Communalism is a menace not only to a country but to the entire humanity as well. It shatters the solidarity and integrity of a nation and causes irreparable loss to it. It creates a distance, a wide gulf among different segments of society by instigating hatred among them. The most dangerous aspect of it is that it weakens the nation because people stop to completely and closely associate themselves with the nation and consequently feel alienated. A nation will be stronger if people are united, work for its prosperity, maintain its sanctity and associate their benefit and harm with those of the nation. It is possible when the nation takes care of all sections of people, safeguards their lives and properties, treats them at equal level and devises schemes which will be beneficial to all irrespective of caste, creed and colour. Communalism beyond the shadow of a doubt is a great setback to the homogeneity and strength of a nation.
Communalism, in its original sense, denotes a system of government in which independent communities participate in a federation. It is also used to refer to communal ownership in which different persons and groups share a particular property or a business concern. In general sense, it signifies allegiance to one’s own ethnic group rather than to society. The idea that lies in this explanation has taken a new form in South Asia where it points out: “Attempts to promote primary religious stereotypes between groups identified as different communities and to stimulate violence between those groups.”
In the Indian subcontinent, it takes another form and, by and large, identifies grievances, prejudices, hatred and violent conflicts between different communities, religious and caste groups in general and between Hindus and Muslims in particular. In fact, communalism indicates the tendency and attitude to give undue privileges and preferences to one’s own group and rationalise it by projecting other groups as uncivilized, barbarous and dangerous to the survival of the former; often outburst of this tendency turns into violent conflicts.
In India this tendency is common and often used and initiated for vested interests or to achieve some petty gain. It is pervasive in almost all parts of our life and contaminates the entire socio-political scenario of the Indian society. The result is that even a slight provocation results in severe communal riots that take the lives of innocent people, destroy their property and damage national wealth. The astonishing features of communal conflict in India is that it, by and large, takes place between Hindus and Muslims and its frequency has been increasing to an alarming extent in post-Independent era characterised by the democratic set-up where we are governed by our own people.
The momentous question to ponder over is why communal riots did not take place at the time when the entire region was ruled by monarchs, Hindus and Muslims. The reason may be that they were the protectors and benefactors of the masses and our democratic heads are pseudo benefactors. Some ascribe the cause of communalism to religion but the fact is entirely different. No religion teaches to kill, inflict injuries on others, destroy their properties and deprive others of their fundamental right of existence. People of vested interests create communal feelings through provocative statements and acts against other communities. They project the idea that their socio-cultural and religious identities are in danger. It results in a hostile atmosphere where people are emotionally charged and they resort to violence. The establishment shows its helplessness and becomes a silent observer.
Communalism emerged in the socio-political horizon of India during the British rule. The British came as traders but steadily captured the whole land and detracted the wealth and resources of the country. The basis of their strategy was ‘divide and rule’. They first weakened the local rulers by dividing them in groups, supporting one of them and provoking it to fight the other. In the end, they overthrew the indigenous rulers by using their military strength.
They observed that there were two major religious groups: Hindus and Muslims who had been the ruling elite and still had great impact on the Indian masses. Both had great religious importance and the followers were emotionally attached to their respective religions. The best way to administer them was to take advantage of their personality trait, create hatred against each other’s religion and instigate them to fight with each other. Consequently, they projected that both religious groups were dangerous to the survival of the other by spreading wrong news, concocting stories about these groups, distorting facts and manipulating historical events to show that both communities had always been unjust and unfair to each other. In a nutshell, they created a hostile atmosphere between these groups and whenever they got a chance, they stimulated these groups to fight with each other. The glaring example is the partition of the country when the British ruler left some portion of the land undecided so that hostility between these groups would continue forever.
In the post-independent era when our own people had taken the reign of the country, communal disharmony in the form of hostility, hatred and conflict should, as a matter of principle, have been eradicated but unfortunately this did not happen. The British legacy of communal incidents, conflict and provocation did not only continue but speed up to an alarming extent. The country adopted a democratic system based on adult franchise where people’s favour and vote were very significant to gain access to the corridor of power. They created feelings that their ethnic groups cannot get equitable share in the privileges of the state unless they place persons of their own groups in the legislative bodies who can protect their interests. The overall result was that polarisation of masses on the basis of religion, caste, ethnicity and other sectarian factors took place. Leaders, intellectuals, writers and even social workers more often than not used to give inflammatory statements to continue communal hostility and foment communal sentiments. At the time of elections, ethnic cards in general and Hindu-Muslim ‘card’ in particular were played to attract voters.
