.....................................Indian Society by Dr.

Bijendra K Jha
Religion: Communalism and Secularism in India
Religion overview
• it refers to a set of beliefs, values and rituals.
• It is an integral part of human life.
• It nurtures language, beliefs , values , attitude and the notion of what is just and what is unjust.

Communalism overview
• communalism has basically come from the root word community and it means a notion of
superiority over other communities.

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• It is a new phenomenon in Indian society and politics.
• According to Ashish Nandi’s book “Impossible India '', religion is good for individual social
life. but when religion and religious beliefs become a political ideology , communalism starts.

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• According to Gyanendra pandey, communalism in India is never caused by hinduism or islam
but it is a product of orientalism and the colonial state.

Salient features of communalism in India

• It is an ideological concept which focuses on unity and strength of one's own community even
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at the cost of another's community interest. It is a political ideology that gives a sense of
superiority and betterness among one community over the others.
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• communalism is manifested not only through religion and religious activities. It is also
manifested through socio economic and political aspects. For instance, Ambedkar depicted
Indian villages as hubs of communalism In the constituent assembly debates.
• communalism often results in conflicts and violence among people of different communities. It
promotes mistrust,lack of faith and hatred among each other.
• The leaders of communal factions often advocate that the interests of their community are
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completely incompatible with others. For instance MA Jinnah in the 1940s.

• The extreme form of communalism may lead to a cessationist tendency and it is always a threat
to national unity , sovereignty and integrity.
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Factors leading to rise of communalism in India

a. British colonial policies: the British administration followed divide and rule policy in
colonial india. It partitioned Bengal in 1905 , granted separate electorates in 1909 and
provided communal awards in 1932. These colonial policies contributed to the growth of
communalism in india.
b. Religious Nationalism: In the last decade of the 19th century and thereafter, there was a
rise of religious nationalism. In response to British colonialism, there was religious
mobilization to spread nationalism like the Shivaji festival and Ganpati festival.
Extremists like Aurobondo portrayed India as ‘Shakti’, a divine entity. They portrayed
Shivaji and Maharana Pratap as historical fighters. Consequently, there was a Muslim
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League which differentiated ‘idea of a nation. Partition was a consequence of high
communalism in India. This tendency has not died. Leaders of religious organizations
often advocate transforming India into a particular religion based unit (Hindu Rashtra).
c. Socio-economic divide in Indian society: there are many factors like unemployment ,
poverty , relative deprivation and competition among communities which gives rise to
communal tensions. Paul Brass in his book, "Production of Hindu-Muslim
Communal violence in India’ has argued that communalism is very much
institutionalized in Indian society due to socio economic divide. It is systematically
programmed and executed in india. All political parties are benefited by communal

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violence especially the right wing ones. Mr. Brass says that each communal violence has
3 stages. First is the preparatory stage. Here, an atmosphere for communal violence is
prepared systematically. Second stage is precipatory stage. At this stage, actual

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communal violence breaks out. There is an attack and retaliation. Third stage is the
explanatory stage. At this stage, the blame game starts.
d. political factors: there have been political parties in india since colonial times that are
formed on the basis of religion like muslim league, hindu mahasabha , ram rajya
S parishad and so on. These political parties patronize religion and religious causes in
order to gain votes.
e. Spread of rumors, distorted and fake news: one of the major causes of communal
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violence is spread of rumors and fake news through new social media , voluntary
organizations and community based organizations.
f. the fundamentalist tendencies: leaders of several communities attempt to propagate
their religious beliefs in such a way that can potentially fuel communal tensions.
g. Hate speech: generally , political leaders use hate speech in order to polarize majority or
minority and this is one of the major reasons for communal violence.
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Consequences of communalism
a. violence: one of the most direct consequence of communalism is violence in multiple
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forms like looting, raping , abduction and so on. The extreme high communalism and
communal violence resulted in the partition of india.
b. the law and order problem: due to communal tension, there is insecurity and anarchic
environment that leads to a vulnerable situation of law and order. It affects the normal life
of the people.
c. setback to the constitutional goals: the preamble , fundamental rights and DPSP
constitutes unity in trinity and conscience of the constitution. When communal violence
breaks out, the conscience of the constitution starts shivering.
d. economic cost: there is damage to economic infrastructure and damage to business
activity that causes economic loss. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace,
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India had to suffer an economic loss of around 800 billion dollars or 9% of GDP due to
communal violence.
e. threat to national unity and integrity: this can be seen by various recent communal
conflicts like 1984 violence, Delhi anti CAA violence and so on.

