Communalism

Communalism has done more harm than all the good the saints and sages have done to the world. It is the fanatical devotion to one's own religion and disrespect and even hatred for those believing in other religions. What a strange thing that every religion preaches the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man and even then there are fanatics found in every religion. This communal feeling poses the greatest danger to the integrity of a nation and is a blot in democracy. It hinders the peace and progress of the country. On the one hand, we preach national integration and claim that ours is a secular democracy and on the other hand, we spread communal hatred.

If we turn over the pages of history, we find that religious fanaticism or communalism was responsible for persecution. The Romans crucified Christ and tortured his followers because Christ wanted to set up the kingdom of heaven. The wars between Saladin and Richard were due to the conflict between Islam and Christianity. The war between the Arabs and the Jews is a conflict between the Jewish faith and Islam. It was a fanatical Bloody Mary of Scotland who drove the Pilgrim Fathers to leave their country. Parsis left Persia on account of religious persecution and settled in India. The Nirankaris feel persecuted by those who do not like their religion. In the name of Islam, Muslim invaders came to India destroyed many Hindu temples, and killed many Hindus.

When the British began to rule the country, communalism was almost unknown. When Indian National Congress launched a movement for the freedom of the country, the clever British created communal differences to continue their rule in India. Special seats in various services were reserved for Mohammedans. Christians and Shiks in view of the fact that they were backward communities.

On festivals like Moharram and Dussehra, the hired men of the British government killed a cow here, a pig there, and started communal riots. In such riots, many innocent people were killed and the property was destroyed. Communalism or religious fanaticism was responsible for the partition of India. Following the partition, millions of Hindus and Muslims were killed on both sides.

Many government officers do not discourage communalism because on the basis of communalism they push ahead. Even the political leaders play upon the communal feelings of the people just for their selfish ends. They exploit the feelings of illiterate people in order to get maximum votes. Recent happenings in India are the results of communal riots.

The spread of communalism can be stopped if people come forward to lend a helping hand to the government. All those newspapers and agencies which spread such feelings should be banned. There should be set up a supreme body representing all secular political parties.

Then the government should take firm steps in this direction. The district authorities should be warned of dire consequences against any communal riot in their unity of head and heart. In this way through determined efforts and sanity, our government can serve the nation from disintegration.