Here you can find Essay, Speech, Paragraph on Communalism in English language for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or UPSC, PCS Banking and other competitive exams.
Essay on Communalism in English in Very Simple Words
TOPICS COVERD: Communalism – 1000 Words
- Typical results of communal riots often reported in the media.
- Broad definition of communalism and the problems associated with it; main causes.
- Causes of rise of communalism in India.
- Communalism is a vicious circle.
- Politics and communalism.
- Efforts needed to check communalism.
It has become quite common nowadays to find news reports in the print and electronic media referring to violence between religious communities resulting in heavy loss of lives. The law machinery, almost always unable to check such disturbances at their outset, plays a poor part in ultimately restricting the damage. Often, a number of houses and commercial and other buildings are burnt down and many people are seriously injured and even killed before the police and the local administration take control of the situation. Curfew is generally clamped for a few days following the violence in extreme cases. All these features are typical of communal riots in our country.
Broadly-speaking, communalism refers to the existence of two or more communities divided along regional,. linguistic, racial, class, caste or religious lines in the same political, economic and social set-up. In India, communalism generally implies religious conflicts. The existence of such communities in a place is a matter of no great concern by itself. However, communalism becomes a problem when the communities develop an aversion to one another in certain areas and indulge in repeated clashes. These clashes may be caused by attempts on the part of a member or few members of one community to intentionally create trouble by indulging in an offensive behaviour towards the other community or communities, or else by outside elements paid to create such trouble. Misunderstandings and opposed views of the communities may also result in communal violence. Sometimes a trifling incident, even a rumour, could result in a conflict. Communalism is not unique to India. It has been witnessed on a global scale though in varying degrees. Racial clashes have been witnessed between the blacks and the whites in America. Even clashes between various sects of the same religion are heard of. In India, apart from strife among various religious communities, there are instances of conflicts based on caste, the tribal factor and the linguistic factor.
The rise of communalism in India has been consigned by many to the modern times. It is said that for centuries different communities have co-existed peacefully in India. The British government greatly encouraged rise of communalism in India by adopting various measures and designs. These were essentially aimed at stemming the tide of the national movement which was strengthening its grip upon the masses. Thus the British encouraged the leaders of the national movement to think on communal lines in order to bring about the good of their respective communities. The British also played communal politics by promising favours to religious communities in turn. However, the growth of communalism in India can be traced lo certain factors that grew out of the national movement Itself. The Congress and leading social reform and political movements fighting for India’s freedom did not totally Ignore the communal viewpoint. The messages of Dayanand Saraswati and Vivekananda were based almost entirely upon the ideology of Hinduism. The Punjab Hindu Sabha founded in 1909 lay the foundation of Hindu politics. Other organisations like the All-India Hindu Mahasabha and the Aligarh movement (in its later stages) sought the interests of specific communities. The use of religious symbols and Idioms by some leaders, the press and writers to mobilise support of the people intensified communal politics. The growth of communalism from that time onwards to this day has had a negative impact on the progress of the nation.
India was partitioned along communal lines at the time of its independence. Communalism continues to pose hurdles in the way of nation-building by thwarting steps towards growth and prosperity. Progress is possible only when a nation can unitedly march onwards. Divisive forces such as communalism provide only a setback to the realisation of this goal. Where the communities involved in communal violence are concerned, th, sufferings of their people and their near and dear ones only intensify the pain, anger and hatred. In other words, communalism breeds communal feelings. The destruction of material, wealth and, above all, men is not only a loss for the communities concerned but is also a national loss. In spite of this knowledge, however, little has been done since the time of independence to check communalism in India. Actually, the Constitution itself may have some loopholes allowing different rules for different communities. But there has been no attempt to check communal passions. With politics increasingly taking up a communal form, political parties and leaders, even if not communal outright, have encouraged communal feelings by catering to the demands of religious communities for the sake of winning votes and popularity. Parties during elections do not ignore the communal factor. The administrative machinery and the police do not function uninfluenced by communalism. The communal fever has risen to such a pitch that now communalism is openly flaunted by political leaders and common people alike. What must be done to check the spread of the communal virus?
