"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be"
Justice Markandey
Katju recently pointed out 1857 as a watershed year in the history of
communal relations in India. The seeds of communal divide sown during the
period, gave its deadly fruits around the independence period, when the country
was divided into two. Communal ideology consists of
three basic elements or stages. First, it is the belief that people who follow
the same religion have common secular interests. The second element of communal
ideology rests on the notion that in a multi-religious society like India, the
secular interests, that is the social , cultural, economic and political
interests of the followers of one religion are dissimilar and divergent from
the interests of the followers of another religion. The third and the most
critical stage of communalism is reached when the interests of the followers of
different religions or communities are seen to be mutually incompatible,
antagonistic and hostile. The sudden and uncontrolled swift from second to
third stage results in riots, pogroms; Babri-Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi, Gujarat
carnage etc. to name a few. Thus, communal violence is a conjunctural
consequence of communal ideolgy.
Psychologically,
insecurity precedes communal ideology The thought of
'lesser in numbers' will inevitably lead the minority communities to stick
together and to form distinct union.The dedicated classes carried out on religious tenets are a correlational consequence of the same. These are
conducted to keep the mass base intact and to showcase the unified strength.
Greater the insecurity, greater the communal thinking. Hence, Communalism
always has has been the expression of the interests and aspirations of the ever
insecure middle classes in a social situation in which opportunities for them
were grossly inadequate. The main appeal of communalism and its main social
base also lay among the middle class. The evergreen intent of outweighing
others through words and deeds, if controlled can easily put a full-stop to
this communal poison. Lal Bahadur Shastri kept some lines of Guru Nanak on his
desk. When translated into English they read: " O Nanak! Be tiny like the
grass, for other plants will wither away but grass will remain evergreen."
In this time frame of competing communal forces seeking to influence the
nation, the country will do well if, like Shastri, it heeds Guru Nanaks wisdom.
