.provoked divergent reactions

Some of the leaders of the community itl Kerala ledby one P.V. Shautat Ali formed an Islamic Shariat Board

was not againsl fis l3lamisthis. the Studctrts Islamic

which declared that the

Movement in lndia wamed that ims in Maharashtra wouldobsewe Republic Day as "Black if the Supreme Courtverdict on the Shah Bano case not oyemrled.

Factors Contibuting to Communalism

What is at issue is the dilemma of the state in ieconcilingthe cotrcept ofjustice and equality in a plural society with the

sectional demands of a community based on religioru whichgo counter to this equality.The Personal Law provides a focalpoint which, to a s€ction of the Muslims, is what alone willpres€rve their separate identity as a community. Quit€ a

significant segment of the Muslim men and women do notsubscribe to this idea

M.RA Baig who was private secretary to late M'.d Jin-nah till 1940 observes{l l): "There is ample evidence thatMohammed Himself never intended that social developmentof Muslims should stop when Revelation ceased on hisdeath.... On the contrary Mohammed's concept of future Islamhas been clearly brought out by the great authority on Islam,Syed Amir Ali, when in THE SPIR"IT OF TSLAM he wrote:

'the Great Teacher with His keen anxiety and breadth ofviewsperceived and one may say foretold that the time would comewhen the tccidental qnd temporary regulations would have tobe different from the permanent and general You are in anagg he declared, in which ifyou abandon l/lOthofwhat isbeing ordered, you will be ruined After this a time will comewhen he who shall observe l/l0th of the now ordered willbe redeemed.'

Writing about the Muslim Personal Law the late lvlC.Chagla, who had been a Chief Justice and our Foreign Minis'tar(1973) observed: "Consider the attitude of the governmentto the question of alJniformCivil Code. Although the directiveprinciples of the state enjoins such a Codg govemment has

refused to do anything about it on the plea that the minoritieswill resent any attmept at imposition-.. I wholly andemphatically disagree with this view. The Constitution isbinding on every ong majority and minority and ifthe Constitution contains a directivg that directive must beaccepted and implemented Jawaharlal showed great strengthand courage in getting the Hindu Reform Bill passed" but heaccepted the policy of laissez faire where the Muslims andother minorities were concerned" I am horrified to find that inmy country while monogamy has been made the law for the

))

56 CoMMUNAL vloLENcE tN rNDtA

Hindug Muslirns can still indulge in polygamy. It is an insultto womanhoo{ and Muslim wopen l knoq resent this dis_crimination between Muslim wdmen and Hindu women,,

According to M.C. Chagla .'Government.s policy ofconstantly harping on minority status and minoiity rightscomes in the way of national uniry and emphasises thedifference between the majority cbmmunity and ihe minority.Ofcourse, it may serve well as a vote catching device to winMuslim votes but I do not belfeve in sacrificins nationalinterests in order to get tempqrary party bene-fits.... TheCongress government has also ofien followed what I can onlycall the old British policy of corltmunalism."

Tahir Mohammed writes (13) :t "Islamic laws of marriage,divorcg succession are treated bythe general run of Muslimsas an integral part oftheir religiorl. They sincerely beli'eve thatthe Muslim Personal Law is co-tQrminus with the Koran andthe Sunna.... Muslim Personal Law both in India andelsewhere has in its fabNc m{ch more man-made thanscriptural rules..... All the gre{t doctors of law whoseinterpretations of and deductiong from certain Koranic and

. Sunnite text form the basis of lrrfrluslim personal Law, haddeclared that their words were nei{her final or binding even ontheir contemporaries, to say nothing ofthe future generations.It is in keeping with these fafts about the nature and

f-

dynamism of Muslim Personal L4w that it has been reformedby a large number of Muslim cor!ntries.... In fact the variousreforms needed can easily be intr$duced in Muslim personalLaw without going outside the bdoad Islamic frameworlc',

M.RA Baig writes in his bqok: "No one has drawnattention to the anachronisms itrr Islam more clearlv thanMohabubul Hoh who wrore in an arricle : "The iiea ol'implementing the Koranic laws i4 the modern state is simplyan absurdity. It is either foolishntiss or hypocrisy to corceivean Islamic state of Islamic culture todav as Islam is

rmprementlng tne Koranrc laws i4 the modern state is simplyan absurdity. It is either foolishntiss or hypocrisy to corceivean Islamic state of Islamic c+lture today as Islam isadumberated in the Koran. Neith$r the Koran nor the Sunnapermits a Muslim to repeal any la{ or principle of the Koran...We have already said that the relilion of a community is the

Factorc Contibuting 60 Communalism 57

totaliw of thoSe laws and principles which uphold.or seek to

;;;;ii;h;i."mmunitv' ihe religion of Islam is inconceiv-

af,le witfrout the Koran" Without the Koranic laws' an

iJu-i. t,ut. oists nowhere except in the mind of the fools or

on the lips of the hypocrites"' (14)'

Baig continues: "A lot of re-thinking has to take placa but

wtro riitt do it? The Ulema claims that any ljma or ljtihad is

ift"i. c"a given function. They have made no- move since

irra"p..rO.i"" and show no sign of doing so' Nor can it be

a*p""t"d of th"m. ln poor economic circumstances and rarely

Jucated in any subject but theologr, they may know the Koran by

heart but little of what is going on in the worlcl"" Yet they claim

u rl.t ot'ayu..hy' with Fersonal Law as a'reserved subject"

Besides even they cannot have it both ways' If the Koranic

provisions governing polygamy, divorcg inheritance etc'

cannot be amended, then the provisions governing amputa'

tion of hand, chastisement of women, etc' must be strictly

cornplied with. If however, it is permissible 1o- disregard

certain provisions, then there can be no doctrinal objection to

the ametrdment of others. Muslim lndian arg therefore in the

unenviable position of being unable to be good citizens and

prlctising Muslims simultaneously' This is thejr dilemma'

ih".. is io way out of this dilemma except reforms of the

social element oithe moral social system which in its totality is

.lslam. Muslim lndians havg therefore, to decide whether they

will continue to live as hypocrites or whether they will

reconcile the anachronisms and anomalies of Islam with the

India of today, legitimatise the inevitable changes and live in

India with a iree iotttcie.tce and as good citizens' The Ulema

*itt O" nothing to resolve their dilemma and it is for the

thinking Muslims to take up the challenge' If thev refuse to

move ind signs of movement are difficult to discern" then

iarliament, tini"h it of all Indiaris, by all Indians and for all

Indians, irrespective of castg cred' or communify, must move

for thern Democracy has a duty to pqrform to social progress

and must never tolerate social stagnation"'

Some of the Muslim wnmen who had sutfcr€d the rigoun

of divorce and the members of the Muslim Satya Shodhat

58 MUNAL VIOLENCE tN INDIA

Mandal, Pune and other social made a fervente Prime Minister for the re

Women (Protection ofrights on divorce) Billwhich has been passed by both thehouses of Parliament in thebecome law.

session of 1986, and

That a section of the was strongly against theproposed Bill was more than

plea on 25th February 19g6 roconsideration of the proposed

The number of Muslim students aboard examination in l97g fromworks out to a little more than 0.2%

resignation of Arif Mohammedin the Central Cabinet ingoing into the merits of theone cannot resist observing thattrces, compromised standards,rampant cynicism have become

appeared.for the Class X Board54000 or one thousand per lakh of

ply demonstrated by thewho was a Minister of Stateagainst the Bill. Without

n ofArif Mohammed Khana time when shoddy prac-mmunalised politics andintegral part ofour politi-

tion in 1978 wasuon or one Dercenl

cal culture, Arif Mohammed by sacrificing his highoffice for what he thought was a inciple worth standing upfor has shown himself up as afaded fabric of public life.

d ofscarlet in an otherwise

f) Educational profile of uslims

In the context of the perso Laws the backwardness ofis very relevant Ahmedauthority on the state of

Muslims in the educational fiRashid Sherwani (15), who iseducation amongthe Muslimg in article gave the followingfigures which speak for th

The populati,on of Delhi in I 8 was about 54 lakhs ofwhom Muslims were 5.1 lakhs. number of students who

lbr the secondaryDelhi was jusr 907. ThisI Delhi's Muslim pdpLrla-

tion Out of all the 54000 srudents appeared,6T% passed,while of the Muslims who only 46% passed Out ofthe totaloff4oO0 about4000 got first ision. Otrt 6f907 Muslimsonly27 got firsr division. This

i

ut to about0.7% of all the

Facnrs Contibuting to Communalism 59

first divisioners' This would mean that if 1000 first divisioners

"o*p"t" fot uamission to any good course.ofstudy' just about

; ;;h;; ;t. fikely to be Muslims' ln Bihar 250 per lakh of

Vfortittt, "pp"uredln

the entrance examination in 1978 and in

iJtt"t p*a.ift it was 125. In Delhi it was only 180 per lakh' In

q"ii. u "".t.r of placeq the Muslims have beer' going to

,chools run by their own society though quite a smz'Il percen-

tage of .them have also been joining the general stream'

The very low perccntage of Muslim students going up for

higher education is probably also due to the fact that they are

co]ntent with the Madrassa type of education and do not pur'

sue higher studies either due to want of interest or due to

strong-economic reason The Madrassa system of education

has cirtain built-in characteristics' In the words of ,dR Sayed

of Jamia Milia Islamia" Delhi (16): "Some scholars have poin'

ted out that behind the conservatism of the Ulema lies the

traditional Madrassa seminary system of Ulema education

which is the pivotal institution for the continuation of the

Islamic tradition. In India the training imparted in most

Muslim seminaries has managed to remain stagnant due to

adherence to what is known as the Nizami syllabus whose

style and content continue to be more or less the same as for-

rrotut d at the end of lTth Century by an Indian,theological

scholar Mulla Nizamuddin (1669 to 1748)"' Suffice it to say

that in contemporary society there are few educational

anachronisms that can rival Madrassas in India" Thus when

one bears in mind the nature and ethos of the Madrassas and

the socio-economic background of its recruits, one sees that itwould be futilg on purely sociological grounds for anyone to

expect any initiative or concurrence for any change in the

Mlstm Personal Law from th-ese custodians of custom and

tradition The Ulemas find a ready audience among these

semi-literate, anxious and insecure people for whom religion

is the only possession that matters and in which they are

therefore unwilling for any compromise"' Thus in lndia the

relative backwardness of the Muslim commuriity has given

the Ulemas a large number of allies' Like the Mandarins ofImperial China the Ulema too are afraid of change and

of stagnatiorl"

Name of districts in orderof percentage ofMuslirnsPurneaMadhubaniKatiharSanthalparganaDarbhangaBhagalpurWest ChamparanSitamarhi

In the context of all thatwritings of different Muslim scthe attidue and conditions of

No of Madrassas

ln

454103

68686l4737

been' quoted from thewhich has a bearing on

Muslims in independentIndi4 it seems rather strange thatshould attribute the wils and ills

Shahabuddin, MP(17),Muslim society in India

is suffering fronl to f the majority community.He observes: "The Muslim commcultural and political insecurity.

is in a state ofphysicalprevailing self-imageris

,largely that of deprivation, ination and helplessnesS ofbeing surrounded by the rising fi of Hindu chauvinismand of being the object of Hi anxiefy to assimilate or toabsorb it within its fold.. After I the year which I havecalled the psychological the Muslims in India

made a conscious effortappear to have made their choicetowards adjustment with their If educationalbackwardness persists it is due to their relative

hment of govertrmenteconomic backwardness. ninstitutions in adequate n in Muslim villages and

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 61

Mohallas, virtual banishment of Urdu from the educational

,"fi"U"t in the Hindi-belt, Hindu overtones, found in text

iloott putti""farly of languages and history deliberate Hin'a"irutii" of school culture and insecurity about qmploy-

ment"

The statistics, however, speak a different story' An

average Musliir inlhe rural areas sees modern education as a

threaito Islamic values and he prefers to seud his children to

Vtuatur.ut and Maqtabas, which while teaching-them about

irturn Ao "ot "quip

them with the knowledge required for their

socio-economic upward mobility.'

N.C. Saxena, of the indian Administrative Service (18)'

who was the Revenue Secretary in Uttar Pradesh Td.Yh9 ul

the time was on deputation to lhe Government of lndia hadl

w.itt"n an article under the title : "Public Employment andl

Educational Backwardness among Muslims in lndia"' Some

of th. con.lusions he arrived at are being reproduced

below :

Field data was collected from 45 districts, in 12 states

spread over the country where Muslim population was signifi-

cant The number of Muslims in the surveyed districts was

I7 .32Yo. Thenumber of Muslims in the elementary schools in

these45 districts was 12.39%. In a similar survey done in 38 dis-

tricts spread over eleven states which had a Muslim popula-

tion ofl8.56% the Muslim enrolment in secondary school was

10.707o. In high schools spread over eleven states where the

population was 12%, the percentage of Muslim enrolment rffas

"ity +Vr.In the l2th class spread over five. Boards.where the

Muslim population was 10.30%' the Muslim enrolment was

only 2.+9o/o. In the Engineering classes spread,over nine

Universities which had a Muslim population of l2'44o/o, the

enrolment was 3.417o. In 12 Medical college spread over an

area where the Muslim population was 9'55%' the Muslim

enrolment was only 3.44o/o. The figures of population percen-

tage referred to are based on the l97l Census whereas the

rtld"tttt' enrolment from which the percentage has been

worked out relates to the year 198l-1982. The conclusion that

62 COMMUNAL vtolrjNcE lN |NDIAcan be drawn is that at the hilh schools and higher levelsMuslims are only 25o/o of tfr"-[trr.. .o_o,"]rffi'i, ,rr.i,enrolment

, Saxena has quoted in the corlrse of his study rhe followingobservations of Sherwani on ttre fuUiect olUuJfim-e'Jucation

secular leaders have been tellinejobs because of discrimination. I

a Scheduled Tribe candidate eotno Muslim name in the lirst 70."

and employmenl

"And all this while the m leaders and the Hinduuslims they are not geitingnot deny discrimination.

We Indians are the most discri ting people on earth... Butthe position is that Muslimschance to discriminate againstAnyone can discriminate asaiquali$ and compete. HowThis no one tells, neither the MHindu leaders who go aboutMuslims."

Saxena quoting S. Nazeem

im leaders nor the secul;rthe best friends of the

Zaidi (19) observes:"In the last hve years no M candidate secured aposition in the merit list of Class XII examinations con-ducted by the Central Board of Hi er Secondary Educatior!which has a network ofschools s throughout the countrywith l6 branches in other Muslim tries. In the merit list ofXII Class foi the 1983 examinatio out of the first 70 students,

I st positioq but there was

It is significant that Muslimsschools did much better than

in Hindi medium

nninority Urdu medium instiuslims who studied inNot only wa! the overall

percentage of Muslims better in medium schools but

not even giving anyone aem in worthwhile services.Muslims only when thevMuslims are competing-?

the number of first divisionersas compared to Urdu medium

On the basis of informationCommissio4 Saxena has o

such schools was higher)ls.

llected from the Minority. that out of the students

who appeared at the B.A examina of Delhi University in

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 63

1980, only 137% were Muslims as against the Muslim popula-

,i"" l"-O.ftti "

f 9.4o/o.lt B.Com', B'Sc" and Engileering their

"".t.t in Delhi Unversity was 1'357o, 1'30% and l'04%

respecitivelY.

The Hamdard Education Society did an all India survey

of 430 Muslim'managed schools and 44 Muslim-managed

degree colleges in 1983. According to the flgures quoted by

Saiena thJ number of non-Muslim students in these

institutions ros e from3.'|o/o at the primary level to 59'6% at the

graduate level while in the case of the Muslim boys the percen'

iage declined from 56.3 at the primary level to 32' I at the

gruduut level. The percentage of Muslim girls also.declined

Irorn 40 at the primary level to 8.3 at the graduate level

The conclusions arrived at by Saxena on the ba3is of his

study are broadlY as foilows:

l) At the high schools and intermediate levels which are cru'cial for employment purposes, the percentage of Muslims is

roughly ll4th to l/3rd of ,vhat it should be according to

their population.2) The drop-out rate of Muslim students keeps going up pro'gressively as they move up in the educational level comparedto the non-Muslim students.

3) The Muslim students did better in non-denominationalschools than in Muslm-managed schools.

4) Educational institutions managed by Muslims attract at

the higher levels rnore non'Muslims than Muslims'5) The number of first divisioners among the Muslim can'

didates is vey low.6) Schools and colleges tend to be located in Hindumajority localities.

g) Muslims'Share in EmPloYment

The number of Muslim lndian Administrative Service

Officers up to 1981 was 116 out of 3883 which works out to

2.99Vo. ln the Indian Police Service out of 1753' there were 50

which works to 2.8570. ln 1317 branches of Banks, upto 1980

the number of Muslim employees was 2'18o/o'

64 an 'rrr '\' ^ rcolvf MUNAL VTOLENCE lN INDIA

Data collected from 83 employment offices spread overfourteen stares show thar out of a'total of 4l.gg iakh regis_trations. 2.82 lakhs were Muslimb constituting 6.770/o. Out of1,16,305 placements effected 6.170 were Muslims constituting5.31%.In57 employment exchanges spread over eleven states,the total number of Muslim candlidates was 2.50 lakhs out ofwhich 50% were with qualificatio4s below mat ic.37 .25% wrthqualifications of latric/higher s(condary. 6.7lyo with degreequalificationg 0,83% with post-gpaduate qualilications and5.15% with professronal qualificaiion. Source: (20) Saxena.