How to combat communal violence

• peaceful negotiations.
• government policies and programs for minorities.
• organizing all india religious harmony associations.

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• imparting education and awareness.
• promotion of rule of law.
• specific government guidelines in order to regulate religious processions or activities.

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• promotion of secularism.
• formation of peace committees.

Secularism in India
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Modern nation-state emerged as a multi-cultural society due to mixing of different ethnic,
linguistic and regional groups. In multicultural society, secularism is a positive measure. It is
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based on the principle of equality. It promotes and protects pluralism, toleration and it recognizes
diversity. India, as a modern nation-state adopted secularism as a companion to the democratic
state in a society. Features of Secular state are as follows :
a. Non theocratic
b. The principle of non establishment of religion
c. Peace and harmony between communities
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d. Toleration
e. Religious liberty to religious groups or individuals.
f. Religious liberty granted non-preferentially to members of every religious group
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g. The liberty to embrace a religion other than the one into which a person is born and to
reject all religions
h. No discrimination by the state on grounds of religion to entitlements provided by the state
i. No discrimination in admission to educational institutions on grounds of religion.
j. Equality of active citizens : no discrimination on grounds of religion in the right to vote
to deliberate on public matters, offices.

In India, D E Smith wrote a classical text ‘India as a secular State’ in which he looked into
three kinds of relationships: (1) relationship between state and individual, (2) relationship
between individual and religion; and (3), and relationship between state and religion.
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Let see the relationship between:

A. State and individual: State does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of
religion in a secular state like Art.15 of the constitution. State treats each individual
equally and there is equality before the law like Art.14 of the constitution, and provides
equal opportunity like Art.16 of the constitution. Equality of citizenship is guaranteed by
Art. 14 ‘Equality Before Law’, 15(1) and 29 (2) of the Indian constitution. Art. 15(1)
states that ‘the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.’ Art. 29(2) declares that no citizen shall be

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denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the state on grounds only
of religion, race etc. Art. 16(1) and (2) of the Indian constitution affirm an equal
opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment of any

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office under the state. It further affirms that no citizen, on grounds of religion or race, be
ineligible for or discriminated against in respect of any employment or office under the
state.The universal franchise as well as Art. 325 that declares a general electoral roll for
all constituencies and states that ‘no one shall be ineligible for inclusion in this roll or
S claim to be included in it on grounds only of religion’ embodies the value of equal active
citizenship. Thus, features are specified in Art. 325 and Art 326 on equality of active
citizenship.
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B. Individual and religion. In a secular state, an individual enjoys freedom of religion and
the state does not impose any religion on the individual. In the case of India, Art.25-28
allows individual freedom of religion. For instance Art. 27 which rules out the public
funding of religion and Art. 28 (1) under which 'no religious instructions are to be
provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of state funds'. Further, Art.
25, 26, 27 and 28 guarantee religious liberty and meet the conditions specified by
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features. Art. 25(1), says that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience
and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion'. The phrase 'Freedom of
conscience is meant to cover the liberty of persons without a religion. In addition,
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according to Art. 27, 'no person is compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are
specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of
any particular religion or religious denomination'. Finally, Art. 28 (3), 'no person
attending any educational institution... shall be required to take part in any religious
instruction or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institutions'.
C. State and religion: In the west, there is a wall of separation between state and religious
institutions, laws and customs. State does not intervene in religious matters. But in the
case of India, the story is a little different in case of Indian secularism. The Indian state
intervenes in religion in order to remove discrimination. For example the Hindu marriage
act, Hindu succession act, Art. 17 of the Indian constitution, Triple Talaq, are examples of
state interference in order to eradicate Inter-religious and intra-religious domination. The
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Indian state tends to minimize inter-religious as well as intra-religious domination. Yet
the Indian state maintains a principled distance with religion and often stays away with
religion and religious matters.

