Question

Communalism divides the society into many parts explain

Answer 1

Answer:

During the revolt of 1857, which is described as the first war for independence, Hindus and Muslims fought side by side united in their purpose of defeating a common enemy. The British noticed this unity and realized that their survival rested on being able to keep the people divided, for they had managed to establish their rule because politically India had been a divided country at the time of their entry. This realization led to the famous British ‘Divide and Rule’ policy.

Religion was supposed to be one of the best factors to divide the people. It is used as an influential mechanism to attain economic, political and other social activities. And British used religion as their weapon to divide the strength which India had as a whole.

Till 1870 the British oppressed the Muslims greatly for they held them responsible for the revolt. After 1870 the British changed colors and instead started favoring the Muslim community. The rise of nationalism had threatened the British power in India and their efforts obviously were directed to suppress it. Now an important feature of the national movement was that it took longer to spread amongst the Muslim community. As a result the early nationalist’s movement was made up mainly of people from the Hindu, Parsi and Christian communities. The British noticed the absence of the Muslims in this movement, and quickly began working on ensuring that they did not join the movement. The British began implementing policies too that promoted the activities of communal forces, and divided the national struggle.

When the British opened up the administration of the country most positions were taken up the Hindus since the education culture had not spread to the Muslim Community making them feel left out and demand a special reservation.

Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan, an earlier nationalist drifted towards Communalism.

Communalism was also fostered through the writing of the Indian History. Socio-religious reform movements like Arya Samaj, Sanatan Dharam movements, Aligarh movement, Wahabi movement and some other fringe movements contributed towards communalism.