Muslims in Public Seqtor UndertakingsFrom the Annual Reports df 82 Public Sector Under-

takings of the Central Governmerit, it was revealed that out of449 Directors, only 2l(4.2o/o) were Muslims and out of 13.916senior officers, only 321(2.320/o) wbre Muslims.

Muslims in Stale JudiciaryMuslim representation amofrg the judicial officers in

some of the state governments wds as follows in l98l:

Table ZRepresentation of Mu$lims in Judiciarv

Name of the state

Andhra PradeshAssamBiharGujaratHaryanaKarnatakaKeralaMaharashtraOrissaUttar PradeshWest Bengal

Muslims Percentage

JI3lIU

36

9.4820.00

8.748.746.257.17

7.63

3.090.765.s93.l l

4,12

32lr)1

a9614

2

t6l9l92

Ml3

Total 303

Facton Contibuting to Communalism

Muslims in Competitive Examinations

In order to assess the performance of Muslim candidates

in competitive examinationg data collected from some of the

State Public Service Commissions were as in the followingtable:

Table'8

Muslims' perfonnance in competitiveexaminations held during 1978-1980

(Source Saxena)

Muslim Percentage in total

Nameofthe @Commission eared for inter

vrew

65

Andhra PradeshTamil NaduUP Combined StateServicesBihar Combined StateServicesMadhya Pradesh

4.273.95

8.46

4.54

2.89

5.J I3.91

t.2l

6.36

1.77

7.30

r.70

3.064.63

2.46

On 3rd July, 1983 the Staff Selection Commission con-ducted an examination to fill about 7,000 vacancies in variousgrades of central services. Nearly 6,000 can{idates opted to

take the examination in Aligarh. It was conducted there in 13

sub-centres. A survey of 5 of these sub'centres revealed thatthe percentage of candidates from the Aligarh MuslimUniversity ranged from 2 to4.2 with the average of3.3. The rest

were all graduates from other institutions. This was the state ofaffairs in Aligarh itself Comm'enting on this, Naseem AZaidi(2|\ has observed: "The attitude of Muslim parents andguardians and their approach to education make a real dif-ference. The children are not inspired to aspire for highei

l-

6 coil4MUNAL vtoLENCE lN INDIA

acadeniic standars and are not rqminded oftheir present tasksand future targets Muslim leadefship in India (if there is one)is always obsessed with non-issqes with the objective of prejecting ic own image in the conimunity without making anyserious effort to reform it Since ilrdependence the communityhas produced numerous self-styled and self-centred politicalleaders, but no social reformer worth the name."

Information about some of the licences granted by thestat€ govemmeot is as follows:

Table 9Muslim share in Licences

(Source: Saxena)

SsrnI'le

Fair PriceShopsOlher/Shops Licences

Truck Permits

Bus PermitsAuto RickshawV TaxisSalc of houses

constructed by govern-mcnl

Employment of Muslimsundertakings was as follows:

3.5 lakhs 0.24 lakhs 6.97

l.94 lakhs 0.24 Lakhs 1225

17.00

l7.N20202.E6

Percen-tage

1,06,110 18038

26,9X 452482,000 l7m0t2rA47 34't8

Muslims in Pri Sector Jobs

id some of the private sector

9 statesdistrictq13 state$lo-1.ts

Total no. Muslims

Factors Contributing to Communalism 67

Table 10Muslims in Private Sector

Employment

Name of theundertaking

Muslim Share in (Percentage)

Executive Supervisory WorkersCadre Cadre Cadrc

TISCO 4.1

Texmaco NilMafatlal NilCalico 0.68

Mahindra & Mahindra 1.48

Orkay 3.3

J.K Industries 2.63

Indian Explosives Nil

5.6 10.30

0.3 4.4

t.72 3.53

N.A" 10.2rt( {ot3.00 11.9

2.28 5.41

2.73 7.W

Data collected from 145 private enterprises in 33 districtsof 12 states show that the Muslim share in supervisory non'technical jobs and in the category ofworkers was respectively

8.287o and 7 .93a/o. Their share in technical supervisory posts

was, however, otly 2.49Vo (164 out of 6,622 post$ (22)

Inspite of the foregoing statislics, when Muslim leaders

repeat charges of being discriminated against, one wonderswhether this is due to lack of knowledge of facts, or their anx-iety to pressurise the government into giving a protected statusto Muslims for employment purposes. A self-conscious andsulking religous minority is prone to be exploited by the frus-trated elitr! among them, who will provide leadership on thebasis of an ideological ori€ntation. Such efforts would onlyfurther aggravate the communal problem and alienate thecommunity yet more from the mainstream of national life.

Statistics relating to the backwardness of Muslims in the

freld of education should be a matter of concern for all who are

concerned with the welfare ofthe country generally. The disin-clination of weaker sections among the Muslims to make use

of the available educational facilities could be mainly due to

been coming to the Muslims from the Arab countries have norneen utilized to run modern tional institutions for

68 CO44MUNAL VI0LENCE lN tNDtA

economic reasons. Many of th(m who may be engaged intraditional occupations such as Frtisans and the likJ may beunwilling to forego the meagre Saily income that they maybe earning should they get divefted to schools on a regularbasis. It is worth exploring whgther a system of educationcould be devised which while permitting the pursuit oftraditional avocation could also provide for a few hours ofregular education.

It is absolutely imperative that the spread of educationamong Muslims, both male anld female embraces a verymuch larger section than it does at present One can unders-tand the econornic constraints of the poorer sectios among theMuslims. According to one of thp surveys, more than 70yo ofIndian Muslims live below the poVerty line. This is understan-dable considering the large scalei and pitiless exploitation ofMuslim artisans who have spedialised in several arts andcrafts such as carpet weaving, lock making brasswaremanufacture, zari works, bangle gaking leather and .chikanwork and others. The wages tha[ are paid to these talentedworkers are exteremly low for whfch both Muslim and Hinduemployers and middlemen are eql-rally responsible. There hasbeen no effort to organise thesd several thousand workersthrough cooperatives and trade irnions, with the result thatthey are not able to get their righiful wages to which they areentitled Shri. Asgar Ali Engineer (23) writing in his book ..In-

dian Muslims: A study of the nlinority problem in India",deplores the fact that'the Muslim leadership' in India is guiltyof callously neglecting the real prqblem of the Muslim masses.He has been cri:ical of the fact that the vast funds whiph have

Muslims. He has pointed ouc "The Muslim lea(ership is noless resporuible for keeping the Muslim problem politicallyalive as it helps them in making Qpportunistic alliances, thusallve as lt helps them in making qpportunistic alliances, thusenabling them to reach the coiridors of power". He hascriticised the Muslim leadership fior bringing up only issueswhich are of an emotional such as the Muslim Per-sonal Law, the status of Urdu, thp Minoritv character of the

Factors Contributing to Communalism 69

Aligarh Muslim University and the like. Such issues get high

lighted and this is always at the expense of the genuine plo-blems of the Muslim masses. Agitating on such emotionalissues while neglecting the basic problems of the Muslimmasses has not been without its impact in fuelling com'munalism among the Muslims.

According to Article 45 of the Constitution : "The state

shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years fromthe commencement of this ConstitutiorL for free and com'pulsory education for all children until they complete the age

of 14 years." Article 46 reads as follows: "The state shall prom-ote with special care the educational and economic interests ofthe weaker sections of the people and in particular, of the

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protectthem from social injustice and all forms of exploitation".

While Section 45 is not being complied with rigorously,Section 46 is being followed with regard to the Scheduled Cas'tes and Scheduled Tribes. But the application of these articlesto all the weaker sections including Muslims leaves somethingto be desired. ln view however ofthe importance that educa-tion has in bringing into being an enlightened society inwhich violence will be reduced to the minimum. we canflotafford to ignore the imperatives contained in Article 45 and46of the Constitution. Article 46 is as relevant to the weaker sec'tions among the Muslims as it is to the Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes.

h) Muslims and Elections

There are l4 districts in India with a Muslim majority and114 districts where the population is 15% and abovg againstthe national figure of l2o/o. There has been an increase in thenumber of Muslim MPs in Parliament in the 80s. There were

32 Muslim MPs in the 1977 Parliament, 45 Muslim MPs in1980 and 42 Muslim MPs in the 1984/1985 Parliament Thereare 120 Parliamentary and 700 Assembly constituencies all

be a decisive factor in tipping the one way or the other.Hence the political parties a speical mention in theirrespective election manifestoes df what they want to do for theMuslims in the event of theif getting elected. The con-siderations that go into the ions of the average Muslimvoter are the short-term rather long-term interests, andthe extent to which the candiddte himserr ls svmDatheticthe cause of the Muslims. The Muslims are keenlv conscious

tions in Maharashtra, as a countdr to the other politic;lties. A party called Dalit Muslirtr Suraksha Mihasang

of the extent to which they can irtfluence the composition of astate legislature an{ their leader5hip understandably has notbeen averse to advising them on the lines which will besr suuthe interest of the community. The nature and content of theadvice thus has a lot to do with the communal outlook of theleaders themselves. The position as of now generally is for theMuslims to align with differe nt political parties with a view robe able to play the role ofpressu4e groups within the party. InWest Bengal and Tripur4 Musliins have been known to havevoted on ideological considerations in favour ofthe leftist par-ties. though in Kerala they have lenerally voted in favour ofthe Muslim League. The lnhad- Ul-Muslimeen in AndhraPradesh had done extremely well in the Hyderabad Corpora-tion elections ofl986. They are the single largest party with 3gseats in a house of 100. This meadrs rhat depending on the cir-cumstances, sections of Muslins would not be averse to keeDtheir politieal identity separate ftom other parties.

Emerging out of the anti- resorvation agitation in Gujaratis a trend which, though it has been there in certain olacesinthe country in a more or less dor manl form. is now coming tothe surface. During the riots in Alrmedabad a slogan tha{ wasraised was: "Muslim-Harijan Bh4i Bhai". The implications ofthis shoutd be evident to anyone who is a srudint of com-munal politics in lndia. There wss also a move by one of theleading names in the smuggling ivorld of Bombay to form apolitical alliance between a sectipn of the Muslims and theDalits to fight rhe 1984-1985 parl[ament and Assemblv elec-tions in Maharashtra. as a counter to the other political oar-

Facton Contributing to Communalism 7l

also formed in 1984 in Bombay. F-or whatever reasorl this

political alliance of convenience did not take off the groundSuch a trend, however, has disturbing possibilities for the

future. This coupled with the active hostility of some Harijansto the Hindu form of worship, as had been reported from cer-

tain places in Gujara! are straws in the wind which it would be

unwise to ignore. The conversion of Harijans to Islam in large

numbers at Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu in the recent

pas! and the allegations of using Gulf money for this purposgare all factor which though yet very minor, hold possibilities fora realignment of forces which is likely to generate reactive com-munalism in the majority community. It is this that is of con'cern for the purposes of the present study.

According to a report, Indian Muslims have been prom-ised support by the World Islamic Fundamentalist YouthMovement for their struC€Ie to uphold their Personal Law andtheir striving for "Political, social and economic justice".

Recently, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)met at Riyadh for six days during which 53 papers includingone on Indian Muslims were discussed

These point to a process not of inlegration but ofdivisiveness between communities which just cannot be wished away.They are facts of life and they need to be faced squarely.

As long as politicians whether of the majority or theminority communities use the ignorant, illiterate and thefanatical fringe of the respective communities as their tools,communalism in the way in which it has played havoc withthe lives and ptoperties of people can never be eliminatedfrom Indian society. The tendency to treat the communities as

vote banks by the communal learJers" to win elections and per-petuate their leadership is one of the important causes of the

lrowth of communalism over the years When politics gets

communalised the political gedius of a communalist consistsin extracting the last ounce of political advantage even fromthe ruins of the peoplg regardless of whether tliey belong tothe majority or the minority communities.

'12

or seculansm rather than sloglan-mongering and $oup_singing that will eliminate commrinalisrn lnstead of usine theusing theelections as occasions for buildin]g more bridges between themajority and minority comm and also between thedifferent caste groups, political at the time ofelections is destroying whatever $ridges are still left berweenthe communities

The Raghubir Dayal on the RanchiHatiariots in 1967 observed: "The ooli parties should chalgetheir attitude in approaching people for their gain.especially at elections. They not exploit communaland caste feelings for their pu No political, economic or

or agitated from a purelycultural issues should be dicommunal angle. Communal y should be taken to betoo sacred to be tampered with mere political gain"

The Madon Commission

of secularism rather than

Maharashtra government to I1970 observed: "There areorganisations which do notpersons of a particular

(1970) set up by theinto the Bhiwandi riots oftical parties and othertheir membership only to

. Nonethelesg theiractivities are communal and to members of one com.munity only. As a facadg they a few persons of their com-munities as members and verv as office.bearers Thereare ofliceseekers in every comm and such persons canalways be found to serve as a fro in an atteinpt to cloak thereal nature of such political party organisation Such par-

be treated as communalties and organisations in a state morganisations and communal

Factors Contibuting to Communalism 73

The threemember Commission set up in Bihar to inquire

into the 1979 disturbances in and around Jamshedpur obser-

ved : "The list of recommendations wilt not be complete with'

cut a reference to the attitude of the political parties' in relation

to matters connectecl with communalism' They have always

resarded the cogtmunities as vote banks and directed theil

orlnru-*., and plan of action accordingly' \'ote means

il*".r. und, to the politician's hearl power is dearer than any

iitt.t'"o"iia..ations' This attitude must change' This is

r"li*fv a matter ol'political will and the Commirsion can do

tro rnot. than invite attention to this malady and the impera-

tive need of finding an appropriate remedy for it"

One of the imperatives of a plural society is the cultiva-

tion of an abiding faith between communities' This should

enable the electoril representation of the interests ofall by any

candidate, regardless of the communal and caste denomina'

iionr. u"io.tittately however, this mutuality of faith which is

the sine qua non oia secular society is not much in evidence'

eaatettittg the 1961 September Conference 'on National

i"i"g."rioi, Dr. Zakir Huisain(24) observed: "I am not sure of

.y iuoo, but Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was somebody in

our national life. When he stood for election and a seat had to

be found for hinL it was found at Rampur because of the con'

siderable Muslim votes there. But he refused to stand from

Rampur. Then a seat was found at Gurgaon because of the

considerable number of Meos there' But we should have put

him up in a 1007o Hindu constituency and got defepted' It

mieht Lave been a defeat, but there would have been the moral

victry of integration The party might suffer, but then the

party would come back with a stronger programme.of integra-

iion;. Such a happy state ofaffairs one can eventually hope to

arrive at if only *i tak" th. first step forward in that direction

Presuming instead that the path to such a goal is-packed with

political riines and hence ii not within the art of the possible

in the prevailing political state oflndian politics, is to give up

the figit.n..t b"fot" it is begun. Fears imagined can be far

more frightening than experiences lived through'

74

l--COMMT/NAI VIOLENCE IN INDIA

.. ..9"Jt when political parties fate a decision in principlethat they will not exploit commun[lism as an expedient to win:1.-1",1o

eithe.r.by sgtting uq caFrdidates belonging to only'those communities who constitut$ a sigrrifrcant 16;;, rf il;electorate in the concerned const[tueici"s o, *ni irrJo4. iopromises during the election camfiaign which fraue a Aisiincicommunal flavour, would we havq taken the first and the mostimportant step towards decommqnalising politics and therety gloilg. the required support to seculirism- It may be aworthwhile move towards bringifg secularism to the grassroots if important nationai politicpipartios can, as a matter ofpolicy, avoid putting up candida{eJwho belong to the samecommunity as the largest number of voters in an--y constituen_cy. This certainly has its limitaqions in terms of practicalapplication. The conscious effort that has characterised theselection of candidates in the pasf has been to field minoritvcandidates in constituencies which have a preponderance ofthe minority.population Such calgulated aggravation of com-munalism can and should be abindbned as imaner ofprincipl'eunless such a course has to be takerh in any particular situationfor reasons of transparent validityl May 6i that such a coursewill inevitably result in the loss off few seats. But once all thenatiolal political parties adhere tO this pnnciple consistenlythe message will not fail to reach and-be endorsed in duecourse by the people generally. As pf now the tendencv on thepart'of the national political parti+s to take an opportunisticstand towards communalism prOvides the muih neededlegitimacy to communal ideology pnd what is worse disablesthese political parties fnrm making any positive move towardssecularisation of politics

Case Studies of CommunalRiots in Moradabad (1980),Bhiwandi (1984), Malegaon(L982), Biharsharif (1 98 1 ),Belgaum (1984) andAhmedabad (1985 and 1986)

Moradabad city in Uttar Pradesh has a Muslim popula-

tion of 47o/o. After the riots in 1971, which were handled effec-

tively, Moradabad had been free from communal tensions tillAugust 19th 1980 when violence erupted again on ld-ul-Fitrday. The local residents put the figure of those killed beween

250 and 300. The oflicial figures were 144 persons killed Most

of the deaths occurred on the hrst day of the riots as a result ofpolice firing. The incident was sparked offby the entry of a pig

towards the Namazis (Muslims offering prayers) on the cityside of the road The Muslims thought that the police had been

responsible for inducting the pig into the area and agitated

crowds started throwing stones at the police. The Senior

Superintendent of Police who was hit on the head collapsed

and had to be removed The Additional District Magistratewas dragged away by some six persons and was latel found to

have been done to death. The lynching of some of the

policemen by the crowd led to heary and indiscriminate fir-ing at the crowd The police outpost was surrounded police

arms looted and policemen beaten up. Three Constables were

killed. The crowd then dispersed into the city and looting ofshops started The violence which initialiy started as a con'

75

T6 UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

frontation between the M and the police soon turnede Hindus and the Muslims.into a communal riot between

The breakdown of the machinery during thefirst few days coupled with th spontaneous anger of the

The Moradabad riot of 1980 was inquired into by Justi,ceSaxena of the Allahabad High Cqurr HJsubmined his reponin May, 1983. fhe report however has notbeen made public by

Muslim population againstsiderably to the escalation of

want ofevidence. As on Januaryinvestigation. 38 cases out of 125

e police contributed con-lence.