Principled Distance
Principled distance entails a flexible approach on the question of inclusion/exclusion of religion
and the engagement/disengagement of the state, which at the third level of law and policy
depends on the context, nature or current state of relevant religions.

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Rajeev Bhargava on Indian Secularism
a. Indian secularism is inextricably tied to deep religious diversity.
b. It has a commitment to multiple values - Liberty and equality.
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c. The acceptance of community-specific rights brings us to the third feature of Indian

secularism.
d. Deeply multi-religious society, it is concerned as much with inter-religious domination as
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it is with intra-religious domination.

e. It does not erect a wall of separation between state and religion but maintains principled
distance.

Contextual secularism
Contextual secularism recognizes that the conflict between individual rights and group rights or
between claims of equality and liberty or between claims of liberty and the satisfaction of basic
needs cannot always be adjudicated by a recourse to some general and abstract principle.
Sociologists like T.N. Madan who argues that secularism has failed in India because it is "an
alien cultural ideology."
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India's status as a 'Secular state' does not suggest that it is non-religious, irreligious, or
anti-religious, but rather that the State is not religious in and of itself, according to the ancient
Indian philosophy of 'Sarva Dharma Sambhava’
a. It also means that the state will not discriminate against citizens based on their religion in
any way.
b. The state considers religion to be a personal matter, which includes the right to believe or
not believe in a religion.
c. However, given to its unique socio-cultural setting, India is not secular in the same way
that Western countries are.

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Understanding Laïcité, the French principle of secularism

Recently, the French government announced that the practice of wearing abaya would be
banned in state-run schools as it violated the principle of Laïcité, which is the French idea of
secularism. The education minister said, “When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be
able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them. Secularism means the freedom to
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emancipate oneself through school.” He described the abaya as a “religious gesture, aimed at
testing the resistance of the republic towards the secular sanctuary that school must be.”
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The move was met with criticism by many. Some said that this amounts to a policing of
teenagers’ clothing (public schools in France do not have a uniform). Some said that it was an
attack on freedom and women’s bodies. Others said that this was yet another instance of
Laïcité being used as a tool of oppression rather than assimilation.
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The meaning of Laïcité

Coined in the 19th century, Laïcité is a complicated and politically charged term. It is
understood as a formal separation of the State and Church. It involves the complete removal of
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religious values from the public sphere and their replacement with secular values such as
liberty, equality, and fraternity. The underlying goal of Laïcité is to implant tolerance and
assimilate people. As per the principle, religion is to be confined to the private sphere. It is
important to note here that the state plays an important role in ensuring that affairs are run
according to the principle of Laïcité.

Laïcité, a product of the struggle of anti-clerical Republicans against the power of the Catholic
Church, was an abstract idea following the French Revolution in 1789. It took a concrete shape
in the form of The Law of 1905 in the Third Republic when state-run secular schools were
established. The Law of 1905 guarantees freedom of conscience and freedom of worship
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except when it clashes with public order. It states that the Republic would neither pay for nor
subsidise any form of worship. Today, while there are publicly funded Catholic schools in
France, most children attend public schools which are secular spaces and free of cost.

Change in demographics

Laïcité was not seen as problematic for the most part of the 20th century because France was
largely homogenous. In the 1950s and 1960s, however, there was large-scale decolonisation in
North Africa, which led to an influx of immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries such

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as Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. The change in demographics caused episodic tensions.

The incident that particularly rattled France and drew extensive press coverage was in 1989

