Communalism in a broad sense is allegiance to one’s own community. Communal violence or riots happen when a clash between two different communities arises due to religious issues. Neither the god of Hindus ordered his devotees to kill those who don’t observe Hindu beliefs, nor did Allah order so. Then why do these riots happen? The reason for the occurrence of communal violence is the political interests of the local and national political parties. During the time of partition, it was the clash of political interests of the elite of two different communities which resulted in communal riots, but from the 1960s till the late 1980s the local political and economic factors played a very important role in instigating riots. The emergence of Hindutva politics in the last few decades is now the main cause of communal riots. The BJP and its sister organisations have been active in instigating communal riots. The rise of the BJP as a strong political force resulted in shifting patterns of communal riots. Communal tension or riots in the last two decades is a result of manipulation of the religious mindset. The politicisation of the Mandir Masjid issue and the subsequent demolition of the Babri Mosque and construction of Ram Mandir has further emboldened the BJP to consolidate its vote bank.
Recently, a Hindu monk named Mahant Bajrang Mani, in the presence of police, said on the loudspeaker that “we will rape Muslim women”. The video of it went viral where he can be heard threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women and, as seen in the video, the crowd was clapping and shouting ‘Jai Shree Ram’.
Muslim journalists were recently attacked while covering a Hindu mahapanchayat. These journalists were assigned to cover the Hindu mahapanchayat held at New Delhi’s Burari when they were assaulted by Hindutva groups because of their religion, as they were Muslims.
Recently on Ram Navmi, almost in every state provocative anti-Muslim songs and abusive slogans were raised by Hindutva mobs. These rallies in cities turned violent after being objected to by the Muslims, and on the next day we saw images of mosques and Muslim properties on fire. On the Hindu new year day, a motorcycle rally by the Hindu Sena was organised. Hindus while riding on bikes shouted anti-Muslim slogans and songs instigating violence against the Muslims. The Hindu extremists chanted these songs and slogans while passing through Muslim areas, shouting, ‘Topee Wala Sar Jhuka Ke Jai Shree Ram Bolega’ (Muslims will bow and will say Jai Shree Ram).
Another incident took place which got viral on social media. In Karnataka, Hindu extremists called for a boycott of Muslim vendors and Muslim fruit sellers. Sri Ram Sene vandalised a cart of Muslim fruit vendors and assaulted them, and the police did nothing.
My purpose in writing this is to make people aware that the politicisation of Hindu-Muslim will destroy the whole nation. Recently, the half-truth based Bollywood movie, ‘The Kashmir Files’, is nothing but propaganda based on political interests and the BJP succeeded in this. It instigated communal hatred which resulted in communal violence.

The writer is a student of Law at University of Kashmir. [email protected]

Suhaib Rafi Mir