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1 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019

Communal Violence and State Politics in Uttar Pradesh-2015

NAZIA KHALEEQUE

Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science, Aligarh College of Education,

Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Mobile: +916396038578

email: nazia.khaleeque786@gmail.com

Abstract

The rise of communal violence in the state of Uttar

Pradesh in 2015 is quite alarming which can be related

to Assembly Elections of 2017. The increase is not

spontaneous rather it has shown pattern since 2013

Muzaffarnagar violence. The year 2014 has witnessed

605 communal riots alone in this state, which amazingly

all took place near the By-election’s constituencies of

2014. In 2015, as well state has once again recorded the

maximum number of communal riots and killings. Thus

the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the

Parliament that the communal violence in Uttar Pradesh

has been once again showing the communal political

propaganda in the context of Assembly Elections-2017.

Hence this paper is an attempt to analyze the

communalisation and communal violence-2015. This

paper will also examine the new communalisation trends

in this state. It will also investigate the communal state

politics especially since the Modi Government has come

into power.

Key Words: Communal Violence, State Politics,

Dadri Lynch, Social Media, etc.

1. Introduction

Communal violence is an activity of a

violent disturbance of peace in the interest of a

particular religious community and sects. A group

of persons stopping traffic and burning vehicles

will be described as the communal and riotous

behaviour it will assume communal overtone only

if the rioting group belongs to a distinct community

and its fury is aimed at the properties belonging to

members of another distinct community.i But

Oxford Dictionary gives a very positive meaning of

‘communal,’ that is ‘shared by’ especially by those

who live together.ii But in Indian context, this term

has assumed a negative meaning. Thus Richard C.

Lambert argues that the word community is used in

India for the unequal social units.iii In Indian

context, the term communalism has always been

attached particularly with the two main principles

religious communities i.e. the Hindu as a majority

community and the Muslims as a major minority

community.

Historical point of view the great historian

Romila Thapar believes that the problem of

communalism in India is the gift of the Colonial

Power and this became the ultimate cause for the

partition of India in 1947.iv After the partition of

India, it believes by leaders and scholars that this

disease of communalism will die gradually.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen because our

politicians and communal groups exacerbated it for

their petty political gains, and the consequences are

in front of us in the form of huge data of communal

incidents, killed and injured which has sharply

been increasing since the year of 1987. (Table-1)

Communal Violence Incidents, Killed, and Injured Rate in India (1987-92)

Year

Incident

Person

killed

Person

injured

1987 711 383 3860

1988 720 259 3449

1989 922 892 5638

1990 1421 1246 6426

1991 1122 528 3913

1992 1206 1641 8422

Table: I: Source; V. Kannupillai, Communal Violence, 62.

Scholars and researcher have investigated

the causes and facts behind such riots i.e. why such

riots happen and why still are going on. Thus in

such perspective the two main theories have

occupies the status of satisfaction in the academic

world. The first one has given by Paul R. Brass i.e.

“Institutional riot system theory” and the other

one given by the Steven I Wilkinson i.e. “party

politics competition.” Brass urges that after the

investigative research on the Uttar Pradesh

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2 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019

district’s Meerut and Aligarh communal riots of

1982-83,v the communal violence in India is the

result of “Institutional Riots System (IRS).”vi

Means that the communal violence is pre-

institutionalises by the political parties or political

leaders for their political sake. On the other hand,

Wilkinson agrees with the Brass but

simultaneously he also argues that sometimes other

instant incidents of society also become the causes

of communal violence. In a political point of view,

he has further investigated that “a state protects

minorities when it is in their government’s

electoral interest to do so.”vii He argues this

theory on the two major facts as;

1. When minorities are an important part

for their party’s current political

interest, on the support base, or the

support base of one of their coalition

partners in a coalition government.

2. When the overall electoral system in a

state is so competitive …that there is

therefore, a high probability that the

governing party will have to negotiate

or form a coalition with minority

supported parties in the future, despite

its own preferences.” viii

In short, Wilkinson urges that if there is a high

competition among the political parties, there

should be a low level of communal riots, and if

there is a low level of party competition then there

should be a high level of communal riots.

In contemporary India Communalism

refers to the violent activities which are

coordinated or supported by the fascist governing

party i.e. the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its

affiliate wings such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak

Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal (BD), Shive Sena (SS),

Vishv Hindu Parishad (VHPs), Bhartiya Mazdoor

Sena (BMS), Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, Vanvasi

Kaylan Samiti, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad

(ABVP), Bhartiya Yuvajan Maha Sabha (BYMS)

etc. in its attempts to break the inter-religious peace

and harmony of the Indian polity in order to create

a “Hindu” vote bank.ix

Ram Puniyani argues that India is having

two types of communalism i.e. the Hindu

communalism and the Muslim communalism, and

among the two of them ‘Hindu communalism’ is

having a dominant nature.x Now this dominant

attitude of Hindu communalism which runs on the

ideology of ‘Hindutva’ under the banner of RSS

has reached to a point where the secular nature of

the Indian Constitution and its Democratic spirit

has come under the threat. This has been exploded

from the period of Babri Masjid vs. Ram Mandir

riots-1992 to Muzaffarnagar riots-2013, where the

RSS and its political wing BJP becomes an able to

maximize the level of gain and acceptance with

regard to the Hindutva ideology among the various

sections of people than ever before.