986.I1 cases were still under

and demands to be metf the numerous National

the state government for whatevbr reason.

In connection with these 400 cases were registeredunder the Indiari Penal Code. of which 125 werc char-gesheeted and 264 cases were after investigation for

ch were put up in Courtwere withdrawn under the of the governmenl Of the

and only 6 cases eqded inremaining 64 cases were acquiconviction. These figures only orce the conclusion thatsomething drastic needs to be with regard to the registra-

of cases arising out of thetion, investigation and prosecuticommunal riots, if the authorities to provide any deterrent

lical riots. As things are,against the recurrence of suchthe police action in so lar as it rela to the arrest and prosecu-tion ofpersons involved in co unal riotg has degenerated

that so farwe have not beeninto a meaningless ritual Why is iable to take any corrective stepsan issue like this, which is verysquarely, fignre on the agenda

this regard? Why does not

Integration Council meetings, idering the importanceand impact it would have in riot cases? I f the cause of

this problem in all itsthe failure to come to griprramif,cations is to be laid at the r of the Criminal JusticeSyster4 what steps have we taken correct this imbalance in

launched after every suc-the system even though prosecucessive riot have met with no P These are verv rele-vant questions to which the thorities ha'/e to address

Case Studies of Communal Riots ':l'7

themselves ancl find adequate and convincing answers'

We will have occasion to reaffirm this conclusion when'

we examine the corresponding figures relating to the

Bhiwandi riots of 1984.

The Brassware industry in Moradabad is largely con-

trolled by the Hindus' They used to be the main exporters too

till the 7bs. The artisans however, are Muslims' In the recent

pas! Muslims have also taken to the export business' One of

tha -ro.rram

of tension between Hindus and Muslims in

Moradabad is due to the impression among Hindus that

the Muslim exporters are favoured by the Muslim countries in

the Gulf. This has created a certain amount of resentment

among the Hindu businessmen' There are also allegations

that the Muslims are over-invoicing the exports and are paid

more than the legitimate prices of the articles' Funds for the

various welfare and community activities of the Muslims are

attributed to these sources from the Gulf The newly acquired

affluence among certain sections of the Muslims has given

ris€ to the growth of a large number of religious and

educational institutions in Lucknow, Moradabad and

Varanasi The Muslims have also been acquiring large pro-

perties particularly in the form of land' old houses, etc' InVaranasi it has reached a point where the Hindus who want to

sell property would rather sell it at a slightly lower price to a

non-Muslim than at a higher price to a Muslim' These are all

the old possessions of ex-Bengali Zamindars from Bengal,

who owned large houses along the Ganges at Varanasi'

In Bhiwandi in the State ol Maharashtra both Hindusand Muslims own powerloom factories' While the Hindu

owners employ Muslim workers, Muslim owners also employ

Hindu workers. The accounts of Muslim merchants are main-

tained by Hindu clerks. In the same building in Bhiwandi'

there are both Hindu and Muslim powerloom owners' Whilethe majority of the powerloom units are owned by Muslims.

the supply ofraw materials such as yarn and the disposal ofthe pioducts in the markets are controlled by Hindumerchants. With such close inter-dependence between the fwo

- -T

7g COMMUNAL VTOLENCE tN tNDrA

communities, one calnot easily believe that these very samepeople would be interested in disrupting the fabric of th.i,daily lives. This only reinforces tfre conclusion that often it islhe communal leaders who star{d to gain somethirig in thenature of personal commerclal otr communal advantage, whopromote such riots. Once a riot qrupts, the mixed populationwhich normally works together llke brothers kills eaih otherlike sworn enemies. In the process, the only persons who gainare the communal fanatics.

Though Bhiwandi has a l{bour population of nearlythree lakhg there are no trade i.rnion activities among thilabourers in Bhiwandi. This is nlot for wanr of trying by thetrade union leaders. They had tried and failed largelyiecausethe employers had kept the laboulers away from the infruenceof the trade union leaders on cqmmunal grounds A calcu-Lated strategy of this type by the employers has kept them freefrom labour trouble though the Advantage has been derivedlargely, if not entirely, on commrJnal considerations. If therewas healthy trade union activity in Bhiwandi, this may wellhave dissolved to a large extent the gang up on communallines. The workers cutting across the communal divide wouldhave come together on the basis df conditions of their service,wageg and thelike. The exploitation by the vested interests oflabour on communal lines whille impoverishing them hasaccentuated the communal dividb.

Bhiwandi is a classic examplf of how when a town growsin an unplanned manner but at a $ectic pacg it can give rise toproblems many of which manifest themselves in forms whichare not related to the basic maladies and can find differentmanifestations.

There is a mass of floating pQpulation in Bhiwandi fromdifferent states which has converged on the town to work ondaily wages. Their antecedents alre not known to the localpolice. The manner in which they livg eag and work should be

drtlerent states which has converged on the town to work ondaily wages. Their antecedents alre not known to the localpolice. The manner in which they livg eag and work should bea subjeci ofstudy by itself The pl4ce continues to bristle withactivities most of which are highlyl irregular or illegal. Labour

CaseStudies of Communal Riots

laws are indifferently enforced This city is proliferating withproblems and even if the authorities had been aware ofthemthey had sholvn themselves until 1985 to be'impervious'Several of these factors have contributed insidiously to the

communal Ilare-ups that have been erupting periodically.Take a simple subject such as the registration of the looms.Out of about two and a half lakh looms, at least 40yo werereportedly not registered This leads to large-scale evasion ofexcise dues. Most of the electric connections are diverted andstolen. The electric wires hang loosely around because theyare temporary improvised, and unauthorised In their anxi-ety to make quick money, the concerned authorities arecallous to the dangers of short-circuit of naked wires.

In places liked Bhiwandi, Moradabad and Aligarh con-ditions conducive to the build-up of tension are createdeveryday by several factors many of which have nothing to dowith communalism as such These have relevance to theseveral civic and administrative matters in the towns. Failureto handle them appropriately and effectively and in the con-text of the expectations of modern living create conditions inwhich over-crowding frustrations and anger give rise to ten-sions which eventually manifested as communal riots If anattempt is made to understand the various aspects of life inthese towns, each of which while seemingly unrelated to thecommunal ethos, cumulatively creates conditions in whichperiodically large-scale violence is facilitated

In Bhiwandi most of the people can be seen defecating onthe narrow roads or whatever other open places they can find.They can be seen eating in hundreds in the local eating housesknown as'Bhisis' where they squat and eat their daily foodSince there is no place for many of them to res! they take theirtum to sleep inside small cubicles, where dozens of people liveand sleep while the others work on looms. The level of thebasic civic amenities such as sanitation drainage, drinkingwater and health-care, is a matter of utter shame. TheMunicipality should have been long upgraded to the level of aCorporation with a senior officer capable of taking important

79

80 UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

decisions on the spot The M had onlv two out-dated fire tenders at the time of riot in 1984. There is noMunicipal hospital at B The result has been thatserious injuries in normal timesto be treated in Thane whichBhiwandi.

more so during riots have

The total strength ofthe police ofhcers and men in

about 25 kilometres from

Bhiwandi in 1984 was about250Stations. One company (99 men)

ted over three Police

attached to Bhiwandi Thanef SpecialReservePolice wasKalyan after the 1970 riots.

At the time of the 1970 riots in andi there was onlv onePolice Station which was i to three after the riots. As aresult ofthe 1984 riots there has an increase by about 300

ent's estimated require-men as against the Policement of about 800 men. Many o e police personnel stay inthe slums of Bhiwandi for want o official quarters. In the pro-

personnel absorbing a partcess, the possibility ofthe poliof the slum culture cannot be out The effect that thiswould have when they are called upon to handle riots whenthese occur is not difficult to im

An exercise has since started in Bhiwandi townplanning in the later halfof 1985 bly as a sequel to thetoll of 174 lives in the comm riots of 1984.

Foliowing the riot in Bhiwairdi on lSth May 1984, riotserupted in more than a dozen pla{es in Bombay soon after thenight prayers of the Muslims. 89 gersons lost their lives in theBombay riots, of which 49 died in police firing Among thedead were one Sub-lnspector an{ one Head Constable. Twoother policemen received gun shof injuries due to firing by themob on May 18th night and tfrree others on l9th after-noorI

The Centre for ResearchDevelopmenl Chandigarh did acommunal violence in Bhiand its impact on developmen

in Rural and Industrialin Augus! 1985 ofthe

in 1984 and Pune in 1982

and national inteeration

Case Studies of Communal Riots 8l

According to this study, a majority of powerloom workers,

who happen to be Hindus in certain areas of Bhiwandi com-

plained about the lack of health carg educatior\ sanitation

and drinking water facilities in their localities. These workers

considered the neglect of their localities to be an issue

designed by the majority of the Muslims who dominated the

Municiplity, to make life miserable for the Hindu minority'The merchant manufactuers who happen to be AnsariMuslims, residing in certain areas of Bhiwandi complainedthat Hindu traders delaycd payment for cloth that they sold to

them and dediicted illegittmate'Kardhas' or discounts as they

are a helpless Muslim minority in India. These merchantswanted a new cloth market to be constructed in Bhiwandi andfelt that only such a market could save the Muslims from Hin-dus. This demand for a new cloth market is opposed by the

Hindus, as according to them, such a market in Bhiwandi willsound the death-knell of Hindu control over the clothtrade.

According to the survey, the 1984 riots were largely the

outcome of busihess rivalry though the immediate provoca-

tion was provided by the Shivaji Jayanthi procession. Thewell-entrenched and the newly emerging traders came to per-

ceive competition between them in trade along religious lines.

When the competition happens to be between merchants

belonging to two religious groups, communal motives are

imputed for the success or the failure of the different groups.

During the riots of 1965 and 1982 in Pune and 1970 inBhiwandi it was the anti-social elements who provoked the

riots. In the subsequent stages of the 1984 riots in Bhiwandi a

section of builders used anti-social elements to get vacated

their lands where powerloom workers had constructedjhuggisconverting their properties into slums. Some of the loomowners incidently also developed a vested interest in prolong-ing the communal riots so that they could buy looted beams ofyarn from the anti-social elements. This also enhanced the

duration and intensity of the riots. Some of these examplesgive one the impression that riots are becoming economic goal

oriented

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82 COMMUNAL vtoLENcE lN INDIA

Malegaon in Maharashtra had witnessed communalriots in November 1982, and Junb 1983. The earlier one wasprovoked by a controversy over the alleged disparagingreference about the Prophet in atrr 8th standard Marathi textbook The Muslims were over the word 'Palayan

1flight) used with reference to the PropheL TheJune 1983 riotswere sparked offby explosion of outside a Masjid on26th June a day after fhe Indian Cricket team's victory in thePrudential World Cup T This was one of the worst

characteristics which in combination make a town riot-prone.It has 67.57o Muslim population The Muslims in Malegaonare generally prosperous Of the 150 biepowerlooms and sizing units, 147 belong to the Muslims andonlv 3 are owned bv the Malegaon has an Islamicseminary and is considered an t centre of Islamiclearning It has a number of M weavers, who because oftheir poverty, depend for credit oln the Hindu money lenders.Malegaon is yet another example df how the vested interests ofbusinessmen combine to exploit the communal divide. Theelites of both the communities dci not let the workers avail ofthe Trade Union activitieg by a to their communalfeelings. While the Muslimmanaged to keep the workers'

m owners thus havedown, the Hindu traders

who have a monopoly of trade in lthe finished products of thelooms get the producs cheaper thereby making profits.

In the communal riots of in Bihar which tookplace on 30th April l98l andthe days, according tothe government frgures the of killed was 47 persons

and that of the injured 68. The riqt enveloped the rural areas

and took a heavy toll of life and p[operty during the next fourdays The immediate cause of the communal riot in Bihar-sharifwas a dispute between the lvfuslims and the Yadavs overa piece of land which was bein$ used by the Muslims as acemetery. Asghar Ali Engineer who had done a lield study ofthe Biharsharif riots came to the 0onclusion that this riot was

organised by those who wanted to stop the upward social

Case Studies of Communal Riots 83

mobility of the Scheduled Castes and the Muslim$ as they did

not want these deprived communities. to get any share of the

fruits of development To the extent that this problem has

been examined, this theory has only a broad relevance and is

gertainly not a factor in promoting communal riot in differentplaces. A theory of this nature is more easily stated than con'vincingly proved by facts and figures. The victims of these

riots were not businessmen who had established themselves

or were in the process of doing so, but those at the bottom ofthe socio-economic ladder who had to depend on their dailywages for their survival. It would be nearer the truth to say thatthe vested interests among the communal elements from both

the communities look out for an occasion to trigger off a riot'more with a view to feed the cancerous communal ideologyamong the ignorant and vulnerable members of their respec-

tive communities for its own sake, which in turn produces the

bitterness between the communities which is exploited todMde them. This tends to give the more insecure among thegroups an identity which otherwise tends to be amorphous at

that level because of the ruthless mechanics ofearning a livingto feed hungry mouths. As far as the communal elementswho promote the riots are concemed" to them the victims serve

a communal purpose Having served the purpose, they arequietly forgotten. In the process the usual fuss is made aboutthe relief and rehabititation of the faimly members of the vic-tims. One wonders how many of the families of the victims, beit in Aligarh, Moradabad, Bhiwandi Biharsharif or Bombay,have been visited by the communal leaders of the two com-munities, once the fuss and publicity has died down.

The communal riot that broke out in Belgaum in Kar-nataka on 5th October, 1984 was the culmination of a con-troversy over the naming of a particular square in the markelThe Muslims had been refering to it as the Jilnah chowk andthe Hindus wanted it named as Veer Savarkar Chowk At oneof the meetings convened by the Divisional Commissioner,both the groups agreed to name it as Maulana Azad ChowkBut this suggestion was turned down by the government on theground that the naming of streets, squares and similar things

84 CoMMUNAL vtoLENCE rN tNDtA

should be taken up only after [he local bodies were con-stituted The tension continued rb build up. On 5th October,1984 a Muslim of unsound mind desecrated a Hindu templeand this provided the spark in an atmosphere which wasalready charged. Very provocatiVe slogans had been raisedby the Hindus and writings ln Kannada and Marathinewspapers had been highly cbmmunal and vituperativebefore the 5th of October. In thd riots that followed, severalshops were looted and then set odr hre. The rioting continuedfor five days If oirly the authoritids had sorted out the issue ofrenaming the square which ha{ been agitating the peoplefrom 1982, this ugly riot could ha1'e been prevented This wasinspite of the fact that a front orgatrisation of the Hindu Sabhanamed Hindu Ekta Andolan had feen agitating over the yearson this issue on blatantly commuhal lines. Even then no pre-ventive action was taken by the pdlice against the leaderg norwere the printers and publisherg of provocative articles inpapers proceeded against On the basis of the study, it can besafely asserted that the local poliQe were not effective enoughto mobilise the available force dnd deal with the situationcompetently.

The anti-reservation of 1985 in Ahmedabadwhich converted. itself into a pro communal riot holdsseveral important lessons for the authorities, if only they areprepared ro bcne{it from them. did the comntunal riotscontinue over a period of months in 1985, albeit sporailicallywith veg brief periods oftenuous It is not in the natureof cornmunal riots to fester as ey did in Ahmedabad InIndependent India there have riots ofgreat intensity andvirulence between the comm involving large areas andwith very severe loss uf life and p . But then these riotshad generally been of the.type nlhich normally did not lastbeyond a week or ten days at the rhost, followed by periods oftension and bitterness. Later, the tension had generally drainedoff over a period of time by thb induction of extra forcewherever. necessary and by the activities of the authorities andthe voluntary organisations, whi(h often had a very helpfuland purposeful hand in restorin* peace and amity betweenthe communities.

Case Studies ol Communal Riots

lf there is one area in which the police has to and must

act firmly and decisively right from the beginning it is inthe handling of communal riots. By doing so it would be kindto both the communities' Such handling alone can save

tnnocent lives and avert avoidable damage to property. Thelesson thatought to be driven home by such firmness to t'he anti-Social and fanatical elements, who ate the first to be on thescene. is that the authorities will not tolerate communal riotingwhatever be the co,st This is also the most opportune time totake into the police ne! dead or alive, as many oflhe anti'social elements and fanatics who promote and profit fromsuch carnages. These elements, gwen time, will soon disappear into the sanctuaries from where they will continue tostoke the communal fire. Once the rioters get the initialimpression that the authorities are weak or indecisive in theuse of force, the riot spreads fast and widq taking in its wake

avoidable loss in terms of innocent lives and property' This isexactly the message that went down in Ahmedabad in 1985,

whether it was intended or not

One of the re cent trends in communal riots is the motiva'tion of communal elements who engineer the riots with a viewto making what are presently mixed localities into homo-geneous ones. Apart from the security aspect implied in thismove, there is also an economic angle They expect theminorities in the respective pockets to make distress sale oftheir properties at throw-away prices in their anxiety to moveto areas in which the majority of their community live. Dur-ingthe Ahmedabad eommunal riots of 1985 itwas alleged thatthere was a deep seated political-police'underworld nexus,which was interested in such sales. The government respon-ded to this very effectively by refusing to recognise the transac-tions relating to the transfer of propertywhich had taken placeafter a particular date.