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when three Muslim girls, who refused to remove their head scarves in class, were expelled
from their school in the town of Creil, about 48 kilometres from Paris. The headmaster
claimed that he was enforcing Laïcité. Muslim leaders as well as Catholic leaders decried the
move, arguing that Laïcité meant respect for and tolerance of religious differences among
students. The confusion over the term was clear, for the incident was both condoned and
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opposed in the name of Laïcité. In November that year, the Supreme Court ruled that the
headscarf was not incompatible with the principle of Laïcité.
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This incident, in particular, brought Islam to the centre of the debate. Over the next few
decades, global developments, such as the 9/11 attack and the invasion of Afghanistan by the
U.S., and domestic ones, such as the rise of the National Front, which was avowedly
anti-immigration; the shooting of journalists at Charlie Hebdo; and the killing of three people
at a church in the city of Nice all contributed to this and arguably led to anti-Muslim
sentiment.
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Following the recommendation of the Stasi Commission, which was set up to reflect upon the
application of the Laïcité principle, France passed a law in 2004 prohibiting the wearing of
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“ostentatious” symbols that have a clear religious meaning, such as a Catholic dress, a Jewish
kippah, or a Muslim headscarf, in public spaces. In 2011, France banned the wearing of
face-covering veils in public places. Every such controversial decision of the French state in
the name of Laïcité has led to new interpretations of the principle. Although Laïcité applies to
all religions — there was a row in 2012 when a Sikh man was asked to remove his turban for
an official photograph — the debate has increasingly moved to Muslim practices in the last
few decades.

In 2015, a Muslim girl in France was banned from class for wearing a long black skirt that was
seen as “too openly religious” despite the 2004 law allowing for “discreet religious practices”
and the girl arguing that it was not a “religious sign.” In 2018, there was an outcry when a
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student wore a headscarf during a television interview in her university campus even though
this is not illegal in France (headscarves are allowed in universities since students are adults).
In 2020, following the beheading of a school teacher for showing cartoons depicting Prophet
Mohammed, French President Emmanuel Macron banned homeschooling for children over
three years old and asked Muslim leaders to agree to a “charter of republic values” as part of a
broad clampdown on radical Islam. Long garments like abayas have been seen as a grey area
so far, since Muslim groups have said that an abaya is not “required religious attire” but is in
fact a fashionable garment tied to Arab culture. These incidents have led to the belief that

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promoting discrimination against Muslims has become acceptable under the guise of Laïcité.

A different approach?

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Yet, despite efforts to ensure secularism, 36% of French people said in a survey in 2022 that
they believe that secularism was “rather not sufficiently” being defended in France, while 21%
said it was “not at all” being defended.

The question now is whether Laïcité actually helps people integrate into society or whether it
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is being used as a tool to oppress communities. Do people have to give up their own traditions
and practices in order to assimilate (Mr. Macron said there was a need to “free Islam in France
from foreign influences” and build an “Islam of Enlightenment”)? Or should France let
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religious identities “dissolve into more diversified practices and identities” (Roy, 2005;
translated by Yolande Jansen) in order to ensure integration, which would be a challenge to the
principle of Laïcité itself?

Mr. Macron said, “A united France is cemented by Laïcité.” Yet, there is some concern that a
tool to prevent social fissures and promote universalism may, in fact, cause more fractures if
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there is a rigid, unyielding commitment to it.

Source: The Hindu, September 5, 2023

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The regionalism
• It is a major problem in India's unity and integrity. There is a feeling among the local people
that they are the ‘sons of soil’ or ‘bhoomiputra' and, hence, they have only right over jobs ,
land and economic resources. In addition, people also feel that their region is unique in terms of
culture, customs and traditions and it is superior to others.
• The ‘son of soil’ always wants preferential treatment and privileges in job opportunities like
government quotas and private jobs.
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Forms of regionalism in India

India is a multiethnic , multicultural , multi linguistic and multi faith society. It gives rise to
various political alliances or groups. There are different forms of regionalism in india:
a. sub-national consciousness: in few regions of India, people have a sub nationalist
consciousness like Tamil nadu, bodoland, Nagas and so on. It gives rise to extreme forms
of regionalism in India and can propel separatist movements. For example, khalistan
movement in punjab, movement led by armed group of ULFA in assam, mizoram,
nagaland and so on, separatist movement led by DMK before 1962 in tamil nadu and so

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on.
b. demand for separate statehood: demand for separate statehood also led to rise of
regionalism in india. For instance, demand for Saurashtra, Gorkhaland , uttranchal and so