This achievement has done only due to the

development of various fake communal theories

and myths like Babri Masjid vs. Ramjanam

Bhoomi issue, Muslim population, love jihad,

Bahu Lao Beti Bachao Andolan- ‘(a movement’

to save ‘Hindu’ daughters from inter-religious

marriages),xi religion conversion (Ghar Wapsi),

Cow protection and Triple Talaq issue. Apart

from all these, the religious places of loudspeakers,

symbols, mythology, and the terminology have also

taken as a communal tool only for the sake of their

political and economic selfish propaganda. Even

they are now physically and violently busy in direct

attacking to the other religious communities, their

institutions and places of worship which ultimately

culminated into terrible communal violence in

which uncountable innocent people have been

losing their lives regularly.xii Asghar Ali Engineer

points out an interesting thing is that “ironically

most of the riots are engineered by those politicians

who claim to be most patriotic and their patriotism

is designed only to win power by propagating the

hate politics against minority communities.” xiii

The communal violence status of India

has been attracting the world attention. The

Minister of Home Affairs (MHA), Kiren Rijiju told

the Indian Parliament that as per available

information during 2014, 561 incidents of

communal violence took place in the country in

which 90 persons were killed and 1,688 persons

were injured. This is the very scarring situation for

the living minorities in the world’s largest

democracy. Moreover, he also says that there has

been a decline of 19 percent in communal incidents

during the period of January-October 2014, as

compared to the corresponding period of 2013

during which 694 communal incidents erupted

just between January-October 2013.xiv Altogether

94 people were killed and 2,117 others injured in

668 incidents of communal violence in 2012.xv

But to decline this rank he has also analyzed that

the fringe groups of all hues make hateful

statements to incite people that result in small

incidents giving way to large communal

disturbances.xvi

As per the report of the Economic Times,

communal violence all over India is upping by 25

percent only in first five months of the year of

2015. This also shows that 287 incidents of

communal violence were reported between

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Januarys to May in 2015, compared to 232 in the

first five months of 2014. Deaths in these

communal incidents also saw a spike to 43 from 26

last year while the number of those injured in such

conflict increased to 961 from 701.xvii

According to the available data with the

Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 3365

communal incidents occurred in the country from

2011 to 2015 (till October), with an average of

about 700 incidents in a year. The lowest number

of incidents occurred in 2011 (580) and the highest

in 2013 (823). The number of such incidents in

2012 and 2014 is 668 and 644 respectively. The

number of such incidents in 2015 (till Oct) is

650.xviii The Times of India also reported in a

special report entitled as ‘violence report’ from

2010 to till October 2015. (Figure-1) This data also

gives a clear picture and try to clear image about

the riots. However, the National Crime Record

Bureau (NCRB) pegs these figures at 1227, almost

double of what the Home Ministry reported.xix

Violence Report on Communal Incidents

Figure-1: Source; Bharti Jain, “India sees rise in communal violence, UP leads states,” Times of India, February

24, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-sees-rise-in-communal-violence-UP-leads-

states/articleshow/51127336.cms (Retrieved on August 02, 2016).

2. Rising Communalism in Uttar Pradesh

In the present era, the image of Uttar

Pradesh in communal politics has been changing

into more physical communal violence manner

especially with the coming of NDA government at

the Centre in 2014. The Wire has reported that “an

approximately 703 religious conflicts took place in

the state of Uttar Pradesh during the past five years,

leading to 176 deaths and 2007 injuries the

highest in India. Even in first six months of 2015,

there were 68 such incidents.xx The state which is

near for the state assembly elections in 2017

witnessed 68 instances of communal violence in

the first half of 2015 particularly in Western Uttar

Pradesh. The Hindu reported that minor incidents

leading to clashes have raised the spectre of rising

communal tension in Uttar Pradesh. Incidents

erupting in Saharanpur, Kasganj, Faizabad and

Muzaffarnagar have been ringing an alarm bells

in the capital Lucknow.xxi The Firstpost reported

that “communal clashes in India have risen under

the Narendra Modi-led government. A report

compiled by the Union Home Ministry shows that

in the first five months of 2015, incidents of

communal clashes have risen by almost 25

percent as compared to the corresponding period

of the previous year when the Congress-led United

Progressive Alliance II was in power.”xxii The same

source also reported that on February 24, 2016,

according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)

among all the communal incidents of 2015, Uttar

Pradesh state alone had witnessed a maximum of

155 in which 22 people were killed and 419

injured. Ministry of Home Affairs concluded that

the country witnessed a 17 percent increase in

communal violence incidents in 2015 as compared

to the last year 2014.xxiii The Wire reported that

since 2013 Uttar Pradesh alone faced almost 247

communal incidents, including the Muzaffarnagar

Violence-2013 that left 59 dead and more than

50,000 homeless.xxiv (Figure-2)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014* 2015*(*tillOct)

no. of incidents

persons killed

person injured

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Figure-2: Source; Sethi. Uttar Pradesh.