In the first week of January 1986 Ahmedabad had yet onemore communal riot Though the riot had its origin in a

quarrel between two families over some children who ranacross terraces while flying kiteg this led to a pitched battlebetween the two communitics. Whatever may have been the

85

E6 coMMUNAL vtoLENCE tN INDIA

immediate provocatioq the real cause of the riot seems rohave been provided by the supforters of the mafia leader,Alamzeb, who was killed earlier bt SuraL According to policesources the mafia leader used to finance the communalelements and had supplied thernl with arms. The Muslims ofAhmedabad in certain areas also observed a.Bandh' when thenews of Alamzeb's death was rebeived

The 1982 Baroda riots had rfruch to do with rivalrv bet-ween Hindu and Muslim criminal gangs over the control ofthe illicit liquor trade.

campus on May 12, 1981. Asgharmembers of the fact-findins team h visited Aligarh in themonth ofAugust 1981. This was by the Citizens forDemocracy. Asghar Ali observed(25): " Extremepoverty, miserable living inhuman exploitation ofchild labour in the household

have a proper record of Many students donot pay for the hostel accomm and quite often badcharacters live in hostels. It is obvibus that mosi ofthe teachersaccept the fact of cornrptionaccept the tact of corruption ahd nialfunctioning of theUniversity. Even the Students Urlion president had issued a

plained that the Aligarh Muslim lJniversity degrees had beendevalued and approvingly quored I teacherwho had told him:"If I were an employer, I would no[ have employed these boysbecause they have not read anythirtg". According to the studentleader, "Some criminal elements *ant to destrov the oeace in

Case Studies of Communal Riots 87

ouralma mater. Incompetent administiation"" unwillingness

io iu[. tr"pt against criminal elements and lack of moral

"o"rug" o" ttt. pu.t of the University administration" were

.o*.6f rft. fu.rott responsible forthe sad state of affairs in the

University camPus.

This atmosphere contributes no less to creating con'

ditions in which communalism thrives

A remarkable feature of communal riots in general is the

insignificant beginning that most of these riots usually have'

Verioften it is tcriminal act indulged in bV 11 individual or

tluo U"tottgittg to one particular community which is objected

to or reserited-by an individual or two of another community'

Such an incident which is basically criminal in nature nor-

mally does not find supporters and godfathers if it is against

the members of the same community' But the communal virus

has gone so deep into our system that it comes alive in its

uelie-st and cruelest manifestations if the other party to the

iricident belongs to a different community: In such an ev€nt

even a private quatrel getsvestedwith communal trappings

Some of the common causes which trigger off communal

riots have been:

Encreachment on Places of worshiPDisputes over land belonging to places of worship;

Music before mosques;

Teasing of girls belonging to the other community;

Desecration of Places of worshiP;Petty quarrels birween members belonging to different

communities;Conversioq andProvocative articles in magazines'

l)2)3)4)5)6)

7)8)

Though these causes provide the immediate provocationsJt would not be right to conclude that they alone are

the causes It would be more realistic to state that these are the

catalysts which galvanize into riots an atnosphere which is

[-

88 co MUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

permeated with the posion of The creation ofthis atmosphere and the of the members belongingto the two communities about eaoh other have all to be viewedin the context of the several which have all beenreferred to as contributing to cordmunalism in the hrst part olthis study. The immediate cause{ which triggered offthe riotswould aot have been the catalysts that they turned out to be,unless the soil had been prepared over months and years andwas ready ior the hrst and even the flimsiest provocations toexplode into a riot

Rumour plays a leading and mischievous role in fannineth^e flames in a surcharged armosphere. Whar is worse. larel!affluent people belonging to {ifferent communities par-ticipate in the riots, albeit frombefiindthe scenes, by finaniingthe members of their respective c$mmunities for the purchaseof fire arms or even actually su$ptying them with h.eu.-..This happened in the Bombay algd Bhiwandi riots when oneof the known and notorious crimflnals was found responsiblefor supplying money and arms tci his followers to participatein the riots.

There is a mistaken belief thalt a riot can be dealt with anddisposed off in isolation. AnyonE who has handled a com-munal situation and worked thr{ugh the incidents eruptingdeveloping and proliferating wou[d know that the authoritieiare called upon to handle not mbrely individuals or groupswho are bent upon looting burnirlg and killing each other, butcommunities of people who are frrbd by intense anger and hat-red, wanting to do the worst they Can against members of theother community, regardless of ivhether or not the victimsshare the responsibility in creafing the situation Reasondeserts and the only prevailing hdman emotions are of angerand revenge. These emotions gei further aggravated by themixed composition of the populaticn in certain cities likeBhiwandi, Ahmedabad, Delhi abd other places. Many ofthose who theorise about the prevlnting and handling of com-munal riots fail to take account of the fact that in the type ofgeographical locations that the fwo communities live and

Case Studies of Communal Riots 89

worh it requires exceptional goodwill, -understanding and

iti.i""v1o ut able to live in peice specially during periods of

i."-riott'U"a.r the prevailing conditions of over crowding

iir-""it"ti"" and all the ills that go with these even brothers

tend to fly at each other's throats' To expeet uncer tnese clr-

.o-tiuo..t, that communities whose communal feelings have

been stirred up by certain indMduals and organisations'

*orrtt uft". -onth'and over the years, would live in peace' is

indeed unrealistic. Even sq let it be said to their credit and to

ihe shame oftheir leaders that by and large they have learnt to

ii". una let livg and have established a sort of working rela-

tio" u"a urnlty which holds generally, unlessand until it is dis'

;t;e by forces which seek to exploit the.inherent and

ioift-i" differences for petty, communal' political and occa'

sionally competitive commercial interests'

A Police oflicer who was incharge of the Gujarat Police

Computer in 1985 and who did an analysis wilh the help of the

co-p.ttet of a few of ihe communal riots which had occurred

in C'ujarat, came up with certain interesting frndings' some ofthese are:

l) Invariably the weapons used during the riots are of the

type which are found in any ordinary household such as

razorg knives, guptis, etc"

This however' is fast changing More explosive and

sophisticated fire arms have been in evidence in some of the

recent riots elsewhere in the country' Even in the Ahmedabd

riots ofl985, the police was able to recover considerable quan-

tities of incendiary material detonators, gelatine rods and

high explosive 5ombs. These weie being supplied from out-

stitions to the rioters at Ahmedabad Use of high'level

firepower and explosiveS has become a feature ofrecent com-

munal riots.

2) The incidents get concentrated in certain areas-where the

communal elemettt" hurre att e*tra degree of aggressiveness' In

the majority of incidents the victims beiong to the same area' It

90 COIi{MUNAL VIOLENCE rN INDIA

is.only in a small percentage of cases that the victims belong todifferent localities. The victims in such cases many havestrayed into the areas for certain compulsory chores withoutrealising the risks to which they weraexposing themselves

. - This frnding has important rglevance in establishing thatif an area is taken charge of by a unit of the police force anddealt with intensely and systema,tically by way of patrollingand supervisiorl it is possible to cqntain and smothei the rou_ble at the start bf the situation qnd prevent it from becom-ing serious.

3) Another of the findings was tlfat in most ofthese incidentsthe initiative was taken by mobs ihough there were incidentsof violence for which individual$ o. groups of two or threewere responsible.

4) The study also showed that among the arrested, therewere a large number of persots witli previous criminalrecords.

.This should be interpreted rdore as an indicatiorr of thetenrlency on the part of the police ion all such occasions to gofor the known criminals. It is very] diflicult to get to know thereal culprits because of the several factors whie-h help the mis_creants to act anonymously. The fact that a large number ofcommunalriot cases get acquitted ln courts is enfirely becauseof the very factors which contributO to their anooy-ity. thi, i,however, not to deny the inevitabld gangups that are ao--onon such occasions. One group maSl give thi names of the rivalmiscreants but then to process a ca{e through the courts on thebasis of evidence tendered by suchl witnesses has its ovm con_straints. As happened in the case of the Bhiwandi riots of 19g4,with regard to more than 30 odd pefsons who were Drosecutedfor the massacre of 2l persons on the spot in the co'urse of oneincident at Ansaribagtt, the judge qame to the conclusion thatthere was no independent and conbborative widence againstany of the accused and discharggd all of them. Even withregard to the persons present the ljudge.came to the cotrclu_

Case Studies oJ Communal Riots 9l

sion that this fact could be established with regard to only

three or four ofthe accused- The Judge said in his oral judge-

ment at the end of the two-month long trial that.the prosecu-

tion did not utter a single word against30 of the 40 accuse4 let

alone involve them in the crime. The Madon Commission

which inquired into the 1970 communal riots in BhiwandiMalad and Jalgaoa in Maharashtra observed: "that the Spe'

,cial Investigation Squads set up to investigate the crimes com'

mitted in the course of this riot had acted in a baised manner

against one community". The Police Commission which had

lJoked into the reports of some of these riots felt that there

were many instances wherein the Special Investigation

Squads were not set up properly, with the result that some ofthem had acted in an incompetent and partisan manner'

The fact remains that it is very difficult to get to know the

real offenders who commit these crimes unless they are caught

on the spot by independent witnesses or by the authoritiesthemselves. This is a very rare phenomenon the result

inevitably is that communal riot cases seldom end in convic-

tion and therefore, the criminal proceedings following the

riots have seldom acted as a deterrent in the prevention and

handling of subsequent communal riots. In this connectiorlthe statement given in Table I I about the registered cases aris'ing out of the Bhiwandi riots of 1984 and their disposal should

set at rest doubts, ifany, about the utter futility of all the police

efforts that follow during and after the riots by way of arrests,

investigations and prosecutions of those alleged to have par-

ticipated in the riots. Out ofthe 611 cases registered, only 185

cases i.e. 30.8 per cent of the cases were sent up to the court inMay/June 1984. Of these, as many as I l3 cases ie.6l per cent

were acquitted, and only four cases, repeat only four cases,

had ended in conviction by January 1986 ie. after a lapse ofeighteen months. Sixtyfrve cases were still pending They are

not likely to fare any better. That this should have been the

result in a state like Maharashtra where the administrationgenerally and police administration in particular still enloy a

degree of reputation for effectiveness and purposefulness, is a

matter for concern.

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Case Studies oJ Communal Riots 93

This should prove conclusively that criminal prosecution

of th" -ir"."ants for their acts during the riots is not deterrent

anJeme"tiue enough to prevent them from participating in

;il;;; riots. 5n the contrary for a.gang of criminals

including those who promote and indulge in communal riots'

.r"^ty ""i""itfted crime and act of violence is a precedenl a

iutt ir"., ,"tt"ursal for more vicious and violent crime' Ir' view

oiii" "o*-""a1 and criminal elements participating in the

riots, it is necessary to emptoy modern techniques of video

recording and other sophisticated photographrc alds to regrs-

,.t u. -u""ft of ,he actual riot as possrble so that the same could

be used later on in evidence' This would require that the cities

and towns which are prone to cornmunal riots are equipped

*i ft f"fffy ptotected and secured mobile vans fitted with video

,.cotan! iacilities which should be capable of beinglsed as

.uiO.""J"t the time of prosecution' lf necessary the law will

ut.o t uu" to U. umended to make evidence of this type admiss-

Iti.. Uttt.tt tonte such special and concerted steps are taken it

would not be possible to prosecute successfuly the communal

elements und a..ut. in the nrocess the deterrent effect re'

quired to prevent recurrence of such incidents The dis-

"orrrugrtg ,Lt.,lts oithe prosecution of communal riot cases in

itt. puli tio"fa amply justify recourse to such ncw methods iflegai action is to hive a deterrent effect not only on the anti,o-aiul .la*.ttts but also on some of the comrnunal leaders'

rho o..utionally make brief appearances on all such

occasions to inciti their communal followers' During the 1985

itiua;i tayu"ti procession irr Bhiwandi' the district authori-

ties had covered the procession with television cameras' which

according to the Chlef Secretary of the state'-enabled a very

close cov-erage of the participants' This also had a deterrent

effect on the mischievous elements'

lf therefore. a communal riot is to cease to become a

source of investment for communal vested interests steps will

have to be taken to provide all the cities and towns which are

notoriously riot prone with these modern techniques ofcover-

ing occasilns which have the potential of communal trou-

ble.

l--- -,

Commissions of Inquiry

- ^^ _ W_1ri1q

"ditorially on the Biharsharif.communal riots inl98l 'MAINSTREAM' (26) obderved: ..As usual ,h" ,rur"

government was slow in reacting tb the first outbreak and thenthe attemptwas to cover up the fiilure of the administration byplaying down the seriousness ofwhat had happened-,, Theproblem with our handling of cdmmunal riots is that moreoften than not the district authorifies fail to act promfUy andeffectively in dealing with a comnf unal situation. What is stillworse_is their tendency to suppresi and conceal the facts in themistaken belief that in doing so thley are saving the prestige oIthe government This has had two

"o.,r.qu.rri.., dne is thatthere is allround anxiety and efforf not to Gt facts be known topeople who matter outside the districts even within the state.The. second consequence is that having concealed thehardcore facts and given a versiqn which is totally or evenpartially divorced from the realitips of the situation, everyth-ing that follows in the form of judicial or administrativeinquiries is influenced" if not calbulated towards sustainingthe theories initially set out at a responsible level of thegovernmenl ln the manipulatlon which is sometimesinvolved, even total change of fecords has irot been un_known

Inquiry commissions have nepessarily to base their con_clusions on the basis of the eviderltce presented before them.They cannot go behind the evidenle. If the evidence is basedon distortions of facts and docufrents, to that extent con-clusions are also likely to be affedted It is difficult to asserrthat the evidence presented before the commissions inquiring

94

Commissions of Inquiry 95

into communal riots is always based on the factual position

and has not been doctored

"Wherever a judicial inquiry is decided upoq it is

necessary, ifthat inquriy is to serve an useful purpose, that allevidence in favour and against the authorities be unreservedly

placed before the commission of inquiry by the government

itself and that government should adopt not a partisan

attitude before the Commission We have elsewhere pointed

out the handicaps which this Commission was faced with inthis regard"(27)

The implications of these observations made by Justice

Jaganmohan Reddy Commission which looked into the 1969

riots in Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat are quite clear'

It is one thing for the people involved in the riots to have escaped

the killing It is quite another to escape the memory of it Very

often ihe facts and documents brought before the Commis-

sion about the riots are not on the basis of how exactly the riottook place but what the parties including the officials wouldhave liked the facts to be. The perishability of facts concemingcommunal riots is not as obvious to the members of the publicas it is to the officials who handle the riots or even to those

members of the public who participate in the riots. lnevitablytruth is one of the important casualties in the findings arrivedat by the Commissions on the basis of the distorted facts pre'

sented before them.

Why cannot a concerted and coordinated study be done

in peace time about the alleged constribution of the RS.S. tothe Biharsharif riots, the happenings in the Aligarh Universitycampus where the cry "Islam in danger" was raised by interes'ted grpups, the economic rivalry that promoted the riots inBhiwandi and in Moradabad? Unless such a study is done bya set of people drawn frorn different regions and disciplinesand hrm conclusions arrived at, it will not be possible to deal

with the communal problem intelligently and pragmatically.Instead of this what actually happens is thal every riot bringsin its wake the usual editorials in the national dailies deplor-ing the incidentsl the same political and-communal leaders

96 coMMUNAT- vtoLENCE tN INDIA

descend on the scene and issue fhe same t,?e of statementsmaking allegations against the ri]val political and communalparties. Occasionally an inquiry Commission looks into theperipheral aspects of the riots ahd comes up with a reporrmonths or even years later whe4 the subject may well have

l-

moved out of the people's The Madon Com-mission(28) which looked into the Bhiwandi riots of 1970 tookmore than three years to su its report Very often theappointment of an Inquiry Co on has been motivatedby considerations of or political expedienry, to

ment

The Aligarh Riots Commissi$n heacled by Justice ShashiKant Varma was appointed on October 20, 1978. It was woundup on July 3 i, 1980. This was how the position was explainedin reply to a question in the Rajy{ Sabha: "The Commissionwas required to submit its refort within four months.However, its term was extended pipce-meal" from tirne to time,till at last the Commission came up with a request in April1980 for a further extension of its term by at least one and ahalf years to enable it to complep the inquiry.

While the Commission had to examine more than 200witnesses, for a variety of reasons, it examined only eight fromthe date of appointment in Janu{ry 21, 1980. In view of thisslow progress of inquiry as also the state government's assess-ment that the continuance of the inquiry Commission mightgenerate additional tensions, the state government ordered thewinding up of this Cornmission with effect from July 3l st 1980

under the relevant provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry

Commixions of Inquiry 97

Act The winding up of the Commission by the state govern'

ment was not based tin any advice given by the Centralgovernment"

The latest example ofcasualness and lack ofpurpose thatcharacterises the appointment of Commissions of Inquiry isthe appointment of the Desai Commission by the Gujaratgovernment in June, 1986 to inquire into the riots thatravaged Ahmedabad in 1985. It took the Gujarat administra-tion about a year tb appoint the Commission Whether such abelated appointment serves any political purpose or not, onehas serious doubts about its function and usefulness indiagnosing and resolving the communal problem that afllie-ted Ahmedabad in 1985.

