Question

define communalism as an ideology. explain the forms of communalism in politics.

Answer 1

Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community. It can take various forms in politics :
(i) Communalism in everyday beliefs: The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions.
(ii) Communalism as Majoritarian Dominance and Political Dominance: A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For those belonging to 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) Communalism as Political Mobilisation :Political mobilisation on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion togetherln the political arena.
(iv) Communalism in the Form of Communal Violence : Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of commual violence, riots, and massacre. For instance, India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of Partition.
(v) To sum up, communalism leads to the belief that people belonging to different religions cannot live as equal citizens within one nation. Either, one of them has to dominate the rest or they have to form different nations.....

Answer 2

Communalism is a political philosophy spanning three stages of growth-

Stage 1- In the first phase of this ideology there is a belief that people who follow the same religion have common secular(political, economic, social) interests.

Stage 2- The second stage provides that the social, economic and political interests of the followers of one religion are dissimilar from the interests of the followers of another religion.

Stage 3- The third stage of communalism is reached when the interests of the followers of different religions are seen to be mutually incompatible.

Communalism is an ideology on which all the communal violence is based. Thus, all the communal riots are based on this philosophy that the interests of a group of people following different religions cannot be the same. It works on the basis of fear mongering among the people. Leaders in order to propagate their own self interest create the fear of the “other” community.
the forms of communalism in politics:
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.