Here is necessary to notify that this

Muzaffarnagar riot has also the result of communal

politics because it just erupted before the general

elections of 2014.xxv In this way, it should not be wrong

to say that the present status of communal violence in

Uttar Pradesh is representing once again the idea of

‘Institutionalized riots system’ (IRS). For instance, the

Babri Masjid vs. Ram Mandir strategy of BJP paid

large dividends to it and its seat share increased from 2

(1984) to 85 (1989) seats.xxvi Moreover, after the

Muzaffarnagar violence- 2013, BJP outperforms the

other political parties in the General Elections of 2014

and captured a big bag of 71 seats out of 80 in Uttar

Pradesh alone only on the basis of communal

polarisation strategy.xxvii

Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar have argued

that this victory has launched highly noteworthy changes

in the Uttar Pradesh’s politics. The election has

witnessed the return of communal mobilization and

violence, largely absent since the early 1990s. Following

the destruction of the Babri Masjid and the decline of the

BJP, although the Ram Temple issue was raised during

elections, the lower-caste parties the SP and the BSP

were able to contain the BJP and communalization of

state politics throughout the 2000s. However, numerous

low-intensity, communal conflicts since 2012 and the

Muzaffarnagar communal violence in particular, show

the political parties, particularly the SP and the BJP, have

attempted to revive use their Muslim and Hindu vote

banks, respectively, to create tension and win seats. An

important reason for the victory of the BJP has been the

communal campaign by BJP-RSS cadres, Amit Shah,

and at times by Modi himself. That the chasm polarising

the religious communities in Uttar Pradesh is widening

every day has been exemplified by the continual riots in

sites such as Moradabad and Saharanpur (in July 2014)

even after the elections.xxviii After to this grand election,

the Uttar Pradesh itself has ready for the by-elections-

2014. In this context too, the state particularly in

Western Uttar Pradesh (Terai, Awadh, Bundelkhand)

and in Eastern Uttar Pradesh has already prepared for

communal tension in a great manner. Because as per the

available data about it’s around 600 communal nature of

violence took place especially near to the 12

constituencies of Uttar Pradesh like in Saharanpur

Nagar, Bijnor, Kairana, Thakurwada and Gautam

Buddha Nagar etc.xxix (Figure-3)

Communal Violence and By-Elections-2014 Constituencies

600 COMMUNAL INCIDENTS

MOST INCIDENTS IN WESTERN UTTAR PRADESH

Western UP 259 Incidents

Muzaffarnagar -47

Meerut- 30

Moradabad- 30

Sambhal- 30

Amroha- 29

Bulandshahr- 15

Saharanpur- 15

Ghaziabad & Noida-13

Baghpat- 10

Rampur- 10

Awadh 53 Incidents

Lucknow- 10

Unnao- 22

Kanpur- 16

Barabanki- 5

Bundelkhand 6 Incidents

Hamirpur- 3

Mahoba- 3

Terai 29 Incidents

Bahraich- 10

Balrampur- 8

Kheri- 7

Sravasti- 4

Eastern UP 16 Incidents

Varanasi- 5

Pratapgarh- 5

Kaushambi- 2

Mirzapur- 2

Figure-3: Source; http://www.kractivist.org/tag/up/ (Retrieved, March 12, 2016)

0

200

400

600

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Communal Violence in Uttar Pradesh

incidents killed injured

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In August 2015 IBN Live reported that

according to Home Ministry data, there were 330

incidents of communal violence between January

and June 2015 in comparison to 252 in the first six

months of 2014. Altogether 51 people have lost

their lives and 1,092 others injured in these

communal violence incidents.xxx The above-

analyzed data from different resources has been

showing that there are slight differences in data

collection but in an all Uttar Pradesh remains a

sensitive state with highest incidents of communal

violence. This hike of communal violence incidents

in Uttar Pradesh in 2015 could be the knock of

Assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh door in 2017

and could be proving the Paul R Brass theory of

Institutional Riots System (IRS) once again after

the Muzaffarnagar incidents.