The government must sincerely recognise communalism as a social ill and condemn it while encouraging the various administrative organs to give up communalism. Communalists must be debarred from contesting elections. The law to discourage the use of communalism must be tightened and implemented at the earliest. Most of all, it is the spread of education among the people that can check the evil of communalism. People need to become aware that it has no sustaining impact on their well-being and prosperity; it only strengthens ill-feelings in a society and exposes it to degeneration. People also need to realise that they are often exploited by vested interests that encourage communalism for their petty gains.
Communalism is an ill that has pervaded modern India. All it can do is affect the harmony and feelings of amity among communities. It thus leads to degeneration of a society by attacking its power to stay united. A society plagued by communalism cannot progress. It is thus important that this evil is fought tooth and nail unitedly.
Short Essay on Communalism – 700 Words
The increasing trend of communalism and violence has been accompanied by a feeling of insecurity among religious minorities. Muslims, Sikhs and Christians especially, fear discrimination and confrontation in the coming days. It may be just a fear, but about one fifth of the country’s population cannot afford to fall victim to terror, suspicion and insecurity. The incidents between 1984 and 1999 in Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi give ample evidence and flavor of the devastating consequences of communal virus in its diverse forms.
Religious minorities in India are protected by the constitution which provides justice, tolerance, equality and freedom. But in an era in which religious fundamentalism is being shifted to religious bigotry, intolerance and parochialism, the notion of ‘Ram Rajya’ is not often misinterpreted by minorities, especially Muslims, to mean the rule of Lord Rama. That is, Hindu rule. The presence of police at and around religious sites investigates the hiding of terrorists (as seen in Amritsar in 1985 and in Kashmir in November 1993 and May 1995) as an intervention in religious faith.
Therefore, to prevent harm to the peace and integrity of the nation, the problem of communalism and communal violence needs to be analyzed and debated. Defining ‘communalism’ has become very important. Also, it is equally appropriate to know who is ‘communal’.
Communalism is an ideology that states that society is divided into religious communities that have different interests and are sometimes hostile to each other. The enmity perpetrated by people of one community against people of another community and religion can be called ‘communalism’. This enmity goes to the extent of falsely accusing, harming, and deliberately humiliating a particular community, and spreading loot, houses and shops that kill helpless and vulnerable, dishonest women and even people is. ‘Communal persons’ are those who do politics through religion.
Among the leaders, they are religious leaders ‘communal’ who run their religious communities like business enterprises and institutions and raise the crisis of “Hinduism, Islam, Sikh or Christianity” the moment they donate to their sacred ‘corporations’ ‘Start to decline, or their leadership has been challenged, or their ideology has been questioned.
Thus, ‘communal’ is not one who is a ‘person of religion’ but who is one who does politics by associating it with religion ‘. These power politicians are not good Hindus nor good Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis or Buddhists. They can be seen as dangerous political ‘filth’. For them, God and religion are the only means that are used as ites king parasites’ of society and to live luxuriously to achieve political goals.
Tk Omran (1989) suggests six dimensions of communalism asmitist, wafarist, retributive, vengeful, separatist and separatist. Asmitarian communalism is that in which small religious groups are assimilated / integrated into a larger religious group. Such communalism claims that Scheduled Tribes are Hindus, or Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists are Hindus and should be covered by the Hindu Marriage Act.
The purpose of Welfarist communalism is for the welfare of a particular community, say, to provide for the education and health of Christians by Parsi associations working for the improvement of living standards and the upliftment of Christian associations or Parsis. The purpose of such communal mobilization is to work only for the members of their community. Retreatist communalism is one in which a small religious community distances itself from politics: for example, the Bahá’í community, which forbids its members from participating in political activities.
Retaliatory communalism seeks to harm, injure and injure members of other religious communities. Separatist communalism is one in which a religious or a cultural group wants to maintain its cultural distinctiveness and demand a separate regional state within the country, for example, the demand for Mizos and Nagas in northeast India or in Assam or Jharkhand. Bodo tribes of Bihar, or Gorkhas for Gorkhaland in West Bengal, or hill people of Uttarakhand in Uttar Pradesh, or Mahar Vidarbha of the nation.
Finally, separatist communalism is one in which a religious community seeks a separate political identity and demands an independent state. A very small militant section of the Sikh population demanding Khalistan or some Muslim militants seeking independent Kashmir were engaged in practicing this type of communalism. The last three of these six types of communalism cause problems promoting agitation, communal riots, terrorism and extremism.