Experiences such as these with the Commissions ofInquiry into communal riots should set us thinking on thevery utility of such inquiries and their relevance to theunderstanding of the problem of communal violence and inascertaining the steps that can help in er3dicating it It is worthconsidering to what extent the recommendations of suchCommissions have been followed up and implemented in thepasl It may also be useful to examine whether in the light ofour past experiences with the working of the Commissions,and the lack of interest ifnot actual indifference in the matterof implementation of their several recommendationg a freslqmore prac{ical and expeditious approach to ascertaining thetruth behind communal and other forms of violence and theimmediate ,practical steps that can be taken to prevent therecurrence of such violencq should be thought of One mustaccept the lact that plumbing the depths of the communalmalady and analysing its several pathological components isadministratively and investigationally an intricdte affair,which may also be politically inconvenient and even inex-pedienl An elaborate and exhaustive inquiry almost on thelines of the Presidential Commission of America which wentrnto theethnic riots in the United States in 1967 will need to beundertaken to cover the entire gamut of the problem in thecities and towns which have become prone to communalviolence in recent Years,

98 COMMUNAL VTOLENCE lN rNDrA

Ranchi-Hatia riots ofAuguslt, 1967(29) were inquired intoby a Commission consisting of three membbrs under theChairmanship of Justice Raghrlbir Dayal. Some of the fin.dings of this Commission when Viewed in the light of the suo.sequent events would prove that regardless of what theCommissions say in their repotrts, the same mistakes con-tinute to be repeated be it with pegard to the measures to betaken to avert a comrnunal riot of with regard to controlling itin quick time. The Raghubir Dafal Commission had pointedout that "directions or interfere4ce from the highest level ingovernment not only restricts the local officers from takingindependent decisions on the problems confronting them butalso deprives their superiors of their right io criticise theactions of the local ofhcers if the results are not what theyexpected or the acts committed are not. quite in conformitywith the lary''

According to the Commis$ion in matters such as thearresting of students who were involved, the police had toawait instructions from the govbrnmenl "The episode does

not do credit to the government dr its policy with regard to theaction to be taken against the students".

Even as far back as 1967 thB conflict between the policcand the Army units inducted irl aid of civil power had been

evidenl The Commission obserlved: "not only confusion butsome sort of resentment arose in the police against their beingplaced unJer military as wouldl appear from their referringpeople to the military when they approached them for cenainhelp.... It is clear that the coorJination and cooperation expec-

ted between the military and the police were probably notthere."

The Commission had also put on record evidence to the

effect that the "Police was simply watching and doing noth-ing." Both the District Magistra[e and the Superintendent ofPolice were new to the district and hence were not in a positionto appreciate the developing qommunal situation approp-riately. They evidently did not know even the topography ofthe

Commissions of Inquiry 99

city and its vulnerable points. The intelligence system was'admitedly not satisfactory'. It may be mentioned that in earlieryears care was always taken not to change both the DistrictMagistrate and Superintendent of Police at the same time.

Though one of the causes of the disturbances at Ranchiwas attributed to the economic rivalry between the Muslimsand the refugees from the Punjab, the Commission came tothe conclusion: "We do not think that any such economicrivalry was responsible for the commencement of the riot,though this feeling could have been exploited once the distur-bances started'. Inadequate action by the police to deal withthe anti-socials has been brought out very emphatically in thereporl "It seems that after some tussle and clashes in theunderworld, the Muslim and Hindu goondas divided thetowns between themselves and a code was evolved whereinone was not to operate in the area of the other".

Many of the findings cited above from the RaghubirDayal Cornmission, which submitted its report in 1968, couldappropriately be transposed into the findings of the inquiryCommission, appointed in Jung 1986 to look into theAhmedabad riots of 1985.

The Jagmohan Reddy Commission which went into theriots in Ahmedabad and other towns in Gujarat on and afterl8th Septembea 1969 had pointed out that there was lack ofIirmness on the part of the police in the initial stages whenincidents were happening "Police lost the initiative and oncethe situation got out of control at.the very commencement ofthe rio! they were overwhelmed by thr situation which con-fronted them". No wonder this riot took such a heavy toll ofhuman lives. The official figures of those killed in Ahmeda-bad reported by the Commission stood at 524.

The Commission observed that the "evidence of theArmy Officers showed what amount of confusion existedwhen they took over, how the mobs showed scant respect forthe Police, and how it took time for them to create an impres-

100

sion uponArmy."

the groups that not Police but the

The thre+member Judicial Iriquiry Commission underthe chairmanship of Justice Jiterirdra Narayan (30) whichlooked into the Jamshedpur riotsl of 1979 had commentedadversely on the failure of the admfnistration to comprehendthe gravity of the situation precedlng rhe riots and failing totake adequate steps. A leaflet whifh had been issued by anorganisation called "Kendriya Alhada Samity, was ihighlyprovocative. It carried the mess[ge that "a survey hadestablished that all Policemerl Hayildars, Home Guards, etc.were at heart ready to give support to them", in the processionthat they intended to take out on rthe occasion of the Ram-navami Puja. The Commission cemmented "Such was thefailure of the District Administratipn to assess the dangerousportents of this leaflet in circulatiofr that in a meeting whichwas held in the afternoon of April 9, 1979 in which the Com-missioner took stock of the situatiotr" this matter was not evenbrought up before him."

Regarding the police firing and the casualtieg the Com-rnission observed: "Allegations havb been made that the BiharMilitary Police fired recklessly and killed Muslims in theirt-romes.... According to evidence onl record, it appears that asmany as 1Q0 rounds were fired by the Police within d shorttime. After ali this firing which wal supposed to be aimed atMuslim mobs.... two Muslims werb found dead with bulletwounds, one inside a house and a]nother in a lavatory. TheCommission has no hesitation in opserving that a noticeablelink is discernible between claims rhade in the leaflet referredto above and the conduct exhibitbd by the Bihar MilitaryPolice sepoys."

One of the senior Army Officfrs whose units had beencalled out for controlling the Jamsliedpur riots mentioned tome thatwhen the Army came on the scere' almostwithin thrbehours after the outbreak of the riot$, there was not much riotpoiice in evidence on the streets. there is no reason to dis-

Commissions ol Inquiry l0l

believe the statemenl This falls in line with th€ contents of the

leaflet and the sympathies that thc police units at the subor-

dinate level were alleged to have evinced tdwards the

organisers of the Hindu religious procession'

All the findings of the different Commissions pointed to'

among otherg certain serious flaws in the administrative system

of the state concerned But seldom were these attended

to as a part of the follow-up actions which should in fact be

treated as integral'to the inquiry itself It is such indifference ifnot apathy to curing the system that leads one to the conclu'sion that each of the commissions of inquiry having met the

immediate purpose of defusing an inconvenient politicalsituatiorL had fulfilled itself and mattered no mot€.'

r

Role of the A.my and the paraMilitary Units in CommunalSituations

It is necessary to understand thbt in civil disturbances theArmy cannot always be effective wifhout prejudice to its pres-tige. By inducting the Army to deal with disorder, theauthorities acknowledge an elevatidn in the'combat status' ofthe capability of the forces which lnanipulate and engineercivil disorders. No one is better suited and placed to unders-tand this manipulation and deal With it effectively. than thepolice who are expected to know the sober elements amongthe population as also the anti-so4ial ones. The absence ofproper understanding between the police and the anny com-mands can give rise to complications, which in turn can ren-der both the force ineffective. ln a sense this is what happenedin Ahmedabad. The helplessness 4nd the ineffectiveness ofthe Army was showp up in dealine with the civil disorderwhen among other things. the wornen belonging to both thecommunities came out in very lafge numbers in differentsituations and rendered the Army inleffective. The Army couldhave got on top of the situation only by resorting to firing.Shooting was obviously not the answer for dealing withabusive and defiant women Once the ineffectiveness of theArmy in certain situations was defironstrated, it became aninvitation for the repetition of the same strategJ by the rioters,followed by the recurrence of violelnce.

The troops are trdined not to retreat Iftherefore in a civildisorder situation they do have to fetreat or have to watch a

102

Role of ArmY 103

situation helplessly, it is regarded as a sign ofweakness which

itr"y "unttot

ufford'to display' Once the army is committe4 ithas to be successful. Any sign of failure or weakness would be

psychologically disastrous both for the government and the

pelple. tt is therefore, imperative that the commitment of the

armv in a situation of civil disorder should be pushed as far

back in time as possible by the induction of paramilitary for-

ces and forces specially trained for handling communal and

similar situations. Though the induction of the army in aid of

civil power increases the state power in the short ruq itexposes the inherent weakness of the state and renders the law

and order institutions ineffective in the long run

According to Major General Afsir Karim, who was com-

manding the army troops in the city of Ahmedabad duringthe riotsln 1985, "Peace could nof return to Ahmedabad onlybecause the antisocial elements were not being rounded up

by the pciice". The depth of the communal virus should be

evident from a question a delegation of Hindus put to an

Army Cfficer. 'Ihe Army Officer was shocked when he was

asked as to why he had ordered hring on Hindu mobs when he

himself was a Hindu. General Karim is reported to have

remarked: "If caste and communal feelings get into the army'

the greatest beneficiaries will be our enemies across the

border."

The lack.of understanding between the local police and

the army units inducted in Ahmedabad during the riots, apart

from being unfortunate and avoidable, also made serious

inroads into the operational efhcienry ofboth the armY andthe police units forwant of mutual cooperation and coordina-tion. Allegations and counter-allegations were made whichbecame a matter o{public knowledge through the Press. Thishad its own repercussions in the day-today relationship bet-

\\'een the army and the police and in effect on their respective

functioning The rift was frilly exploited by the anti'socialelements with the inevitable loss in the effectiveness of the for-

ces. It even seemed at one stage that the forces against law and

order had triumphed thoqgh only briefly. The damage done to

. One can almost generaiise in the light ofbur experience overthe years that whenever the armly is inducted in aid of civilpower in communal situations, petty and avoidable differen-ces between the army and the poiic; have come in the way of$e. happy relati,onship and coordinatea wo.ting oiifre two.This aspect has also been comnlented upon bv-some of tneCommissions which have inquirpd into the .iois in itre pasrThat this lack-of operational rapflort should persist inspite ofthe several references to it by thd different i)ommissions, israther disturbing To what exient does one attribute ihis con_tinuing failure to conform to the g{ound rules that do exist andwhich lay down the guidelines gofeming the roles of both thearmy and the police in times of ciriil disorder? It is not that theproblem is insoluble, but that, fop whatever reasorl we havenot brought to bear on the issue {he required resoluteness roresolve it once and for all. But eve1ry sucir failure is at the costof the operational efficiency of thl security forces which inturn detracts from the credibility lnd conlidence that thev areexpected to inspire in the people of the land"

A similar thing happened on the occasion of theMqradabad riots in 1980 when the local police and the Border

f-

Security Force which was inducted ln aid of the localauthoritiesfailed to cooperate and] coordinate their respectiveoperational responsibilities. The police resented the sug-gestion of handing over the situation to the Border SecuritvForce. The suggestion itself was as a reflection ontheir performance and com It needs to be spelt outclearly that the task ofthe outside forces is to strengthen andsupplement the local units and nQt t<r replace thei"

W*ren a riot is on, every hour f communal frenzy addsalarmingly to tne piles of dead burnt houses and pro-perties looted If this situation is

104 COMMUNAL vroLENcE rN tNDrA

:,T-l?t"li"l of the army and the police during thar par,ucular period was incalculable 4nd out ofproporiion to thenature and extent of the diffe{ences benreen the securityforces

unded by distrust and

Role of ArmY r05

lack ofrapport between the forces that are called upon to han'

dle the siiuation and this continues even for a few hours' one

can imagine the damage that can be caused to the city' It isthereforJ necessary to work out in advance the specihc units

that would be made available for dealing with riots in towns

and cities where this problem is of a chronic nature' Their

deployment plan can and should be so arranged as to enable

ttrem io.establish a personal rapport at the subordinate levels'

The officers at the subordinate levels are likely to continue in

the districts and in the units for much longer spells than the

senior officers who get posted out more frequently' This calls

for advanced planning and a willingness to accept the.fact that

the arrangemints such as the one suggested are practicable' Itis easy tolhoot down this suggestion on the ground that it is

imprictical and visionary. Familiarisation exercises should

beiarried out periodically with units of the Central Reserve

Police Force u.td u fe* Border Security Force units, of people

and places which are communally very sensitive. An adequate

strength of paramilitary units should be stationed in close

proximity to tfiese places if not in them' This would faciliiate the prompt induction of supplementary units which willnot fail io make a qualitative difference in the handlihg of acommunal situation. Considering the stakes involved in terms

of bittemess that is generated between the communities, the

international implications and the geo'political vested inter-

ests of our neighbours in exploiting continued communal dis-

harmony and the damage that it can do to the image of the

country as a secular democratic nation, nothing is too much to

ensure communal peace. If communal discord cannot be

eliminated completely inspite of the best efforts, the least that

can be ensured is to make sure that the loss due to such riots is

kept down to the very minimum, thereby reduci^rg the pro'paganda mileage of such tragedies.

VIIRclle of the Police

Over a period of time certain elements in tLe country havedeveloped a vested interest in the frequency and the lerocity cfthe ccmmunal riot;. There are sevpral vested interests, and notjust one, with different aims and pbjects. One of these groupsuses the occasion to settie scores between criminals beiongingto different communities and more so between criminalsengaged in illegal but lucrative aptivities such as smugglingillicit distillation, bootlegging g4mbling and drug p"stri"g.They have a stake in keeping alivd the comr,runal virus whichthey exploit from time to time depending upon rhe cir-cumstances. This is not to gainsaj' the fact that the criminalsare one class oi people whose irlter-personal relations nor-mally transcend communal considerations when it comes totheir day to day illegal opetrationi. They however, do not failto exploit a situation if their pprsonal or group interestsdemand iL The killing of Alamzeb on 30th December. l9g5 bythe Surat Police and the riot that followed in Ahmedabad onthe subsequent days is a case in poinl Not to proceed againstthese anti-social eiements and allow them to indulge in theiractivities of organised crime wilhout any serioui effort tobreak into them is a sure invitation to trouble at a place andtime of their choosing. Unless thpreforg rhese activities aredealt with sternly and purposefullf as an integral and impor-tant part of day-to-day public a.dn]rinistration, these elementswould inevitably become organized syndicates. large andstrong enough to be able to purchase political influence andadministrative patrongage through their economic power,and to pose a challenge tc rhe powers thar be whener.Lr andwherever they may decide to do so. If therefore. the communal

106

Rote of the Police 10'l

riots, in Ahmedabad could continue for several months and

ii. i*ia""." of riots in places like Bhiwandi Morailabad'

Atiearh. Biharsharif and other places is on the increa:re' it is

tim-e that the problem is looked into not merely as a com-

-"""f p-Uf.tit to be handled as a hre-fighting exercise at the

i.r.f "i the police only. lt is to be treated as a sociallY can-

cerous disease which has taken root over the y ar!;' ano

io*urat ttt. g.owth and sustenance of which several oth er for-

ces have contributed.

When for politicians, political power at any cost.becomes

the goal, it is ttre effectiveness of illegal operatio-ns and

murr"ipulutiotts which matter and not the time-tested norms

u.ta pti""ipt.t. Politicians who rise to power on the strength ol

,uah -uttoauurings and manipulations of political operators

are for ever hostages to this political culture which has its

economic base outside the legal framework and derives sus-

tenance from activities such as sumuggling, bootlegging and

the like. A political culture somewhat on these lines had grown

over the yeirs in Ahmedabad which had brought about a nexus

berweenihe politicians' the police and the anti-socials who are

economic and political power brokers'

In 1985 when the res€rvation agitation began in Ahmeda-

bad. the police force that was called upon to handle the agita-

tion had been corrupted as never before and the image of its

leadership at the city level left much to be desired A senior

oolice officer ofthe State ofGujarat referred to the syndicates

of corruption in the police ranks at the point of the time when

the force was called upon to face one of its worst ordeals in the

handling of law and order' The ofhcer in',harge of the city

was utrder extension and this created its own disciplinarycomplications in the hierarchy The general belief in the folee

itseliwas that the extension ofthe service ofthe officer beyond

the date of retirement was motivated entirely by polirical

rather than professional considerations and this carried with

it its own message down the line which proved detrimental to

his effective handling of the crisis that enveloped the city' lncities and towns which are prolle to communal riots and

I

108 MUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

where the.people have a ten to take to agitational politicsofprotest the choice of functi es, on whose performanceas the leader of the team d the security of life and pro-perty of an entire city, s d not be governed by con-

ral advantage and expediencesiderations of short-termbut by the fundamental tenets f administration. Unless anduntil the choice ofthe functio at all levels of administra-tion, and more so at the ful of power in places which arecommunally and politicallysideratibns of professional

trvq are governed by con-tegrity, commitment, com-

In an unprecedentedAssembly called.upon thedown communal violence at

re of unity. the Gujaratent to "mercilessly put

cost". The resolution movedby some political party leadersauthorities to be ruthless. One

August, 1985 requested thef them said: "In the past we

had occasions to complain t the police behaviour. Wewanl to assure the government the police that we are withyou in combating the evil of unalism."