3. New Emerging Trends in Communal

Violence Particularly in Uttar Pradesh

Presently, ‘communal violence’ has been

categorized as sub-radar violence by the scholars,

following the new trends in communal violence

incidents.xxxi Scholars observing that the trend in

occurrences of communal violence has been

changing. It is more of the urban phenomenon now,

as compared to earlier ones were the epicentre was

the rural areas. The Calcutta killings of 1946, the

Bombay riots of 1992, the Delhi riots of 1984 and

the Ahmedabad riots of 2002, all these communal

violence incidents have been an overwhelmingly

urban phenomenon. As, for as Uttar Pradesh is

concerned the communal violence-prone areas

were mainly Kanpur, Varanasi, Meerut,

Moradabad, Saharanpur, Firozabad and

Maunath Bhanjan, it is mainly due to their

communal history, population size and

demographic profile. Moreover, among these cities,

the industrial city of Kanpur always remains the

most “risky” followed by Varanasi and

Meerut.xxxii But as closely analyzes the recent data

on communal violence in India, it becomes clear

that the rural areas are more prone to communal

conflicts and communal polarization is higher as

compared to urban areas. This tinderbox of rural

communal violence was seen more in 2016,

particularly in the Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana.

In the first month of the current year 2016 as well

Uttar Pradesh has remained the worst-hit

communal state, having reported 12 incidents, 1

death and 64 injured.xxxiii

The second trend in communal violence

incidents has been witnessing in extensive

utilization of modern information and

communication channels, especially in Uttar

Pradesh. The communal violence’s are mostly

preceded by the hate speeches by political leaders

and Parliamentarians including the Union

Ministers. The speeches served as a cue to the

aggressive elements to resort to communalisation

and physical violence with impunity. The Social

media like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, have

been extensively using to spread the hate speeches,

misinformation and rumours as found in cases of

riots in Muzaffarnagar, Shamshabad and Dadri.xxxiv

Because of the communication technology too

much comes in handy and it is being used or

became a tool to spread false information to fuel

the communal fire in the society before the

elections. But in actual sense it has been using as

preparation for the elections. The government

officials in Uttar Pradesh admitted that there has

been an extensive planning to spread the hate

campaign in the context of communal

institutionalising the atmosphere. Furthermore,

they said, someone hacked an unsecured Wi-Fi

network to gain access and post-communal Tweets

and WhatsApp. Not just social networking sites,

but Chinese whispers and rumours mongering are

also at their peak.xxxv Apart from these, the loud

music religious procession, the Quran desecration,

and slaughtering have extensively been using as for

communal tool.xxxvi Only the cow slaughter

communal propaganda, Uttar Pradesh alone

from June 2014 to till October 2015 has witnessed

around 330 communal incidentsxxxvii and others

incidents of communal riots preceded elections,

including ‘panchayat elections’ in Uttar

Pradesh.xxxviii

The third trend has been examining by the

experts in terms of the incident of riots figures is

that although the intensity of violence in terms of

the number of deaths and casualties has been low

whereas the number of communal incidents has

been rising marginally as compared to the previous

years. According to this trend, the primary motive

of communal groups and parties remained to strike

terror amongst the marginal groups first and then

coerce them to accept the position of second-class

citizens.xxxix Therefore the Home Ministry points

out that this is a deliberate attempt to trivialize

these incidents and overall design of communal

violence.”xl It always remains a strategy of political

parties both in state politics and national politics to

mobilize the people on minor issues and painted

them with the religion just for the sake of political

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power and after the end of violence, they give

emotional supports to the victims with the strategy

to polarize and grab the votes of victims.

4. Political-Institutionalizations of Communal

Violence in Uttar Pradesh

In the year of 2015, there were two significant

incidents of communal violence, first in Atali, of

Haryana between Muslims and Hindus over a

piece of land. The second was the lynching of a

Muslim in Dadri of Uttar Pradesh. The Dadri

incident has generated a huge debate in the country

and it was big bolt on India secular image and it

somehow disfigured the idea of secular, inclusive

and democratic India. The Dadri incident was

largely politicized particularly in parliament and in

the media. The Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare and

Urban Development Minister Azam Khan’s (SP)

eloquently blames to the BJP and says that BJP has

a habit of playing communal politics which has

nothing to do with development and good

governance. He also makes questions to the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the Dadri