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on. The Indian government has negotiated well to fulfill separate statehood demands.
c. developmental disparities within the states: it also gives rise to regionalism in india.
Like telangana people were against the dominance of coastal andhra’s leaders or southern
bihar’s people were against dominance of northern bihar.
d. migration: developmental disparities in economic development and economic progress
S have produced pull factors and push factors for migration. The modernisation process and
economic development has created opportunities and migration takes place. There is
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interstate migration as well as intrastate migration. The interstate migration has dis
balanced the demographic structure along with socio economic structure. This leads to
antagonism between the locals and the migrants.
e. rise of regional parties: the regional parties exploit the emotions of local people
regarding resources, jobs , education and opportunities. They uses local culture to
mobilise people and prepare a vote bank. Bipin Chandra and Kanchan Chaandra think
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that regionalism is natural and somehow it is good for local development. But the side
effect of it is ethnic conflict. For example Shiv Sena emerged against opposition to south
Indians in the Mumbai economy in its earliest times.
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f. Interstate disputes and regionalism in india: there are basically two major factors
behind interstate disputes in India namely water and land. These interstate disputes also
promote regionalism. For instance, claim over chandigarh by Punjab and Haryana,
cauvery water dispute between karnataka and tamilNadu and so on.
g. the north south divide: indian federalism is at cross roads. There are supra state
regionalism tendencies between the south and the north due to 2 major reasons namely
fiscal federalism including the role of finance commission and the delimitation
commission. The 15th finance commission has recommended to the center to use 2011
census in order to distribute revenue among the states. Earlier finance commission used
1971 census for the same. The southern states opposed it and held that the center is
punishing states of south india for better implementation of family planning. The second
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factor is delimitation commission. In 2031, there shall be a new delimitation commission
which shall redraw boundaries of electoral constituencies for parliament. The states of
south shall be at disadvantage and this will strengthen and deepen the north south divide
in india.

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Consequences of regionalism
A Positive consequences
a. socio economic development: regionalism is not always bad. It is natural. It increase

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political awareness regarding socio economic disparities, regional organisations or
parties , give call to better socio economic development. For example, development of
uttrakhand, that of jharkhand and so on.
b. psychological satisfaction to the local people: regionalism promotes culture and
S tradition , language , local food and local knowledge. People appreciate them and it gives
them psychological satisfaction. Local people take pride in their identity.
c. self government: regionalism and movements in certain regions produce good results
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like the right to self government. For example, tribal autonomous district councils, tribal
advisory councils, right to self government in 5th schedule areas and so on.
d. democratic decentralization: regionalism may foster democratic decentralization like
the demand of people of ladakh to be included in the 6th schedule of the constitution.
B Negative consequences
a. threat to unity and integrity: the extreme form of regionalism may threaten India's
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unity , integrity and sovereignty. For example nagaism , bodoism and so on.
b. threat to international diplomacy: for example, tamil nadu leaders protested against
india’s decision to help sri lanka to curb LTTE issue or leaders of bengal protested against
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india’s decision in india bangladesh land dispute agreement.

c. conflict and violence: regionalism often leads to conflict and violence. It poses a threat
to the idea of common citizenship. For instance, anti hindi speakers violence in assam or
anti south indian violence in bombay in 1964 to 1966 may pose threat to constitutional
values.
d. economic loss: regionalism may threaten the economy like tourism or availability of
labour for industrial work.
e. setback to constitutional values: these values may include liberty, equality, common
citizenship and so on.

Relation between nationalism and regionalism

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• regionalism may develop as sub-national consciousness. The term sub national consciousness
means that Local people may feel that we are a nation within a nation.
• nationalism is a belief that is our tradition , culture, language , custom and so on are unique and
it is different from others. It is a belief as well as an ideology that we, the people, constitute a
nation. Benedict Anderson in his text namely “Imagined Community” defined a nation as an
imagined political community. It is produced by print capitalism.
• Due to extreme regionalism, social movements for the right to self determination may evolve. It
goes against the idea of national unity and integrity.

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How can we curb regionalism?
• equal social development in all regions should be focussed.
• central leadership always accommodates the regional leadership.

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• through media and education, national integration and its importance can be advertised.
• the state should give priority to constitutional values.
• democratic decentralization and grassroot governance should be promoted.
• The right to self-govern is a good idea to curb regionalism like autonomous district councils.
• there should be institutions like the national integration council.
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• the government should promote people to people contacts like kashi tamil sangamam.
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