The existence of a n between the policg thecriminals and the politicians evident from the Press state.ment of Julio Riberio(31) who k over as the Chief of theState Police in July 1985. In ansaid: "The police force here

terview he is reported to have

petence and leadership, wefestering violence that was

politicisation. Every transferpoliticians. Police officerspoliticians wanted Soare the main tr.ouble makers.All this while they have been

continue to invite the type ofessed in Ahmedabad

been ruined due to heavyto take place at the behest of

pressurised to do whathad a hey-day.... Bootleggersme of them are gun runners.

supreme in the walledcity as they had political pa Gujarat is a classic exam-ple ofthe nexus that politicianspolice are also involved"

uild up with bootleggers. The

has

RoleofthePolice 109

Dlainest of terms without invitiqg any reprisal from tn*e powers

iil;; ri. rnigtt, not have tpokttt out as strongly as he did

"J"* tt" *". Jonvinced thai the disease had gone deep into

;;;;* ""J it was time that someone responsible said that

',;;;;h;;ough. Not being beholdento-the local political

b;;;]o. the poiition that h; he14 he did not have to look

over tris shoulder for the approval of his actions by the powers-

;h;;-;., at the level of thi state governmenl He knew what

.'**,fy'ftl. task was and from where his mandate came' The

C":"*t Police antenna down the line picked up the message

fasi enough. Men and matters began to fall in the slots meant

io, eactr, a'na tne situation fast returned to normal' This carries

a very fundamental message and lesson for politicians and

a{ministraton generally and for the police in particular'

Without detracting in the slightest from the eminence of

Ribeiro wlro is in a cliss by himsell it needs to be said that

ih.r. ur" ofti..rs in the lndian police who are capable ofrising

to similar heights if only the concerned governments give

these officers ih. sa-e unfettered freedom for non-partisan

action in the normal day-to-day administration which the

Gujarat government had extended to Ribeiro' lt was com-

pAi"a to?" so when conditions had degenerated to a state of,rea. chaos. lt is only if and when each Chief of police in the

differnet states takes his stand on the day-to-day issues con'

fronting him entirely on their merits, and without fear ofpolitical reprisals for professional jobs fearlessly.and impar-

iial.ly petforme{ will we be in a position to eliminate avoid-

able violence from society. Under these conditions alone

could.one judge police performance fairly, and hold them

accountabli if there'is excessive and endemic violence' Fester-

ing and endemic violence, onq may reiterate, is essentially the

priduct of compromises with established norms and stan-

iards, be it by the politicians or the police or worse' by

both.

The state of affairs in some of the other states which are

plagued by communal conflicts are certainly no better' Thepoint that needs to be made is that if the police, at whatever

ll0 AL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

level and to whatever extent,smuggling or other areas ofauthority to curb antlsocialeyes of the people, and thus

mes pri\y to bootlegging orrnized crime, it forfeits its

Instead it becomes a hostage-ilous elements who at thJ sl;

nefarious activities in theits reason for existence.

the hands of these unscrupu-test sign of the exercise of

legitimate authority by of law decide to show thecorrupt elements among themcess, the force itself crumbler

eir proper place. In the pro,

which it is infected Whendepending on the extent toinfection is widespread andhealth and vitality left in thedown the line, there is very libctively the eroding and pro-

munication between him and $is officers contributed to thetragedy more than anything Yet no action was takenagainst those down the line for aggravating the situation bytheir acts of omission and comhission-

Every compromise in public life with time tested normsand values pushes the threshqld of violence further down.Now the moot point is, will the lessons of Guiarat which hadbeen arrived at after such enorr{ous cost in teims oflives. oro-perty and defiance of authoriry. endure ar the appropiiarelevels? Ifthe-enlightened aware!ress belatedly aisplayea by thelegislators of the Gujarat Assemlbly permeates ttre motivationsand animates the actions of the politicians in the other srares,the.country will be spared an enprmous volume and variety ofviolence which otherwise may [e difficult to avoid-

force capable of withstandineliferating problems.

Role ol the Police 1 1 I

sad admission. The rank and file in the Police have to bear the

brunt in any communai situation If these people are not cap

able ofeven surmounting their caste barriers as shouldbe evi'

dent from the fact that in Bihar District Police Lines the

Messes are still not only denominational but even caste

based, can they rise above communal considerations?

Both in Moradabad and Aligarh and even in other plades

there have been allegations of police inaction or even par-

tisanship in dealing with the riots' This is curable ilthe Armed

Police which is inducted on the occasion of riots is led by res-

ponsible officers who are held accountable for the conduct ofihe men working under thern As long as the men are allowed

to function with little or no supervision by responsible

offrcers, such allegations can always be levelled and often not

without justificatibn. Every such allegation is an indication ofthe failure of leadership at the operational level' Making any

particular place out ofbounds for any particular police unit or

iemoving it from any situatiorL certainly does not do credit

either tolhe police or to the authorities. Such drastic action

against the whole unit.is not fair when a large body of men go

into action It is possible that some men may have acted pre-

judicially and in the process brought the entire forcb into dis'iepute. One does come across unscrupulous policemen, who

do take advantage of a situation for their own personal

aggrandizement If all such allegations are squarely looked

into. and if the small segment of the armed and the districtpolice units responsible for such behaviour are identified,

isolated aqd made examplcs o[ such misconduct on the part

of the men is not likely to recur. Instead all such complaintsare forgotten once the force is moved out of the scene till they

are repeated once again on the next occasion. This is certainlynot the manner in which we would ever be able to inculcatethe right type of attitude among the security forces in the han-

dling of such delicate situations.

If the successive communal riots in different parts of the

country during the last few years have taught us anthing it isthat theArmed Police units anployed for handling the riotsshould be effectively officered by the right type ofofhcers who

IT2 UNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

are known for their general tnesq straight and inpar-tial dealings. lnstead. officers w have been found to be cor-

are usually dumped in theent than as a part of careerdo come into contact with

rupt and dwious in theirArmed Police more as a punishpostings. Such offrcers whenthe agitated crowds in a t situation find .themselvesincapable of leading the men effective and courageous

them when the men runpassion or whatever.

action Much less can theyberserk out of greed or

The point is wherq when a4d who will go into all suchepisodes which have relevance fo police lnaction and par-tisanship, in all their various draw appropriatelessons and hammer out which can be applied toavoid similar conllicts and in future? Afailure to draw objective lessons [y the different constituentsof the administration has been dne of the chronic dnd con-tinuing defects ofthe present which deals with law andorder problems in their several in differentstates as incidents away and each other. It may bo asimple case of law and order or it inay be related to communalproblem or student or other p ems. The fact remains thatthe absence of a machinerv would make an ongoingaudit and appraisal ofthe failure$ irregularities, and improprieties at different lwels and in uqits of ad.midstra-tion continues to be a serious at both the state and theQentral level The same agency c{uld also relay the experien-ces gained in each difficult as also the notable

Role of the Police

of 13 Police Stations in the district were affected ln Thane

rural are4 13 persons lost their lives While it is comparatively

easy to handle a riot in the cities and towns where there are

facilities availablg keeping control of a riotous situation in the

rural areas may involve time consuming measures whichcould also be ineffecitve. In the very nature ofit the areas to be

tackled will be far more spread out and will have inadequate

communication facilities Police resources in the rural areas

as presently provided are extremely poor. By the time anymeaningful effort can be organized and .put forward the

damage that catr occur may well prove to be devastating to thepoint of becoming a national shame. We have not yet started

thinking on these lines We continue to believe that ribts ard

the exclusive problems of urban areag and what little thinkinghas gone into the handling of the problem is by and largelimited to the urban centres. The potential for Hindu'Muslimconflicts in the rural areas may be utilised to create violentconllicts by fundamentalists belonging to both the groups.

The existing law and order arrangement in the rural areas is

woefully inadequate 3o meet the likely contingencies in mostof the states

Nowthatthe Hindu-Sikh problem has shattered the com'placency that we had all along nursed because of the earlieramity between these two communitieg it is time that wethought in terms of devising certain radical institutionalarrangements in the policing of the rural areas This will alsohave to take into accoutrt socio-economic changes comingabout rapidly in the wake of agrarian reforms, developmentalactivities and anti-poverty programmes

Hindu-Sikh -harmony has withsood a considerableamount of tension and provocation. The rural areas of thePunjab where the Hindus are in a minority have generallybeen peaceful except for the killings ofisolated individuals bythe extremists. This stands to the credit of the Sikhs who arethe majority community in the villages. The same thinghowever cannot be said about the urban hreas of the Punjabwhere during the Iirst eipiht months of 1986 clashes had

l13

-r-

ll4 cdMMUNAL vtoLENcE tN rNDtA

occurred b€Meen the Hindus atrd the Sikhs. What shaoe thisconflict between the two communities in the urban centres ofthe Punjab will take in times td comg and what effect it willhave in the rural areas of the Punjab can only be a matterof speculation-

Therp are ftrowwer three strands in the psyche ofSikhs in the Punjab, the im of which on the Sikh cori-

The first is the near-totalby way of criminal prosecu-

munity cannot beabsence of any worthwhiletion of the and-socials whokillings ofthe Sikhs and the

responsible for the senseless

mediately following theess savagery in the week im-lion of Mrs. lndira Gandhi.

This is a standing grievance nulsed by almost the entire Sikhcommunity and more so by the perceptive and the intellectualsamong thern The message that has gone around in Punjab inthis regard and the impact it wbuld have among the peoplecannot be minimised The seco$d strand is the migration of alarge number of the relations of fthe victims of the riots of 1984from Delhi and other places to Funjab and their settliug downthEre The Hindus who have eitlier suffered in Punjab or'werefrightened and have migrated are temporarily sheltered inDelhi and othcr areas in Himdchal and Haryana. They arefresh centres of Gnsion The wdunds of the two communitieswill continue fir be raw for quite sometime to come. In themeantimg to expect that they wifi not adversely affect the prevailing state of communal amlty, is to put a premium onhuman nature. The third and tlle most abiding strand whichwhile being very importan! aild intensely insidious is thePakistan factor. This has to do with infiltration by Pakelements and the activities of agqnt-provocateurs who have anabiding interest in the commu4al discord. Over a period oftimg this will not remain mertily as a communal problem.This will have to be viewed as air integral part of a long termplan of Pakistan to neutralize that part of her border withIndia.

Arun Nehru told Parliame4t in April, 1986 after a visit toPunjab that he had told Barnalll theChief Ministerof Punjab

Role of the Police

about what was happening ih most of the Gurudwaras, whichwas a matter of serious concern. He had brought to his atten-

tion the provocative and anti-national utterances,, which the'Ragis' and'Dagis' were making in Punjab villages. They were

inciting communal passions and creating enormous pro-

blems. Some anti-national statements made by s6me organi-sations were also Srought to his notice. Mr. Nehru spoke ofthe deepening communal divide' "I spent two days in Punjaband the disturbing feature was that we met many political par-

ties, many groups and individuals and they all talked aboutthe Sikh side or the Hindu side and very few mentioned aboutthe Punjabi side".

In the light of the foregoing it is very necessary that polic-ing the rural areas of the country receives greater attentionthan it has so far. This has to be attended to speedily if we are

not to be caught unawares.

Ability to prevent a crisis is as integral to the concept ofcrisis managerhent as managing the crisis itself. Instead ofmerely helplessly watching developing situations, effectivecrisis management implies an ability to anticipate and act in amanner commensurate with the nature and dime nsions of theproblems that are likely to arise in a fast developing society.

The manner in which the Police strength of Bhiwandi has

increased over the years should explain this point aptly. At the,time of the 1970 riots there was only one Police Station with astrength bf 192 Folicemen which was increased to three afterthe riots, with a total Police strength of about 469. After the1984 riots there has been an accr6ticin in the strength of thetown Police by about 303. That means the Police strength ofthe town was substantially increased, evidently as a sequel tothe 1984 riots lfonly this sudden increase had been graduated

over the years to match the proliferating problems of the town,it should have been possible for the administration to keep

down the loss oflives and property. The verve, the vigour andvitality of an administration lie in the ability of .its institutionsto anticipate and act effectively, instead of allowing itselfto be

overtaken by events.

il5

116

The problems generated bythe population incease, with

problems in the communallyit possible to spell out the

would be relevan(32) :"lt is notdilemma which once seemed

historical realities emerge.of religion when nationalthem. Every period seems to hpolarises the worlC and servesthe chaos, until histcry passes owards people wonder what they

UNAL VTOLENCE IN INDIA

omic changes andreference to the

areas, which should makesteps tbat the situations

novelty in history that a rea,all importanr is gradually

lost interest in waging warsousness began to dawn one its specific conflict whichan ideological compass inr it with a shrug and afier-

so excited about It is a

character and composition of increase make it imperativethat the govemment undertakes least a decennial review ofthe Police strength its depl and related oroblems. Amore frequent review should be ndertaken of the communal

demand and which need to be ted to anticipate conflictsbefore thev arise and to curb an control them effectively and

odical review could be a verya study team consisting of

prompfly when they do. Thisuseful exercise if it is done bvadministrators, political l publicmen and policeoflicials. Units of this team can it the communally sensitiveplaces in an effod to understand d update the assessment ofthe problems in its several fa Only such determined andsystematic effortsare likely to yield

to come to gri with communal problemsenduring

Conflicts between the ofdifferent religious is notnew in history. There have been of religion in the past inseveral oarts ofthe world. But o r a period of time this trendhas changed and the cbnflict has hifted from relieion to otherforms. In this connection the o ations of Arthur Koestler

drained of its rneaning and beco es pseudo-dilemma as new

fuither fact that some of these ideological confl icts arenever decide{ They end in a emate. Instead of a decisionther€. carn€ a deadlock and a which one might call thewithering away of the deadlock he withering or draining of

result of some mutation inmeaning always seems to be thhuman consciousness accom ied by a shift of emphasis to

l

Role of.the Police

an entirely different set ofvalues, from religious consciousRess

to national consciousness, to economic consciousness and so

on." One hopes that the history of our times will similarly tideover the present unhappy phase leaving the people wonderingabout the senselessness of oommunal conflicts. To expect

however that his would happen without any.deliberate efforton the part ofthe governmdnt and the people is to abdicate the

role and responsibility that history enjoins on the present

generatior of people and politicians.

tt7

-I

VIIIImperatives of Secularism

Secularism is a concept of pQlitical philosophy and con-stitutional doctrine. True. it is not a moral concepl but nor isit something to be tampered wi{h or circumvented by onedevice or another to suit politicfl expediency. It has to beaccepted unreservedly as a basib principle to regulate theactions of the state at all levels in a nation comprising ofpeo-ple of different religious faiths.

The provisions with regard to secularism which havebeen embodied under the Fund[mental rights, and whichfigure in Articles 25, 26, 2'l , 28, 29, and 30 of the Indian Con-stitution are not the outcome of a people's movementlaunched with a specific purpose ih view It was in fact the pro-duct of a set of historical forces Fnd political developmentswhich had culminated in the traledy of the partition of thecountry and thb trail of human inisery following the brutalkillings of thousands of people.belonging to different com-munities in both parts of the divided counlry. Since ttle veryidea of partition was conceived add consummated in the con-text of a communal ideology, thp'Founding Fathers of theIndian Constitution wanted to ensure from the very beginningthat in the India of their hopes {nd dreams politics shouldnever again figure as an integral pfogramme of the communalorganisations of the country. This Explains their motivation asalso their anxiety in the resohltion that the ConstituentAssembly passed on the 3 rd April, 1948. The resolution runs as

follows :

"Whereas it is essential for the proper functioning ofdemocracy and the growth of n{tional unity and solidaritythat communalism should be eliniinated from Indian life, thisAssembly is of the opinion that iro communaf organisation

ll8

Imperatives of Secularism I 19

which by its constitution o.r by the exercise of-discrctionary

oower vested in any of its ,5fficers or organizers admits to or

excludes from its membership persons on grounds of religiorl

racg caste or any of thenl should be permitted to engage inany a€tivities oiher than those essential for the bonafrde

reigious, cultural, social and educational needs- of the com-

i"iiry,'."a thai all steps, legislative and administrative

,r.."ttu.y to prevent such activities should be taken"

The resolution is eloquent not so much inwhat it includes

as what in effect it excludes' According to the resolutiorl

among the several activities which are open to communal

oigu"it"tlo"t, politics is conspicuous by itsabsence' Yei can

it 6e said in the light of all that has been happening in the

country during thi last three decades, that the communal

organisations oithe country have been limiting their activities

to-the letter and spirit of the above resolution ? The impor'

tance that the firit Prime Minister of the country Pandit

Jawaharlal Nehru, attached to the resolution passed by the

ConstituentAssembly should be clear from the letter which he

wrote to the Chief Ministers of States (then Provinces) on 3rd

May, 1948. The letter ran as follows:

"We have noticed a recrudescence of communal move-

ments. The old RS.S. is raising its head again in various

lbrms and all kinds of rumours are afloat I tru3t that your

province will not permit this developmenl I would also like to

d.a* yout sp"cial attention to the resolution in regard to pom-

munal brganisations passed by the ConstituenJlllsembly'W.E HAVE STATED THATWqW{LL NOT RECOGNIZEOR ENCOURAGE IN ENY WAY AI'IY COMMTJNALORGANISATION WHICH. HAS POLITICAL .ENDS. IHOPE THAT YOUR GOVERNMENT WILL ALSO

FOLLOW THIS POLICY " (Emphasis supplied). Contrary to

ail such exhortations, several blatantly communal organi-

sations are functioning today with avowed political objectives'

We as a nation have been travelling in a direction totally

opposite to the one that was set out for us by the Founding

Fathers.

l2O coufaurunl vtoLENcE tN INDIAl2o corrafuur.rnl vroLENcE IN rNDrA

Article25 ofthe Constitution fhile providing for freedomofconscience and the right to freefy profess, practice and pro-pagate religion also ensures throu$h Article 25(2) that nothingin this Article shall affect the ope rJation of any existing law orprevent the state from making any] law - regulating or restrict-ing any economig ftnalrcial, politlcal or other secular activities(emphasis supplied) which may be associated with reli-gious practice.