lynching case and commented that the BJP’s sole

agenda was development and has all of a sudden it

started attaching importance to the beef

controversy. On this BJP leader, Siddharth Nath

Singh put a counter blame by saying that the

politics of Azam Khan is communal and he plays

the religious card. He is not known for politics of

development and good governance. He ranks, he

spits and does everything which is communal and

therefore he is raising the communal bogey which

has no basis.”xli On the other hand JD (U) Chief

Sharad Yadav, also comments on the BJP over the

Dadri lynching and remarks that the incidents of

communal violence have increased since the party

(BJP) came to power at the Centre. He further says

that not a single day goes when the so-called Hindu

organization does not make disgusting comments

that might lead to communal riots anytime.” xlii The

BJP lashed out at the Samajwadi Party for

levelling, what it claimed were unsubstantiated

charges, against the party with regard to the

communal tension in Uttar Pradesh. Reacting to the

statement SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary

blames that BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak

Sangh (RSS) had a hand in the communal clashes

in the state.xliii Rajendra Chaudhary has also

attacked the BJP and its beef politicize. According

to him, BJP has made every attempt to politicise

and communally polarize the State, using the issue

of beef. An innocent person was killed as a result

and the BJP should rein in the fringe elements

which are creating law and order problems.xliv On

this comment, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur

Pathak, says that the comments were not only

baseless but also diversionary and ruling party is

trying to cover its misdeeds, incompetence, and

failure to maintain law and order.xlv The BJP MLA,

Sangeet Som alleges the Samajwadi Party

government that ‘the SP is not capable of doing

justice in this case (Dadri Lynching)’xlvi and

refused to condemn the mob lynching of Akhlaq

and warned the SP government without naming

Muzaffarnagar riots that

“kanoon kanoon ki tarah kaam kare. Warna, ham

pahle bhi muhtod jawab de chuke hai aur aage

bhi denge [the law should act as law. Otherwise,

we have given a strong reply in the past and

would do that in future as well]”xlvii

RSS mouthpiece the Panchjanya also uses

communal tone and highlighted this issue in its

cover story with boldly saying as the “Veda ka

adesh hai ki gau hatya karne wale pataki ke pran

le lo. Hum mein se bahuton ke liye to yah jivan-

maran ka prashn hai (Vedas order killing of the

sinner who kills a cow. It is a matter of life and

death for many of us).”xlviii

The Congress Party also criticises the BJP

government on the hate politics. Mallikarjun

Kharge of the Congress party vehemently criticises

the government on the floor of parliament on the

rapid increase of communal violence in India since

it came to power and buttress his argument with

data tabled by the Government in Parliament itself.

He said that communal forces have got emboldened

in those states where they have the strong basis,

and incidents of communal violence were not being

reported from states where they do not have much

of a presence. It was the clear reference towards

The Hindi Belt (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,

Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Gujarat)

where the Hindutva brigade is active and powerful.

Rebutting the allegations BJPs, Yogi

Adityanath, says that “the Hindu faith had opened

its arms to all faiths but was under threat in its own

land. There is a conspiracy against Hinduism. He

also said that Congress and other so-called secular

forces are shedding tears over the attacks on

minorities but why not on Kashmiri Pandits when

they were forced to leave their native place.”xlix M.

Salim of CPI (M) also jumps in the communal

political fight and says that the attempt was being

made to impose the majoritarian opinion in the

country.

Asaduddin Owaisi, President of AIMIM

also in an interview with NDTV said that this

wasn’t an attack over meat. He (Akhalq) has been

killed in the name of religion. This is a pre-

planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an

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7 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019

accident. This is the thought which is against

secularism; it is against the brotherhood of India. It

sees Muslims with an eye of suspicion. He further

hit out at Union Minister and local MP Mahesh

Sharma who had termed the attack as an

‘accident,’l and questioned the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s silence on the killing.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also

ridiculed both the state government and Central

government. Mayawati points out that more than

the anarchic and criminal elements in BJP-RSS, it

is the Akhilesh Yadav government which is to be

blamed… not just in Dadri, but at other places too.

People are out to spoil the atmosphere yet the

government is not taking action against them. She

has further said that the Samajwadi Party

government has never appeared serious in fulfilling

its constitutional duty of ensuring justice to those

affected and in this incident too, the government

has failed to ensure justice to the affected family

and in turn, exposed the internal understanding

between Samajwadi Party and the BJP-RSS

combine.li

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

Akhilesh Yadav under the harsh criticism from all

the sides tries to save the face of his party. He met

the family of 50-year-old Akhlaq and he has

assured them justice. After meeting the family in

Lucknow, Mr. Yadav announced financial

assistance totalling Rs. 45 Lakh. He also said

The Samajwadi Party would never do

politics on the issue. I could not go to the village

(Dadri) and so I felt it would be appropriate if I

meet them here (Lucknow)...The family is in a state

of shock. Nothing can make up for their loss.lii

Commenting on the Dadri lynching, an

eminent educationist of Jawaharlal Nehru

University (JNU) Vikas Bajpai points out that

The incident cannot be seen in isolation

from the larger trend of “protecting cows and

banning beef” that is being seen across the country.

This incident showed the sophistication of forces

behind such communal violence. It’s all about low

intensity, high impact communal violence that

targets better off Muslims and puts a general sense

of fear in the minds of others.”liii The same

assertion came from a ground report by a ‘civil

society’ which remarks that the lynching of

Mohammad Akhlaq was a well-planned

conspiracy.

5. Conclusions

To sum up, in the light of communal

violence incidents and the hate politics of political

parties in Uttar Pradesh it can be argues that

communal violence has been playing a very

dominate/effective role in the mobilization process

of political parties. Political Parties using ‘religion’

continually as the communal card to attain political

power and prejudices against the Muslims or the

Hindus are now institutionalized as an instrument

of power by politicians. Paul Brass says that Inter-

religious clashes are in fact, inter-political clashes.