THE ROLE OF MEDIA
The media is an important institution to mould public opinion. It is supposed to play a positive role in integrating people into one nation and motivating them to live in peace and harmony with fellow beings. It should impress on people that a nation is more important than its various groups. It should create such minds as can appreciate right views that can deliver good to the nation. The media can initiate and strengthen nation-building activities and motivate people to avoid and curb activities that weaken the nation. These are a few of important functions that the media of an independent country has to carry out and the government has to make sure that these are accomplished. It is a sad state of affairs that the media has failed to perform its role in the post-Independent era.
Instead, it has always presented a biased view of the situation in a manner favourable to the dominant group. Whenever an untoward incident takes place, the media does not present correct report but twists it against minority groups, particularly Muslims. The recent trend is that doubt, without any inquiry, is always expressed towards Muslims behind all terrorist and violent incidents. Besides, articles, stories and other materials are published distorting historical facts and events and blaming Muslims for all disasters and evils. The idea behind these publications is to project Muslims as anti-social and anti-national. Moreover, editorials do not condemn sectarian views, activities and statements given by political leaders; rather they get prominent place in newspapers.
The result of overall performance of media in independent India has created a gulf between Hindus and Muslims. Hindus think that Muslims are troublemakers and dangerous to Hindu ethos. They always create problems and endanger Hindu socio-cultural system. They should severely be dealt with an iron hand. Muslims feel discriminated against as they are maligned, blamed for all troubles, and wrongly implicated. They are subjugated and tortured; their lives and properties are not safe. They are subjected to tormenting treatment and living with honour and dignity is very difficult for them.
RADIANCE CONTRIBUTION
Radiance, from the very beginning, avoided yellow journalism and presented a genuine one as a characteristic of civilized society and essential condition for leading a dignified life. It projected the correct view of the incidents and activities that take place in the country and abroad. It always explains the world situation in the correct perspective and comments on it in view of its impact on humanity. In the Indian context, it has always highlighted the ideas and views that are beneficial to the nation. At the same time, it has condemned and criticised statements, views and activities that divide people, create ill feeling and hatred among people and hamper national unity.
The most significant contribution of Radiance is that it has exposed communal forces that always twist the news, incidents, and occurrences of events, giving it communal colour to mislead people, creating hatred and exploiting the emotions of people to achieve petty gains. Radiance clarifies the matter, presents the real story and exposes the forces behind them. Once, the members of Cheeta-Mehrat-Kathat clan circumcised their children. The parents and the person who had performed the circumcision were arrested for attempting murder, inflicting severe injury and hurting religious feelings because the clan was posed as Hindus. Radiance presented the history of the clan and explained that its ancestors embraced Islam in 1393 CE and Alauddin Khilji honoured them with the title of ‘Kaathaa’ (‘The Strong’) for their bravery.
Radiance points out contradiction in the thinking and actions of leaders. It has explained that Hindutva has two yardsticks, one for Hindus and the other for minorities. The entire Sangh Parivar cherishes and promotes Hindutva but after the electoral debacle in 2009 one stalwart of RSS, M. G. Vaidya suggested to BJP in his weekly column of the Tarun Bharat to quit the Hindutva agenda so that other parties like Trinamool Congress, Biju Janta Dal and Telugu Desam will join BJP. It shows that Hindutva is the election strategy to get the favour of the Hindus.
In 2010, Radiance highlighted three important news items, three forceful editorials and nine impressive articles to reveal how communal forces work, how people react and what is the role of these forces in polluting the atmosphere and damaging the peaceful life of people. In news items, it presented Bihar leader’s condemnation of Raj Thackeray’s statement about the Marathi language. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena once declared that non-Maharashtrians had to learn Marathi within 40 days otherwise they will lose the right to live there. This statement was to inject local feeling among local people and unite them on that basis. This was no doubt a severe blow to nationalism as it gave preference to local sentiment rather than national. The whole nation reacted against it and condemned the statement and the organisation.
Radiance further posed the question how Modi received 2.5 lakhs from Swami Satyanand. It also exposed the anti-national character of RSS when its senior leader, Indresh Kumar figured in the charge sheet filed by the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad.
