What is the role of communalism …

Communalism can take several forms in politics – in everyday beliefs, formation of parties based on communities, campaigning or asking for votes, formation of government, etc.
(i) Communalism in daily beliefs : The most common expression of communalism is in everyday life. These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and the beliefs in the superiority of one religion over the other religions. This is so common that we often fail to notice it, even when we believe in it.
(ii) Formation of political parties on the basis of communities : All the communities of the world have a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For those belonging to the majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
(iii) Political mobilisation on communal lines : It is another frequent form of communalism. Parties based on a particular community make use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and create fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena. In electoral politics, this often involves a special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
(iv) Communal riots: Sometimes, communalism takes the most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre. India has suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of partition. The post independence period has also seen large- scale communal violence.

Communalism implies a strong sense of belonging to a particular religious community to the exclusion of others. The concept of communalism holds that religious distinction is the most fundamental and overriding distinction that separates a particular community from others. Communalism as evident from the rise of politics based on religious identity has been an important factor in the Indian political system.
 
The relationship between communalism and Indian politics was institutionalized in 1909 by the Minto - Morley Reforms and subsequently through the Montagu – Chermsford Reforms of 1919 which led to separate electorates. Though the system was abolished in 1947 the germs of communalism remained in independent India as well.

The introduction of universal adult franchise in independent India was one of the historic events of the nation. This gave the people of this country an opportunity to elect their representatives, a right which was denied to them for long. However, political parties soon began to look for ‘easy ways’ of mobilizing votes. Besides using caste they also used religion to woo voters. Interestingly, the law of the land does not debar the formation of political parties on the basis of caste or religion. Even the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on 17th July, 1995, ruled that political parties which identify with a particular caste, community, religion or language can seek votes to promote their cause without harming or creating hatred for other caste, community, religion or language. Unfortunately, many political parties today cross their limits and this has created a number of communal violence in recent years.

Moreover, communal issues are often brought up during the time of elections; this is mostly done to divert attention from real issues of basic development. A section of politicians have been manipulating communal issues for their selfish ends. This section of individuals and groups are more prone to use divisive ideologies like communalism to ensure their political power. Communalization of politics has today become a threat to secular character of the nation.