Because different political parties carve out their

vote-banks among different religious communities

and target some community, in order to emerge as

the champion of one’s community. In fact, they are

champions of their own political interests.’

Wilkinson, have the same analysis that party

rivalry, which at times has led ambitious and

unscrupulous leaders to play a communal card as a

way of attracting/grab/polarise the votes at the time

of elections.liv

On BJP communal politics Amartya Sen

points out that the BJPs powerful role in the

mainstream of India politics and the might of the

Hindutva movements are the parts of the new

reality in India.lv This new reality could be seen

easily with the coming of Modi (BJP) in the power

at the Centre level.

Therefore after the Dadri, Ministry of

Home Affairs sent a strongly worded letter to each

States asking them to keep a check on incidents of

communal violence and work on improving the

relationship between communities.lvi But this

instruction was not taken seriously by the

politicians; even they have vitiated the communal

atmosphere by their communal propaganda. The

Samajwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav

in the context of upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly

elections has reiterated that the decision of ordering

firing on ‘Kar Sevaks’ in Ayodhya was “painful”

but added that he had had no other option.lvii He has

also admitted that he lost Hindu votes completely

after he ordered the security forces to open fire on

Kar Sewaks in Ayodhya on October 30, 1990,lviii

although it was very painful decision for me. lix

This communal statement has clearly shown that

Mulayam Singh tries to woo and impress the Hindu

community. On the other hand, a VHP leader said

on conditions of anonymity that the RSS and its

affiliated organizations plan to rake up issues like

the Ram temple, ghar wapsi and love jihad. They

intend to take these issues to every household of

the state. It will be their main strategy from January

2016 until elections in 2017. We believe it will

increase our vote bank in a short span of time. VHP

has also claimed that ‘Ram Sevaks’ are busy in

collecting of large quantities of stones as donations

from all parts of the country. Even on December

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8 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019

20, 2015, tonnes of stones reached Ayodhya from

Bharatpur, Rajasthan which indicated that the

movement is really going on.lx VHP’s several

prominent Hindutva leaders like Subramanian

Swamy, Mahant Adityanath, Uma Bharti and

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are now talking about

the urgent need to construct the Ram temple at

Ayodhya. Even Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik

and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh have offered

their two cents on the issue. lxi

So, keeping all this in mind here the

question arises that, how India could achieve the

‘developed nation rank’ in this way. How it could

fight with this disease of communalism. The

government should think seriously about it and

should make a strong communal violence bill.

More importantly, the ideology of

secularism/toleration should be strengthened so that

it could stand against communal forces. The

secular forces should stand collectively in against

the communal forces by forging the alliance and

shed their neutrality as far as communal politics is

concerned.

References: i State Disaster Management Plan on Communal Riots: Draft, Lucknow: Integrated Management, p 43,

http://rahat.up.nic.in/sdmplan/FINALDMP%20-%20Communal%20Riots.pdf (Retrieved on March 19, 2016).

ii https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/communal (Retrieved on February 14, 2016).

iii Kumar, Ravindra, Mahatma Gandhi on Problem of Communalism., Comprehensive website by Gandhian Institution:

Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal and Gandhi Research Foundation, http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/communalism.htm

(Retrieved on February 14, 2016).

iv Communalism and History- Romila Thapar, Hilleletv March 28, 2015, http://hillele.org/2015/03/28/communalism-and-

history/ (Retrieved on March 02, 2016).

vBrass, Paul R (August 23, 2006): Organised riots & structured violence in India, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/organised-riots-structured-violence-in-india/article3094445.ece

(Retrieved March 03, 2016).

viBrass, Paul R, (2006): Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India (Three Essays

Collectives, p XV.

viiVarshney, Ashutosh (September 24-30, 2005): Review: An Electoral Theory of Communal Riots?, Economic and Political

Weekly 40, no. 39 4219, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4417194 (Retrieved December 31, 2014).

viii Ibid, p 4219.

ix Sara Abraham interviews Dipak Malik (September-October 2003): The Construction of Communalism in India, Solidarity,

https://www.solidarity-us.org/node/553 (Retrieved on January 12, 2016).

x Puniyani, Ram (August 5, 2013): “Hindutva Agenda and Elections 2014,” South Asian Citizen Web,

http://www.sacw.net/article5186.html (Retrieved December 01, 2014).

xi Dabhade, Neha (January 15, 2016): Communal Violence 2015: Glimpse into Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & Haryana, Centre for

Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), http://peoplesvoice.in/2016/01/15/communal-violence-2015-glimpse-into-uttar-

pradesh-bihar-and-haryana/ (Retrieved on March 14, 2016).

xii Jacob S.J, Fr. Sunny, Reflection: The Birth, Growth and the Ideology of Hindutva,

http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/REFLECTION_on_Hindutva.doc (Retrieved January on 12, 2016).