Besides, Radiance published three prominent vigorous editorials to show provocative acts initiated by communal forces. First was related to the daily Kannada Prabha which published the translation of an old article by Taslima Nasreen on purdah in its 28 February issue. Nasreen is an outrageous writer famous for her pornographic writings and derogatory remarks against God, Islam and its fundamental principles for which she was ousted from her own country. The article contained derogatory and dirty remarks against Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and his respected wives. The authoress’s writings had been denounced throughout the world, were considered uncivilized and denigratory. The purpose behind the publication of the translation of the article was to provoke people and create conflict among religious groups. Consequently, Muslims agitated and demonstrated against it and faced police atrocities.
The second editorial explained the unnecessary controversy of compulsory recitation of Vande Matram. It asserted that India is a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi- linguistic nation; people have different faiths which do not consider the nation a goddess. Thus, compulsion to sing this song was not genuine and against the true spirit of the nation.
In the third editorial, Radiance highlighted the incident of Makka Masjid bomb blast that took place on Friday, 18 May 2007. It killed several Muslims and wounded many. The irony was that in spite of the loss of Muslim lives and their sufferings, many innocent Muslims were arrested and wrongly involved in the incident. Later on CBI discovered the hands of RSS members who had planted bombs not only in Makka Masjid, Hyderabad but at other places in the country as well.
Radiance published nine impressive and assertive articles on the subject. One each by Prof. M. A. Haque and K.K. Raoof, three by Dr. S. Ausaf Saied Vasfi and four by Soroor Ahmed. Prof. Haque laments that politicians do not think beyond elections in the broadest interest of the nation and the masses cannot analyse the real motives of political parties. They are only guided by regional affinity, religious identity and caste loyalties in casting their votes. The result is that political parties exploit their emotions and passion for nativist identities. Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are following the same strategy and promoting the concepts of ‘Marathi Manoos’ and ‘sons-of-the-soil’. These are the greatest setback to the democratic system. Mr. Raoof explains that Nazi strategy is applied by the proponents of Hindutva ideology to wipe out democracy and replace it by fascism. In this attempt the ultra-right wing Hindutva outfits blasted 15 bombs in different parts of the country. People and organisations acknowledge the threat of Hindutva terrorism that poses danger to the nation. Dr. Vasfi has observed that Revised Communal Violence Bill 2010 should be reconsidered and given a dispassionate second-look before presenting it in the parliament because the government has not taken into consideration the suggestions made by Muslim leadership. He has also made certain suggestions to make it more viable and beneficial.
Dr. Vasfi, in another article, commented on the then BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s presidential address at the party’s 3-day session at Indore. The president seems to signal to distance from Babri Mosque issues that have ceased to attract audience in getting votes in general elections. He points out that it was only a strategy to attract minorities which they did not believe. Dr. Vasfi further criticises the brutal assault on a senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan in the name of patriotism. It was a low grade manifestation of fascist forces when three thugs belonging to Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena assaulted the lawyer in his chamber in the Supreme Court of India. He appealed to all parties and good minded citizens to come forward to check these atrocities.
Soroor Ahmed has explained that tribals have become cannon-fodder for communal forces in Orissa. They are exploited by the trading Hindu communities that, instead of improving socio-economic condition of tribals, directed their anger and frustration towards Muslims, and to some extent Christians. Ahmed also reacted against burning news of contemplating an assassination bid on Vice President Hamid Ansari by the terror brigade of RSS and its involvement in the bombing in Ajmer, Makkah Masjid, Malegaon and many other places. The news was published in important newspapers of the country and people demanded in-depth investigation of the matter. He explained that Sangh Parivar, through these activities, wants “to destabilise the entire society, constitution and political system”.
The third article relates to Shiv Sena’ s statement asking film-star Shah Rukh Khan to go to Pakistan if he wants Pakistani players to play in the Indian Premier League. The RSS and the BJP did not condemn this statement but when Shiv Sena attacked Biharis and UP-wallas, the RSS was uncomfortable. In fact, Shiv Sena and RSS are Hindu fundamentalists who joined hands to create Marathi sub-nationalism and hamper national unity. Soroor Ahmed again, in his fourth article, highlighted the role of Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in propagating the idea that Maharashtra is for Marathi speaking people. They created Marathi sub-nationalism differentiating people on the basis of language. This attitude is dangerous to the nation. A person has the right to love his language but he has to give the same right to others as well.
