ISSN: 2321-8819 (Online) 2348-7186 (Print) Impact Factor: 1.498 Vol. 7, Issue 10, October, 2019
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: [email protected]
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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3 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019
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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4 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019
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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5 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019
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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6 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019
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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10 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(10) October, 2019
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).