xiiiEngineer, Asghar Ali (03 January, 2003): Communal Riots 2003, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS),

http://www.countercurrents.org/engineer-030104.htm (Retrieved on March 26, 2016).

xiv 90 people died in 561 incidents of communal riots in India in 2014, (November 26, 2016): Mid Day, http://www.mid-

day.com/articles/90-people-died-in-561-incidents-of-communal-riots-in-india-in-2014/15794191#sthash.EOopl5ZP.dpuf

(Retrieved on April 24, 2016).

xv 90 killed in 561 communal violence till October, Uttar Pradesh tops the list, (December 2, 2014): The Indian Express,

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/90-killed-in-561-communal-violence-till-october-uttar-pradesh-tops-the-

list/ (Retrieved on April 24, 2016).

xvi Dubbudu, Rakesh (December 1, 2015): India had 58 communal incidents per month in the last 5 years & 85% of these

incidents happen in just 8 states, Factly, https://factly.in/communal-incidents-in-india-statistics-57-communal-incidents-per-

month-last-4-years-85-these-incidents-happen-in-8-states/ (Retrieved on March 14, 2016).

xvii Sharma, Aman (July 21, 2015): Communal violence in the country up by 25% in first five months of 2015, The

Economic Times, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-07-21/news/64683114_1_communal-incidents-clashes-

ministry (Retrieved on March 24, 2016).

xviii Dubbudu, India had 58.

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9 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019

xix Dabhade, Communal Violence 2015.

xx Sethi, Abheet Singh (July 10, 2015): Uttar Pradesh, India’s Communal Tinderbox, The Wire,

http://thewire.in/2015/10/07/uttarpradeshindiascommunaltinderbox12614/ (Retrieved on March 14, 2016).

xxi Khan, Atiq (July 1, 2015): U.P. on edge as communal tensions rise other states, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/up-on-edge-as-communal-tensions-rise/article7372609.ece

(Retrieved on March 24, 2016).

xxii Not so peaceful after all: In 2015, communal clash deaths in India have spiked by 25 percent (February 24, 2016):

Firstpost, http://www.firstpost.com/printpage.php?idno=2356178&sr_no=0 (Retrieved on March 13, 2016).

xxiii India witnessed 17% increase in communal violence in 2015, says home ministry (February 24, 2016): Firstpost,

http://www.firstpost.com/printpage.php?idno=2641534&sr_no=0 (Retrieved on March 13, 2016).

xxiv Sethi, Uttar Pradesh.

xxv Khaleeque, Nazia (January 2015): Communal Violence in Muzaffarnagar: State Politics and General Elections-2014,

Acme International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, III, no. Ihttp://researchjournals .in/ AIJMR/2015/3.1/3103.pdf

(Retrieved on February 2, 2015).

1. xxvi Dubbudu, Rakesh (September 13, 2015): History of Indian Parliament Elections (Lok Sabha), Factly,

https://factly.in/history-indian-elections/ (Retrieved on March 26, 2016).

xxvii Khaleeque, Communal Violence, p 14.

xxviii Pai, Sudha and Kumar, Avinash (Delhi: Sage Publication, 2015): Understanding the BJP’s victory in Uttar Pradesh,” in

India’s 2014 Elections: A Modi Led BJP Sweep, ed. Paul Wallace, p 135-136.

xxix Dayal, Jhon (New Delhi: Anhad Publication, 2014): 100 Days under the New Regime the State of Minorities: A Report,

p 4.

xxx Communal incidents on rise in 2015, UP tops the list, says Home Ministry (August 02, 2015): IBN Live,

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/communal-incidents-on-rise-in-2015-up-tops-the-list-syas-home-ministry-1029008.html

(Retrieved on March 23, 2016).

xxxi Dabhade, Communal Violence 2015.

xxxii Bhowmick, Sourjya (November 14, 2015): Why has Uttar Pradesh become a communal tinderbox?, Catch News,

http://www.catchnews.com/india-news/why-has-uttar-pradesh-become-a-communal-tinderbox-1447508687.html (Retrieved

on March 27, 2016).

xxxiii Jain, Bharti (February 24, 2016): India sees rise in communal violence, UP leads states, Times of India,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-sees-rise-in-communal-violence-UP-leads-states/articleshow/51127336.cms

(Retrieved on August 02, 2016).

xxxiv Dabhade, Communal Violence 2015.

xxxv Ali, Mohammad (October 6, 2015): Dadri tension spills over to neighbouring areas, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/dadri-tension-spills-over-to-neighbouring-areas/article7727749.ece

(Retrieved on March 19, 2016).

xxxvi Subramanya, Rupa (October 14, 2015): Think India has become more communal under Modi? The numbers will

disappoint you, News laundry, http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/10/14/think-india-has-become-more-communal-under-

modi-the-numbers-will-disappoint-you/ (Retrieved on March 13, 2016).

xxxvii Dabhade, Neha (January 01, 2106): Communal Violence, Rise in Hatred and Polarization: Threats engulfing India in