Secularism implies two impelptives : First, a secular stateensures that each of its citizen eSjoys complete freedom ofreligion in so far as it relates to the relationship that eachindividual wants to arrive at between himself and his Maker

conducted subject to public or{er, and other restrictionsenumerated in &ticle 25(l) or Ar{icle 26 of the Constitutiortthere should be no cause for cohrflict Article 26 reads asfollows :

or wishes to pursue as his moral] or spiritual goal If com-munity prayers and. community Observance of religion are

"subject to public order, mlorality and health, everyreligious denomination or any qection thereof shall havethe right:frrf, rrtsut .

(a) to establish and maintain institutions forreligious and cha{itable purposes:

(b) to manage its own affairs in matters ofreligion;

(c) to own and acquife moveable and immove.able property an{

(d) to administer such property in accordancewith law

The second lmperative is th4t the citizen either in hisindividual capacity or in his grou]p activities with regard toreligion does not intrude into the {ffairs of the statg therebyenabling the stat€ to carry on itg functions in conditionscharacterised by freedom frqm rel]igiori Thus secularisationas a concept of state policy will be rdal and meaningful only in

:)

I mperatives oJ Sec ularism

an atmosphere which guarantees both freedom of religionand freedom from religion. It is as important for the state toenjoy the status of freedom from regilion in its politicalactivities as it is for the citizens to have freedom ofreligion' Itis only vrhen these two propositions which are i one sense,

mutually exclusivg co-exist and are accepted tugether thatsecularism will come alive. Only as and wher\ we, the people

of India are able to elevate secularism to this level as a practi-cal doctrine, would we be able to vindicate the hopes of ourF-oudding Fathers as enshrined in the Constituent Assembly

resolution of 1948 and the relevant provisions of the

Constitution

The measure of anxiety that the architects of our Con'stitution had with regard to ensuring the welfare of the

minority communities is more than amply reflected in theprotection that they extended to the cultural and educationalrights of the minority communities through Article 29 and 30

of the Constitution. At the same time the state kept itself awayfrom the charge ol promoting religious instructioos ofwhatever denomination by stipulating in Article 28(1) that:

"No religious instructions shall be provided in anyeducational institution wholly maintained out of state funds."Article 28(3) of the Constitution stipulates' that : "No personattending any educational institution recognised by the stateor receiving aid out ofstate funds shall be required to take partin any religious instructions that may be imparted in suchinstitutions or.to attend any religious worship that may beconducted in such institutions or in any premises attachedthereto unless such person or, ii such person is a miqor, hisguardian has given his consent thereto."

In the light of the Constitutional provisions cited abovethere should be no doubt about the rsponsibility ofthe state toensure that the government of the country is conducted onsecular lines Apart from the specific provisions in the Articlesfrom 25 to 30 ofthe Constitutiorq gecularism did not figure as

such in the Preamble of the Constitution. Even this gap, if

t2r

'22 COMMUNAL VTOLENCE IN INDIA

indeeditwas a gap,was sought to $e filled by the42ndAmend-ment of the Constitution in J975, when the term"socialistsecular'was added to the Preamblb of our Constitution" whichin its amended from read as socialist seculardemocratic republic', It needs to be made clear that the 42ndAmendment did not introduce an$ new concept on the subjectof secularism which had not already provided, for in theArticles of the Constitution It made the concept explicit

general public by incor-and brought it to thle notice ofporating it in the Preamble of Constitution.

In a country like India with itb diversitieq and particular-ly, multiplicity of religions, seculafism to be meaningful has tohave in its believers and practitiodrers a rnental infrastructureand attitude which with genuin{ tolerance of each other'sreligion is also capable of generating mutual goodwill amongthe people of different faiths and religions. This calls for anunderstanding at all levels of the dssence which is the same inall religions, as distinct from the bxternals and rituals whichdiffer from religions to religion Fundamentally, religiousbeliefs may not lend themselves td being proved by reasoningor logic. What endows religion with all that is grand is exactlyits non-amenability to logical proof Martin Luther King wentto the length ofsaying that : "reasdn is the greatest enemy thatfaith has". For the general mass of people a God that is access-ible would rob them ofthe mystiqrie and wonderment.which iswhat religion is all about This dods not imply that religion inany form and for whatever reasod needs to encroach on theaffairs of the state.

Secularism to become a fact ofli{e has to be lived throughby the people as a whole and nod merely preached from thepolitical platforms by a few This has to bq so to say, an articleof faith, and not a strategy. The chbnces of its acceptance andbeing acted upon by the vast mads of the people will largelydepend on the consistent effort$ and initiatives taken onseveral fronts by the statg and lroluntary organisations tomake it a frghting faittr, integral to the culture and ethos of thecountry. That being the goal to be fursued, to expect that it will

Imperatives of Seculaism 123

be realised just by virtue of the place that it finds in the Pream-

Ute ana tne etticles ofour Constitution, and thus play a seffl

fulfilling role in the life of the nation, is to substitute pious

hopes f-r resolute and persistent political-action The least

that we can do to start with is not to accentuate the communal

divide by feulling it on grounds of political and administrative

expediency. In ihis contex! the observation of Gandhiji is

relivant He said : "There are as many religions as there are

individualst but those who are conscious of the spirit ofnationality do not interfere with one another's religion If Hin-

dus believe that India should be peopled only by Hindus' they

are living in a dream land The Hindus, the Sikhs' the

Mohammadens, the Parsis and the Christians who have made

India their country are fellow'countrymen and they will have

to live in unity if only for their interes[ In no part of the world

are one nationality and one religion synonymous terms; norhas it ever been so in India."

Secularism is not compatille with denominational politi-

cal parties, When a denominational political party. fights an

election it appeals to communalism and not secularism for its

vote. We as a nation do not seemto realise that we are also the

victims of our own double'thint We want the prestige and

pleasures of a secular state without going through the pains

and hazards of doing away with blatantly communal parties'

The dichotomy ofour public life consists exactly in this' When

religion becomeg directly or indirectly, a function of com'

muiity consolidation for political purposes it does so at the cost

of natiinal integration In such an environmen! the votaries

of the community's religion become the architects of the com-

munal divide.

There is no intention to minimise the difllculties that we

have to go through in the process of living up to the demands

of a secular state. A beginning has to be made somewhere ifthis objective, which remains enshrined in our Constitution, is

not to languish indefiniteJy. To exliect that the people willusher in sicularism without the state itself discharging its

share of the responsibility is to indulge in illusions. Let the

124 coMMUNAL vtoLENcE rN INDrA

political parties get started even !y de-communalising theirday-teday activities and with it thb activities and calculationsrelated to elections. Itcouldwel tu]rn out to be the most signifi-cant lirsr step, and a fruit$l approach to a seeminglyintimidating job.

IXIslands of HoPe

While discussing the communal problem we should also

remember that there are mixed localities in Surat Varanasi'

Aligarh and other places where the communities have

retained their sanity and have not allowed themselves to

become victims of communal frenzy. On the country there is

so much of mutual business dependence between them thatthey have developed almost a vested interest in peace.

Notwithstanding the arousal of intense communalpassiong there were many instances in all the riots, of Hindusand Muslims working together to keep their localities free

from attacks by mobs from other localities and thus mainlain'ing communal harmonY.

In Sura! a large number of Muslims employ [Iindumigrant labour from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and AndhraPradesh. The Hindus too employ Muslim migrants

from these places. How is it that the) have been able to achieve

a degree of emotional and communal amity when the same

thing is missing in other places ? Evidently, the factors whichcause riots in other places have been absent in Surat As the

Police Commissioner of Surat put i! Surat has not had a com-munal riot for several decades even though this is a city whichhas a sizeable minority population (15.65%) and a veryflourishing business centre where members belonging to theminority community-are employed in large numbers by the

majority community employers and vice versa. As the Collec-tor at Varanasi put it : "The relationship between the two com'munities is one of Tana-Bana (warp and weft). Another offrcerwho had worked as Collector at Aligarh explained how even

during the worst periods of tension, in areas where lock

125

126 COMMUNAL vtoLENcE rN INDIA

manufacturing goes on in house$, the sales tax collection fromthe,areas did not register any pecline except for very briefperiodq which showed that the relations and trade betweenthe communities continued witllout any serious internrptioneven though certain other par{s of the state were plaguedby riots.

Some of the eriinent schplars such as RashiddudinKhan, Imtiaz Ahme4 Moin Shakir among others are allagreed that the Muslims as 4 community are as muchfragmented as the Hindus becautse of clasg caste and linguis-tic -cleavafes. That being the in{rerent nature of the Muslimcommunity, the chances of thei{ identiSing themselves withthe class intere$ts in the rest of tfre country would have beenfar greater had it not been for thb community leaders amongthem exploiting for their personpl purposes the perceived orthe actual€rievances of the com{nunity. What is basically anact of exploitation assumes lelitimacy and respectabilitywhen it is pitted against the equ4lly communal forces amongthe Hindus. Incidents like those paused by throwing open thedisputed place in Ayodhya for urprship by Hindus, will onlyprovide the reqtrired proof that the Muslims are being dis-criminated against We just canniot unscramble historv. Suchagitations will only make the cbmmunal divide more andmore rigid, making coelristence $etween the communities dif-ficult over the years.

I

Hindus as the majority comlnunity have a responsibilityto ensure that they do not takq the lead in provoking theminorities. Unfortunately howeJver, the past record of themajofity community has not fulliftedthls hope. It is only whenthe majority community displayls restraint and forbearanceeven in circumstances of extrem$ provocation that we wouldbe anywhere near communal a+ity. It is generally believedthat Hinduism is not so much a feligion as a way of life. Theessence ofit lies in its ability to live and let iive. Tolerance is itsbasic tenet Judged by this standard. can it be said that ingeneral the present of the ancient religion aretrue to the faith ? That there have been a protest and ademonstration even against an and yet a historic

Island ofIIoPe 127

occasion such as the visit of phe Pope to this country in 1986' is

a mear re of the intolerancg howwer, microscopic and

hsignificant this deiionstratirin "was compared 1o the vast

mas-s of the Hindu population who happily welcomed tho

visit It needs tobe mide clear that commuhalism among the

minorities can v€ry often be the by-product of a sense of,irisecurity vis-a-vis the majority community' This can ade'

guately be dealt with given the institution'al infrastructure';Communalism of the majority community can be far more

destructive and devastating of all thp values that India has

stood for and preserved over the centuries -In. sh94 it wiU

cease. to be the cultural entity epitomising within its fold the

values of the several phasgs of Indian civilization to which ithas been the legitimate and proud heir and become in effect a

mere geographical expression and entity. Tolerance is to be

tested ag;inat provocation just as resistence is to be tested

against Gmptation If there is nothing to provoke, where is the

scope for the display or measure of tolerance'? The pluralsociety like the one in the prevailing conditions in India issomeihing of a melting pot of several religious groqps, Focial

and economic inteiests and cultures

If the slogan'Unity in diversity'is to be at all meanipgfulit involves the evolution of a value syster4 in which tolerance

has to be an important component A plurdl society can

become a functioning and self futfilling reality only when the

majority conducts itself even under the most difficult and prevoiative conditions in a manner that it does not alienate orantagonise the minorities.

The procelS of integration implies a degree of give and

take between dilferent cultures which is what the Indian ethos

is all about Any resistance to this will inevitably invlove am€asure of conllict between the communities for which noone community can be held solely responsible. The minorityb-emmunities will understandably have their own fears ofbeing swamped by the majority community. The majoritycommunity has the responsibility to ensure that it does nott rrannise over the minorities. But each commrinity has to con'

128 MUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

tribute towards building a country ifnecessary by sur-rendering a part of its identity the interests of the whole.This is, after al,l, not so very t from the running ofajoint family, where while each

being of the wholg still retainsty. The ease and willingness

or he r own personal identi-which each community.

plays the role that is expected of in the context ofits religiousidentity and culture will decide or not there will beconflicts between the commor cohesion and harmony.

and consequent violence

The backward class ofM or Momins mainly com-

his or her interests and

posed of craftsman. artisans,groups, have come by a newexpansion of the handicraftsAhme4 the wealthy butcherscold storages, rice and flour

Independent India have benefithe others. This neoelite group

Politics', had pointed out thatLucknow in 1980 had brokeninterested in projecting their

surrenders something offor the harmonious well

and other similarconsequent on the

. According to ImtiazNorth India nave opened

and hotels. The socio

the Muslims as much asa new force in the Muslim

Muslim convention held atas the neo-elites were moreeconomic demands than

economic changes that have a dominant feature of post-

politics in the north parti in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.Mohammed Aslam (33) in his icle 'Muslim identity and

demands relating to their law. Urdu and similarthat the politicisation ofissues. "In a sense, it can be

the backward qlass of Muslims brought greater fragmen-well as greater secularisa-and healthy development

tation in the Muslim populationtioq which is indeed a very positiBut it must be remembered that the interests oftheseclasses are threatened by the ion of communal viole ncethey are forced to join hands wiforces of Islamic resurgence."

communal politics and the

The inter-dependence be the Hindus and theMuslims in trade and in places like Varanasi,Moradabad Aligarh and otherssure groups arnong the artisa

have given rise to pre-and weavers who put pre-

129lsland of Hope

ssure on the fanatical members of their respective commu'

nities to call offthe projectionof any communal issue as in the

process the communities stand to lose economically' This has

created for once a vested interest in peace between the com-

munities. It is important that in times of peace a proper survey

and study of these areas should be rrade with a view to

understanding and evaluating the cultural, ecoaomic and

oolitical implications of the trade relationship that is being

Luilt up between tfie communities on an almost day-todaybasis. without either of the groups being consciously aware ofthe lact that in their working together tb promote the jointeconomic interests ofboth the groups, they are also contribut-ing to the secularisation of the Indian socio'economic andpolitical system.

These may become the bastions of our secularism. Theyhave come into being not because of any conscious effort bythe state or by any political party, but often inspite of them.

They are the product ofthe basic good sense ofthe people, liv-ing and growing together against common odds that are the

inevitable concomitants of the economic struggle for existencein conditions of scarce resources and limited opportunities' ltis when such conditions. which are about the same for all sec'

tions of the people, are exploited by the communal elementsfor promoting their vested interests that these people whoseexacting mechanics of life leave them no time beyond earningtheir daily pittance, become parties to, and eventually the vic'tims cif, communal violence. Left to themselves, they can rise,

and have riseq above the religious divide. These are ourislapds of hope, of sustenancq and of the eventual survival ofsecularism as it was conceived by the Founding Fathers' Noeffort is too great to make these islands expand and embracethe whole country reclaiming in the process those areas whichare temporarily stranded in the communal backwaters'

In the type of situation that is developing in our country, itis difficult to think in terms of a grand strategy which banpurge the communities of the misunderstandings and sus-

picions that they have against each other. Considering the

130 cor\4MUNAL vtoLENcE lN tNDtA

general sellishnoss and evil in ftuman naturg one cannotdream on the lines of a visionaryf and plan an utopia. Whatcan be attempted and which is wofth working for is to restrainand curb the violence that is.inhdrent in all srch conflicts asand when they arise. A modest approach on these lines is, Ithinlq capable of yielding results ivhich over a period of timeshould have an impact on the inQidence and the intensity ofcommunal violence.

Education is one field where lot can be done to promotecommunal understanding and , at an age when ifit takesroot it will endure. The Commission in its FourthAnnual Report also laid special on 'synthesising pat-terns of thoughts and feelings ich would stem the tide ofdisintegrating forces'. Can we thi in terms of havins com-mon schools for all communities instead of havins denomi-national schools exclusively the children of onecommunity ? Mixed educationalsection of studeots drawn from

institutions where a crosscommunities studv and

play together would certainly and contribute tonalional integration. Above all it is necessary to ensure andimprove the secular nature and of text books that areprescribed in schools andplaints in this regard Thereuncomplimentary referencesIndia in history text books taughessential in the preparation of

to students. Soecial care isbooks, the contents of

which will eventually influenceeach other's community.

attitudes of the vouth to

If the number of Madrassas] that have grown over theyears in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh is any guide, itis indicative of the fact that some sbctions of the Muslim com-munity would like to have its childpen put through the primarystage-s exclusively in the Madrassas. Since many of these

There have been com-been allegations aboutto the Muslim rulers of

the benelit of

kland of Hope l3l

general education and this would have its own disadvantageand will distort their outlook In view of the continuedbackwardness of the vast mass of Muslims in the field ofeducation it seems imperative that special fieps are taken bythe state to increase and improve the facilities and opportu-nities for their formal and vocational educatior\ which maysupplement their religious education.

Inaugurating the Conference on National lntegration onSeptember28 1961, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the then Vice Presi-dent of India observed : "National integration cannot be builtby brick and morta[ it cannot be built by chisel and hammer.It has to grow silently in the minds and hearts of men. Theonly process is the process of education. That may be a slowprocess but it is a steady thing It is a permanent thing lt is theone thing by which we will be able to transform ourpeople".