Overall, Radiance has published all the important incidents that create distance and hatred between Hindus and Muslims. It clarifies rumours that are spread by people of vested interest to create conflict and tension between these two communities. Radiance, through editorials and articles, has exposed the strategy and tactics of communal forces to project wrong impression of Muslims and Islam. At the same time, it has acquainted the readers with the true picture of communal and fascist forces to exploit the emotions of the people in the name of religion, region, language and other false identities. It cripples the attempt of communal forces to create sub-nationalism to damage the integrity and solidarity of the nation. A survey of Radiance publications shows that it has published 21 significant news items relating to different incidents and their impact on people that flare up communal tension among these two communities. It has also published 28 editorials, 110 articles and 14 write-ups.
The important news items are: ‘Unnecessary creating fear psychosis in majority mind’, ‘Choice between Gandhi and Godse?’, ‘BJP bringing Vedic values to education in U. P.’, ‘Faith of cowardice and BJP strategy: Old wine in new bottle’.
The editorials of Radiance are formidable, acquaint people with correct situation and motive behind malicious propaganda. They also highlight distortion in history and present authentic view of historical events. They further expose the strategy and viewpoint of communal forces in acting on fascist policies and creating abhorrence and abomination in the minds and hearts of people. The important editorials are ‘pernicious propaganda’, ‘distortion of history’, ‘RSS to throw its hats in the ring’, ‘the glimpse of caste and communal frenzy’, ‘politics of hate and violence’ and ‘Congress ignored Saffron writing on the wall’.
Radiance has also published plenty of impressive articles about different aspects of communalism and communal forces. They are also concerned with the organisations that provoke communal feelings by interpreting incidents and matters in different ways, projecting biased view of history and religions.
The writers explain the communal problems in India, its causes and measures to control them. The important fact is that our heartfelt and unfeigned intellectuals feel how dangerous communalism is and how it damages social coherence and harmony and overall, affect the prosperity and development of the country. They convey this message to the readers time and time again so that they may develop right thinking and shun off the evil.
Out of 110 articles, 24 are directly related to communalism and its problems. They highlight the meaning and nature of communalism, the way it affects the minds of people and penetrates in our social life. Some of them deal with how communal forces work and how we can combat them. Besides, 11 are related to different aspects of ‘Hindutva’, its relation to Indian unity and overall consequences on Indian society. Further 31 articles are related to Jan Sangh, RSS, BJP and Saffron strategy to deal with the socio-political situation and mould people’s mind. Seven articles deal with history, its distortion, manipulation and misinterpretation of historical events. Three are concerned with language and education, particularly how textbooks are written and topics are included in the syllabi to pollute the minds of students. Apart from these, 34 articles are related to other aspects of communalism and communal forces included in the analysis under the heading of miscellaneous.
Of all the articles published in Radiance the highest number that is 15 are written by Dr. Ausaf Saied Vasfi. Six each are written by Kuldip Nayar and A. K. Soze. Similarly, Soroor Ahmed and Khan Yasir have written five each and Nanaji Deshmukh, Abdul Moghni and Ram Puniyani have written four each. S. P. Sinha, J. G. Tiwari, S. Aminul Hasan Rizvi, M. A. Haque and Yoginder Sikand have written two each. Besides them 30 persons have written one article each and 21 are miscellaneous articles.
Radiance has also published 14 forceful write-ups by well-known writers. The important ones among them are by Syed Shahabuddin, Ram Puniyani, Mumtaz Ali, Dr. Javed Jamil and Soroor Ahmed. One of write-ups is related to a Mughal King Aurangzeb. A well-known historian B. N. Pande has proved that the king was not the breaker of the temples but their protector because he granted financial assistance to them. Another is related to Aurangzeb explaining how his image has been distorted in history. Others deal with communalism and its various forms. One of them is terrorism. They are shown in Table 9. Last but not the least, Radiance has also published four book reviews by Khan Yasir who has scholarly analysed the contents of the books.
CONCLUSION
Radiance, without any doubt, has presented the true image of journalism by reporting the incidents and facts in correct perspective. It has made fruitful contributions to promoting the unity and solidarity of India. It has always given preference to the ideas and values that enable humans to live in peace and harmony, respect each other and assist them in leading a dignified life. It highlights that communalism is a great enemy of humanity that always creates aversion among people and causes them to shed each other’s blood. It should be curbed in the interest of humanity. This is the reason that it has acquainted our people and the nation with the atrocities and injustice done to Muslims, a significant minority because without its security, safeguard and development the country cannot progress.
The other feather in the cap of Radiance is that it has presented the true picture of Islam which never allows atrocities, terror, conflict and injustice done to any human being because all of them are progeny of Allah the Exalted and inflicting harm to any one of them is to invite His wrath. Islam in fact promotes universal brotherhood and assures prosperous and dignified life to every human being.