2015, Ummid.com, http://www.ummid.com/news/2016/January/01.01.2016/communal-violence-in-2015.html (Retrieved on

March 22, 2016).

xxxviii Dabhade, Communal Violence 2015.

xxxix Dabhade, Communal Violence.

xl Ibid.

xli BJP Criticises ‘Communal’ Politics Played by Azam Khan (October 06, 2015): The New Indian Express, ,

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/BJP-Criticises-Communal-Politics-Played-by-Azam-

Khan/2015/10/06/article3065989.ece (Retrieved on March 23, 2016).

xlii Communal violence increased since BJP came to power, says Sharad Yadav (October 4, 2015): The Indian Express,

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/communal-violence-increased-since-bjp-came-to-power-says-sharad-

yadav/ (Retrieved on March 24, 2016).

xliii BJP SP spar over communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh (October 26, 2015): The Economic Times,

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bjp-sp-spar-over-communal-clashes-in-uttar-

pradesh/articleshow/49535232.cms (Retrieved on March 23, 2106).

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xliv Ali, Mohammad and Singh,Vijaita (December 29, 2015): It was mutton, not beef: Dadri probe report, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dadri-lynching-incident-meat-turns-out-to-be-mutton/article8037029.ece (Retrieved

on March 19, 2016).

xlv BJP SP spar over.

xlvi Ibid.

2. xlvii Ali, Mohammad (October 4, 2015): Will try to get bail for Dadri accused, says BJP MLA Sangeet Som, The

Hindu, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/muzaffarnagar-riots-accused-sangeet-som-visits-

dadri/article7722943.ece (Retrieved on March 24, 2016).

xlviiiBhardwaj, Ashutosh (October 18, 2015): RSS mouthpiece defends Dadri lynching: Vedas order killing of sinners who

kill cows, The Indian Express, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/rss-mouthpiece-defends-dadri-vedas-

order-killing-of-sinners-who-kill-cows/ (Retrieved on January 06, 2016).

xlix Ramachandran, Smriti Kak and Joshua, Anita (August 14, 2014): Congress, BJP spar over ‘communal politics, The

Hindu, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/congress-bjp-engage-in-war-of-words-in-ls-over-communal-

politics/article6313767.ece (Retrieved on March 23, 2016).

l Mob Killing 'Pre Planned,’ Says Asaduddin Owaisi, Attacks PM for 'Silence' (October 02, 2015): NDTV,

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dadri-mob-killing-linked-to-religion-was-pre-planned-asaduddin-owaisi-1225385

(Retrieved on March 29, 2016).

li UP govt ‘more to blame’ for Dadri lynching incident than BJP, RSS: Mayawati (October 1, 2015): The Indian Express,

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/up-govt-more-to-blame-for-dadri-lynching-incident-mayawati/ (Retrieved

on March 28, 2016).

lii Ali, Mohammad (October 5, 2015): BJP MLA invokes Muzaffarnagar riots in Dadri, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bjp-mla-invokes-muzaffarnagar-riots-in-dadri/article7724218.ece

(Retrieved on March 26, 2016).

liii Nath, Damini (October 7, 2015): Dadri incident a well planned conspiracy, says report, The Hindu,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/dadri-incident-a-wellplanned-conspiracy-says-

report/article7731343.ece (Retrieved on March 24, 2016).

liv Khaleeque, Communal Violence, p 16.

lv Ibid, p 16.

lvi Ali & Singh, Dadri lynching.

lvii Firing on ‘kar sevaks’ in Ayodhya in 1990 was the only option: Mulayam Singh Yadav (January 25, 2016): Zee News,

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/decision-to-order-firing-on-kar-sevaks-in-ayodhya-painful-mulayam-singh-

yadav_1848807.html (Retrieved on March 28, 2016).

lviii Srivastava, Piyush (March 23, 2015): Mulayam admits 1990 Ayodhya shooting lost him Hindu vote bank, Daily Mail

Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3008147/Mulayam-admits-1990-Ayodhya-shooting-lost-

Hindu-votebank.html (Retrieved on March 28, 2016).

lix 1990 decision to order firing on ‘kar sevaks’ painful, Mulayam Singh Yadav says (July 16, 2013): Times of India,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/1990-decision-to-order-firing-on-kar-sevaks-painful-Mulayam-Singh-Yadav-

says/articleshow/21092809.cms (Retrieved on March 28, 2016).

lx Chougaonkar, Sameer (22 December 2015): RamMandir2.0: Why the bricks are flowing in again into Ayodhya, Catch

News, http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/ram-temple-is-just-an-excuse-up-polls-are-the-main-goal-

1450734395.html# (Retrieved on March 28, 2016).

lxi Kapoor, Pradeep (February 15, 2016): Ayodhya: BJP blows on Mandir embers, Hard News,

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2016/02/ayodhya-bjp-blows-mandir-embers (Retrieved on March 28, 2016).