Enough data have been provided to enable us to concludethat the percentage of Muslims going in for higher levels ofeducation is l-ar lower than what is warranted by the strength oftheir population. lt is obviously necessary that this percentage

improves if the Muslim representation in the tertiary sector isto match their population percentage. This would be possibleonly if the large bulk of the weaker sections among theMuslims do not become drop outs after rhe primary stagg or ifthese sections avail ofgeneral education and not restrict them-sdlves to Madrassas. More schools should be set up in areaspeopled !y the weaker sections among the Muslims and othercommunities. Let religious education be a supplement to thegeneral education by all means, but not a substitute if theMuslims are to take their rightful place in the tertiary sector ofthe economy of the country.

Television as a mass media can be fully exploited tohighlight such aspects of life between the communities whichunite us as Indians rather than divide us as religious comlmunities. This would mean harnessing the services of intellec-tuals and literateurs who can produce plays and films with an

I

I32 COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

accOnt on communal harmony. The impact that Televisionhas is far more powerful and eriduring than any other meansof conveying the message of c<immunal harmony.

Another area in which bri{ges can be built between thecommunities is through joint cetebrations of festivals as in thecase of 'Onam' in Keral4 in ivhich members of all com-munities participate. Public celdbrations of religious festivalsthrough processions and pagea4ts can be reduced, and to thatextent communal clashes and can also be reduced.But wherever celebrations do tafte placq.a conscious effort toenlist the cooperation and of the other com-munities should reduce the of conflict It is notunusual for Muslims to in Dussehra celebrationsor for Hindus to participate in tlfe festivities of Id Let a deter-mined effort be initiated such moves, which will sur-ely blunt the cutting edge of unalism.

Land grabbing in the name of religion for shrines, gravesand places of worship has n become sadly frequent This

illwill and tension betweenof .being a bridge of under-

brings in its wakecommunities. Religiorlstanding and goodwill benveen e communities, has becomea source of death and Today in India thefollowers of different preach not so much the

and seerg but appeal toreligious beliefs of theirreligious and communal No wonder that the worst

committed in the name ofcrimes against humanity arereligion. This has never been onstrated more savagely inIndependent India than in the years.

Whatever trray have beenin which the religious festivals

justification for the mannercelebrated in the past, the

constraints of modern living theplural society that we lived the papeantry that tradi-in do not permit the pomp

tionally characterised the and festivities. Manyold places of worship are now crowded areas inhabited bydifferent communities. The ares are choked withpeoplg and the streets do not oI easv movement even

Island of Hope

for individuals let alone for latge religious processions in theirtraditional lorms These processions have the potential fordisturbing the peace between the communities as has beendemonstrated again and again That such processions are onthe increase generally all over the country should be evidentfrom the trend about which there is authentic informationwith regard to at least one important state. The Minister ofState for Home of the Maharashtra government stated inanswer to an Assembly question in the Maharashtra VidhanSabha on llth July 1986 that as many as 68 Rath Yatras hadbeen taken out in the first halfof1986 as against4 in 1985; 513

Ambedkar Anniversary processions against l3 in the previousyear and 944 Shivaji Jayanti processions compared to 656 in1985. The July 1986 communal riots in Ahmedabad arisingagain out of a procession illustrates how the authorities canfail to prevent a communal riot even though they have ade-quate advance waming and knowledge about the possibleconsequences ofsuch an evenl This is so when a procession istaken out more as a demonstration of the strength of a par-ticular community than as a mark of religious devotion. Itwould be saner, safer, and more decent and dignified to limitall such celebrations to open places where people ofthe samefaith and such others drawn from other communities as wouldlike to participatg can congregate and celebrate the ritualsand the festivities. This can be so much more peaceful andsatisfying than taking riotous processigns through streets andlanes, . infuriating in the process people who perceive thesepiocessio4s more as a nuisance than anything sacred Thetypes of processions that have become common among mostof the communities are fast degenerating into competingrevivalisrn encouraged by governments proclaiming holidayson the slightest excuse. There has to be a policy decisionarrived at in consultation with the religious leaders ofthe dif-ferent communities with regard to these festivities, pro-cessions and celebrations. One cannot vouch for the successof such an effort initially. Since however no conscious anddeliberate effort has been made so far on this accounl at a suf-hciently high level at the Centre and in the states, nor byreligious leaders who command respect at the national level"

IJJ

t34 CoMMLTNAL VIOLENCI: lN lNurA

this exercise is worth attemptii.rg.

Whether or not the commu]nities and lhe government canarrive at a proper decision acrieptable to all with resard tothese processions., there is ceitiinly a case ior a n"ationalpolicy decision on the screenirig of these processions on thetelevision. It is worth inquiring whether the coverage of theseprocessions by television coniributes rowards swillins thecrowds who participate in thenl or heightening their fervour.

Considering the rype of fal[-out from the conflict arisingout of the dispute regarding r[re reopening of rhe templeTmosque in Ayodhy4 a policy {ecision appears necessary arthe all-India level to put an efnbargo on the reopening ofissues involving old temples alnd mosqueq and ihrines ofsaints. There are several sucfi areas of dispute in UttarPradesh. Maharashtra and othpr places. Unless these issuesare treated as finally closed Nnd are not permirrecl to bereopened on any account, they can well provide the littleneeded grist ro the communal hill,

Most riots'take place in th{ old city centres, which wereonce upon a tirng the hub of ecolromig commercial. ahd evenpolitical and cultural activities Over the centuries these havegrown into veritable slums lvith very inadequate civicamenitieg resulting in appalfing living conditions. Thenarrow lanes and by-lanes do riot permit of the volume andvariety of modern vehicular traffic In times of trouble policemobility is th-warted by road bl6cks and missiles flying fromroof topg and sniping by rioters] Modem town planners havevirtually by-passed these centrfs. These are tle areas withmixed population In short, thef are the ghettos and are thetinder boxes which can be ignitdd by the slightest generationof heat arising out'of the flim$iest of causis. Thiv are thehaunts of the unemployed, the s$ugglers, drug peddierg pros-tituteq crime syndicates, liquor dons and thelike. They arerelatively 'unadministered'. The riots are mostly confined tothe;e areas and seldom spread to the cornparatively recentand modern re$idential areas. It speaks for the virulence that

Island oJ Hope

the commuanl poison has acquired over the years that even

some other residential area are beginrring to get affected by itIf therefore we are to make a dent on the communal front, thiswill have a lot to do with the town planning exercise, cityimprovemen! decongestation of selected areag moving outnoxious trades and a planned programme of civic housing Ifthe old city centres are not to explode recurrently they willhave to be attended to and rejuvenated The municipalitiesand the corporations should collect and deploy more funds ondevelopment of civic amenities, education, social welfareactMties and programmes to improve the health and hygieneof the places.

Cooperative organisation with mixed membership as has

been tried by the Vishwa Bharti Spinning Mills in Bhiwandiwould be a good arrd innovative effort to bring the com'munities together. Such cooperative efforts should extend also

to housing and other programmes undertaken by the developmental authorities.

There are several national activities which can and are

contributing to the secularisation and the integration of the

country. The three Armed Forces of the country are some ofthe most important institutions which stand as an abiding tes'

timony to our secular ideals and that of the iniegrity of the

country. Offrcers from all communities in the three Services

have done our country proud both in peace and war' The'National Roll of Honour of War Heroes has the names ofmartyrs drawn from all communities who braved death so

that the India of their hopes and dreams nay live. We willprove ourselves unworthy of their supreme sacril'ice by doingor failing to do anything which would in any way contribute tothe cancer of communalism. A little known fact, but nonethe-

less ofvery vital significance, is the composition ofthe officersat the Headquarters in the three Services. They are drawnfrom different communities and each in his sensitive post is

engaged in jobs which are crucial to the security of the coun-try. Each one performs the role allotted to him on the basis ofmutual faith and confidence. These are indeed very heart-

135

136 CoMMUNAL vloLL,NcE lN INDIA

warming daily experienced of fhe secularisation and theinteSdty of the country.

Art an culture are yet anothed area which has contributedconsiderably to promoting. natibnal integration and secu-larisation of the country. The tecfinological progress that thecountry has achieved has largely leen the result of the peoplebelonging to different faiths and communities comingtogether, each contributing signifiiantly to the several achieve-ments that stand to the credit o[ the nation. The extensivesocial inter-dependence, trade an@ communication are someof the other factors which over a period of time should bringabout further secular:isation of communities and in theprocess proVide additional bondb of national integration. Itwill be a worthwhile exercise tci extend and enlarge theseseveral areas where communal amity and goodwill havecontributed significantly to the regults achieved by the severalteams.

The institution of Home GuArds, unfortunately, has notbeen put to its optimal use. Conqidering the proliferation ofareas which are oommunallyvery bensitive, it is not possible toeffectively stretch the existing strerlrgth ofthe police to cover allthe communal areas unless a corJrplete reorganisation of thepolice system is attempted and dre police strength suitablyincreased Even after raising it to the point permitted by thefinancial constraints, we lvould not be in a position to say thatwe have adequate police strpngt! to contain and control thecommunal problems. It is a pity that we are not putting tomaximum use some excellent hudan material which is avail.able in the form of Home Guards {t all places and which to anext€trt is also orgorized. lf h some more inputs in termsof organisation, training and monetary incentivesar€ provided we should have at of the communallv sensi-tive places a considerable section 0flocal population with fullknowledge ofpeople and probshort notice for a spell of disc

who can be mobilized ataqd dedicated service.

This wing of the Home Guards will have to be brought intobeing in the context of theThey may be designated as C

social scene in India.Guaids and kept as a wing

Ishnd ol Hope 137

of the Home Guards, if necessary but used exclusively fordealing with communal riots in coordination with the Peace

Committees which spring up on such occasions. The CitizenGuards could well be the cutting edge of the Peace Committeeworking in close cooperation with the local police These for'ces could be mobilized not only on occasions of communaltension but also for dealing with caste conflicts as and when itshould emerge in some of the staie$ The institution of CitizenGuards coupled with the institution of Honorary Magistratesshould be an effective infrastructural additon to deal with fast

changing and developing situations. These two institutionsshould be kept in a state ofpreparedness at short notice in allcommunally prone areas. Since they will have a good mix ofthe local populatioq this will take care of the communal com-position ofthe rnen and officers who are pressed into servicein any of the local places. In peace time when they are notused, they should be suitably oriented by lectures and part-time training programmes on the social needs of the areawhere they may be called upon to lend their services.

Hanclling lhe visiting ioreign nationals of Pakistan andtsangladesh erclusively at the State level only has seriousoperational limitations. This is one of those subjectq thb coor-dination of which between the States should be the respon-sibility of a central agency. Considering the number ofPakistanis and Bangladeshis who visit the country on validdocurnents it would be dilficult for any state agency by itselftokeep track of all of them and their inter-State movements andensure their eventual return to their home land- But these dif-ficulties may be comparatively less if this problem is coor-dinated at the level of the Central govemmenL Thearrangement suggested would enable a better and a more pur'poseful monitoring of the intentions and activities of thevisitors from Pakistan and Bangladesh than it has been poss-

ible for us to do through the present arrangement

'Ihere had been occasions when wen the best politicalleadership at the State government level haC not been able toavert a communal riot What a strong well meaning and effec-

I

coil4MUNAL vtot-h,NcE tN INDIA138

tive leadership can do is to get on ofa violent situation pro-mptly aud keep down to the the loss of lives anddamage to property. Consi the compulsions of com-munal conflicl the least that the ing political parties can dois to ensure that the choice ofl at the state level of theparty in power is made only acharacter. competence and thc in

er taking into account the

in measuring up to lhe chall that the affairs of the stateblems in particular wouldgenerally and the communal

expose him to. But when and political expediencyget priority ovef factors which be fundamental to thechoice of a leader; the state inevitably saddled with a

ineffective and indecisive.political leadership which isTo expect that such a I hip would be able in anemergency to steer the ship of through the shoals of com-munal and agitational violence substitute hope for reality.The dynamics of current day evthe Central leadership comes to

ts are such that by the timerescue atrd reinforcement

of the timid and vacillating or ise seriously flawed stateIeadership, the damage done tovast and irretrievable. In states.

and property could well bebrq which are prone to

communal violence, the poover the destiny of the state

leader chosen to presidemust be capable of

this era as a band ofpeople whostate without the people themselv

ic worth of the rndividual

violence in public lifein particular. This is an

can ill afford to ignore.

has never succeeded in

ught to establish a secularpractising secularism. It is

riding frrmly and fearlesslygenerally, and communal violimperative which those

While hantlling comm what seems immediatelyan easy path may well weli pr<

dangerous one. Expediency as aultimately to be the most

the long run. This has a arrd compelling relevancelfhe long-term and endur-in doing immediately what

whdn dealing wit[r communaliing interest of the country consithe state would have to do. ; if the people are to bespared the fatal result of slow As of now, itwould not be farwrons if the generation of Indians getthe unique distinction ofbeing by the historians of

Island of Hope 139

the capability and actual performance and not the stated

intentions to be a secular state, that will ultimately matter. Notto try and tako the initial first step while we do have the

capacity and intention to try would be unwor hy of ourgeneration This is one of those Gordian knots wnich wouldbecome increasingly diffrcult to cut with every passing year' Itwould be a sad omission which our children will not fail tohold agaiust us. The decision that is waiting to be made willaffect not only our own destinies but the future generations,

born and unborn

Ouc would be naive to conclude that communalism overthe years has been a diminishing phenomenon. On the con-

trary the evil appears to have taken a far more vicious grip oncertain sections of the people. This is a very disturbing trend I fthe communal groups do not desist from mutually fuellingeach otheds communalism on the lines that have been wit-nessed in the recent pa$t, the country will be set on the highroad to communal conflicts, the dimension and diabolism ofq/hich wil make the past riots seem like trivial incidents. Onesundves so much that one mistakenly thinks one can surviveanthing But this is not so much a cry of despair as a note ofwarning The monster of communalism can'be faced andfaced squarely when the values of our national lifg as

envisioned and epitomised in the Preamble of our Constitu-tion, are reflected fully and uniformly in all spheres of ourpublic life, including in particular in state politics andlegislations. This is an imperative which cannot be shirked orshrugged off. What is at stake is the integrity of the country. Tointerpret wery warning of disaster and tragedy as a prophecyof doom is as absurd and irrational as treating every sooth'sayir as the purveyor of truth.

T

l)

2)

1l

4)

5)6)7)8)e)

l0)

ll.t2)

t3)

t4)

Bibliogrtaphy

Gopal Krishna: 'Communal violence in India',Economic and Political Weekly, Dt l2th January,1985.'Communal violence and it]s impact on developmentand national integratiorl Mhharashtra (Bhiwandi andPune), August 1985' The Ce4tre for Rural Research andIndustrial Developmeng ChFndigartrD.R Goyal: 'Ayodhya and Afitet', Mainstreanl Dr l3thMarclu 1986.

Gulam Nabi Khayat 'UnreCt in the Valley', The Illus-trated Weekly.of Indi4 Dr 20th October, 19g5.Indian Express, Dt 25th Apfil, 19g6.The Hindq Dt lTth Marcb, 1986.The Hindu, Dr 30th July, 1986.Indian Express, Dt 2nd Aprll, 1996.Ashish K Biswas: 'The silenf tide of human invasion',The Hindu Dr 4th Aprit 19p6.Daniel Latif 'Pak Divorce Law Shames India'. TheTimes of India" Dr 5th May, 1986.M.RA Baig'The Muslim Dilemma in India'(1974).M.C. Chagl4 'Roses in Decpmber', an autobiography(1973).

Tahir Mohammad: 'Personpl Law'. This article inSeminar Augrrsl 1979 is lhom the author's book:'Muslim Personal Law, Rdle of the State in theSubcontinent'.Mohabubul llok's article in Quest, September-October,1971. Quoted by IU..RA Ba[g in his book ,MuslimDilemma in India' 1974.Ahmed Rashid Sherwani:'Educational Backwardness'.Seminar. August 1979.AR Sayed of Jamia Milla Islamia: .Orthodoxv,.

Seminar, August 1979.

t5)

l6)

140

Biblography l,l1

17) Syed Shahbuddin:'The Indian Muslim in search of hisfuture', The lllustrated Weekly of India, Ist April.'1981.

lS) N.C. Saxena: 'Public Employment and EducationalBackwardness among Muslims in India', PoliticalScience Review, April-September, 1983'

19) S. Naseem A Zaidi: 'Employrnent of Muslims.in PublicServicesi A case study of Aligarh Muslim University''August 1983. Quoted bY N.C. Saxena

20) IBID N.C. Saxena's article.21) Naseem A Zaidi: 'Muslims in Public Services: No bias',

The Times of India Dt 8th MaY, 1986.

n) IBID N.C. Saxena's article.23) Ashgar Ali Engineer: 'Indian Muslims-A study of the

Minority Problem in India' (1986)'

24) Dr. Zakir Hussain s speech at the Conference on

National Integration in 1961.

25) Ashgar Ali Engineer, Economic and Political Weekly,Dt 15th August, 1981.

26) Mainstream, Dt 4th May, 1981.

27) Jagmohan Rgddy Commission which inquired into the

Ahmedabd riots of 1969.

28) The Madon Commission which inquired into theBhiwandi riots of 1970.

29\ Justice Raghubir Dayal Commission which inquiredinto the Ranchi-Hatia riots 196?

30) Justice Jitendra Narayan Commission which inquiredinto the Jamshedpur riots of 1979.

3l) India Today, August 15, 1985.

32\ Arthur Koestler, 'An outgrown dilemma' (1950) in hisbook 'In the trail of the Dina.saur' (1955).

33) Mphammad Aslam:-'Muslim Identity and Politics', inhis book Multi Ethnicity and National Integration(le8s).