On Recent Violence .....

In the last few days India has witnessed lot of violence. Whether it is the bombs exploding ,the churches burning or the riots between the local population and the migrant Bangladeshis the geographical spread of these unfortunate events has covered all parts of India. If a person ,say a non-Indian was to draw conclusions on these basis ,India would seem to be society in conflict with itself. It seems we need a reason to fight.

Many of these incidents have been one sided affairs where mobs have targeted a particular community ,while the others have been a fight between equals. On the other side are the terrorist attacks where the attackers have no face. Interesting thing about the terror attacks by the IM is that there is acknowledgement by the authorities that these are home grown terrorist outfits and not some 'foreign hands' .

Why does communal violence occur ? Is religious hatred the only reason behind this violence as the political parties tell us or there is more to it ? No religion teaches to murder innocents or to rape. So religious texts can not be the reason. How do communal riots start in India ? They generally start with rumours . But are these rumours the real reason . Of course not. The immediate reason for the start of WW1 was the killing of Archduke Ferdinand but it was not the real reason . It was just a spark for the simmering tension between European countries which had reached a flash point. Similarly it is inherent tension between communities which lead to the violence. What are these inherent tensions that community leaders and the political parties ostentiably exploit for the vote bank politics .? Is it the fault of only one community( say Hindus in case of riots and Muslims in case of terrorist activities) or both are to blame for the violence . What are the real reasons for the violence in the Indian context ? Let us try to answer these questions.

To begin with answering any of these questions is not easy ,for there are as many opinions as there are mouths. There seems to be little common ground between different schools of thought.

So let us take the factors one by one.:

Economic factors: This factor is most visible in violence in Kandhamel and in Assam. In Kandhamal the attacking Hindu ST community grudge the fact that the converted Christains(who are mostly SC) are still holding on to their SC status despite converting.

In Assam It is the local versus the migrants(in this case it is the illegal Bangladeshi migrants). The locals rue that the migrants are depriving them of the resources.

The same factor is being exploited by the MNS in Maharashtra(though I would say that the two situations can’t be compared.)

Many times in such riots economic reasons are involved which are simply ignored because these factors are not as visible as others. But we should not forget that economics plays a very important role in our day to day life.

Rule of Law(or rather it's failure) : The people who indulge in arson and killing during riots are, simply put ,criminals. They should be dealt as criminals. But unfortunately in our country very few culprits are punished after such riots. As a consequence these goons have no fear of law as they know that they will have to face no grave consequences for their heinous acts. This is true irrespective of which political party is in power.

Role of Political Parties: The political parties play quite a negative role in riots. Such incidents give them a golden opportunity to indulge in vote bank politics .How many political parties in India have sincerely tried to solve the root cause of such conflicts ? It is to their advantage if such conflicts linger on and wounds are not healed. This holds for so called ‘secular’ parties as well as ‘Hindutva’ parties.

Historical factors : There have been some historical factors exploited by political parties like BJP and for that matters like SP to increase the communal divide. The factors like minority appeasement, Uniform Civil Code and issues like Babri Masjid have never been looked at logically but always with passion on both sides of the divide. If a sincere effort is made then definitely these issues can be solved. These issues are always raked up by BJP then and now ,but no one has done anything to find a possible amicable solution.

Finally a more fundamental reason is the cultural factors. You can’t take religion out of Indians .It is so much part of our daily lives. Hindu fundamentalists believe their country is being overwhelmed by non Hindus .The Islamic fundamentalists believe that they have to support terrorism to fight the Hindu fundamentalists and to establish ‘Islamic values’. Neither of them is correct . The fact is we need religion to for our spiritual and cultural needs and not to create divide between communities. We need it for the welfare of civilization ,not for destroying the very fabric of civilization. Everybody has to understand that.

Fundamentalism breeds fundamentalism. Traditionally the Hindu fundamentalism was born in response to the Islamic fundamentalist forces.Now in present day India it thrives on anti Islamic fodder. The Islamic fundamentalists have to understand that they are not living in a Islamic country . They have to adapt the values to the traditions and the culture of country they are living in . They are only providing fodder to Hindu fundamentalist forces.The Hindu fundamentalism in turn gives further credence to Islamic fundamentalism among its followers. So both complement each other. When somebody dies in riots the fact is not a Hindu killing a Muslim or vice versa . The real fact is an Indian killing another Indian ,a human eliminating one of his own race.

To end this a note from history. In the aftermath of India’s partition the north India was ravaged by Hindu Muslim riots . Gandhi was working towards bringing peace but his efforts were not bearing any fruit. During this turmoil Gandhi was assassinated . AIR made the announcement that Gandhi has been killed and that his killer was a Hindu(this was done deliberately to quell the rumors that he was killed by a Muslim which would have given validity to Hindu rioters to carry on their acts.) After this news spread across India, suddenly peace descended and all the riots stopped. What Gandhi couldn’t achieve in his last days of his life ,he achieved in death.

Also published here