prasad1
Active member
Several decades ago, I would frequently be asked at many international conferences what India’s future was. Of course, the country has had its ups and downs, but my answer always was that the future is bright regardless of governments because it has a momentum of its own. With one condition. Secta rian violence could upset this upward trajectory. Sadly, my foreboding may be coming true. I see the beginnings of a toxic communal cloud across the country dominating public discourse. We should be debating issues that impact our 1.38 billion population the most—prices, jobs, governance and development, the prospect of another wave of Covid-19, the new education policy, and the right growth model. Instead, witness the sheer explosion of violence or near-violence on Ramnavami/ Hanuman Jayanti on our map. At last count, there were incidents in at least eight states—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and, finally, Delhi. The only source of relief is that the death toll is low—one in Khargone, MP, another in Lohardaga, Jharkhand. Earlier, violence broke out in Karnataka over whether halal meat should be permitted to be sold during sacred festival seasons. In the same state, a local battle over banning Muslim women from wearing hijabs in classrooms in a pre-university college blew into a national storm that saw the Supreme Court being dragged in.
India has been in a state of permanent low-grade communal fever over recent months. Controversies over a host of issues have been orchestrated— whether the hijab, halal meat, the muezzin’s azaan, The Kashmir Files or genocidal calls from saffron-clad sants at sundry dharam sansads and from maulvis issuing equally dire threats. Extremist groups from both sides are guilty of pushing their hardline agenda and goading their flocks into confrontation, with many state governments sadly becoming complacent bystanders rather than enforcing the law. Communal clashes are not new to India. They have been taking place since Partition with varying frequency and for different reasons. The BJP has often used them to polarise the electorate for political gain and others to pander to the minority vote bank. No party is innocent of weaponising religion to attain power. The change is that there has been an increased radicalisation of the general population even when elections are not on the horizon. It is a low-intensity violence embedded at the ground level. Competitive fundamentalism is being driven by extreme elements on both sides.
www.indiatoday.in
India has been in a state of permanent low-grade communal fever over recent months. Controversies over a host of issues have been orchestrated— whether the hijab, halal meat, the muezzin’s azaan, The Kashmir Files or genocidal calls from saffron-clad sants at sundry dharam sansads and from maulvis issuing equally dire threats. Extremist groups from both sides are guilty of pushing their hardline agenda and goading their flocks into confrontation, with many state governments sadly becoming complacent bystanders rather than enforcing the law. Communal clashes are not new to India. They have been taking place since Partition with varying frequency and for different reasons. The BJP has often used them to polarise the electorate for political gain and others to pander to the minority vote bank. No party is innocent of weaponising religion to attain power. The change is that there has been an increased radicalisation of the general population even when elections are not on the horizon. It is a low-intensity violence embedded at the ground level. Competitive fundamentalism is being driven by extreme elements on both sides.

From the Editor-in-Chief
India Today Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie on sectarian violence and the beginnings of a toxic communal cloud across the country that's dominating public discourse