BOOK REVIEW

december 7, 2013 vol xlviII no 49 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

30
The Origins of Communalism
Aria Thaker
I
n his Issues of Communal Violence:
Causes and Responses, Irfan Engi-
neer discusses the societal condi-
tions that bring about and perpetuate
communal riots in modern India. Most
of the time, Engineers analysis strikes
an effective balance between theoretical
and empirical explanations; he discuss-
es the nature of communalism, but also
provides ample proof of his reasoning by
citing scholarly studies and documented
incidents from Godhra 2002, Mumbai
1992, and many other instances of com-
munal violence. In a few sections, how-
ever, Engineers explication of particu-
lars regarding the formation of riots
seems a bit simplistic. Overall, however,
Issues of Communal Violence is a persua-
sive text, one that disentangles many is-
sues often confused in media and popu-
lar discourse surrounding riots today.
What Is Communalism?
Engineer begins his book by engaging
with other scholars, quoting liberally from
different texts in order to explain varied
theories regarding the origins of com-
munal violence. Some scholars, Engineer
states, describe communal violence as
the direct result of mounting religious
tension, some state that it is caused
mostly by political and economic factors,
and some claim it results from a conu-
ence of factors ideological, religious,
political and material. Through his care-
ful consideration of a diversity of ideas,
Engineer provides a thoughtful portray-
al of the complexity and controversy
surrounding the idea of what commu-
nalism is and how it happens.
Issues of Communal Violence, however,
is not without its own, powerful voice.
Engineer assertively dispels much of the
propaganda surrounding riots, such as
the idea that communal organisations
exist to protect people of their faith
against violence from other communities.
Engineer writes,
There is not a single instance where Shiv
Sainiks marched to the largest Muslim ghetto
in Mumbai Bhindi Bazaar to secure Hindu
minorities in the area when some of them
were attacked as a revenge to Muslim casu-
alties in other areas, nor did Muslim-armed
groups that were attacking Hindus in the
Bhindi Bazaar area ever try to protect Mus-
lims in the areas where they were vulnerable
and in the minority.
Evolution of Riots
Sometimes, however, Engineer is over-
zealous in his attempt to explain com-
munal violence. For example, in his dis-
cussion of the evolution of riots, Engi-
neer delineates four categories of people
who participate in communal violence.
These categories, in order, are: the orga-
nisers, the trained ghters, the people
who spread rumours to iname commu-
nal sentiment, and the people who have
motivations other than communal hat-
red. Engineers categorisation does effe-
ctively convey the vast network of ef-
forts that go into the planning and exe-
cution of what is often erroneously per-
ceived as spontaneous violence.
It may be true that the four listed
roles form the backbone of most com-
munal riots and wanton violence. How-
ever, it is simplistic to conclude that
therefore there must be only four dis-
tinct categories of people who contrib-
ute to the violence. The distillation of
communal elements into four categories
discounts the possibility that some
people occupy two, or multiple of the
niches Engineer presents. The rst and
fourth categories, in particular, seem to
have a great deal of overlap, as do the
rst and third.
Issues of Communal Violence: Causes and
Responses by Irfan Engineer (Mumbai: Institute for
Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution), 2013; pp 51, Rs 150.
BOOK REVIEW
Economic & Political Weekly EPW december 7, 2013 vol xlviII no 49
31
Not only do the four main categories
of participants fail to include complicit
law enforcement and political ofcials,
they consciously omit the inclusion of
people who are swept up in mobs and
become participants of communal riot-
ing. According to Engineer, the involve-
ment of ordinary people who were sim-
ply swept up in mobs was not on large
scale. It is unclear what Engineers
source is for this fact. He cites two exam-
ples of interviewed Hindus who have,
out of confusion and curiosity, engaged
in throwing bombs and rocks at Muslim
buildings. He later dismisses such in-
volvement, saying that the same people
later helped shelter and aid Muslims.
But what were the circumstances that
allowed the interviewed subjects to be
receptive to the ideas of throwing petrol
bombs and rocks? While moral culpabil-
ity may be a tricky issue when it comes
to mob mentality, and no one will dis-
pute that a riot planner is much more at
fault than someone caught up in the
moment, participation in communal
violence at all levels must be acknowl-
edged and examined if we are to fully
investigate the manner in which com-
munalism and religious bigotry become
entrenched in society. After all, many of
the same social forces that caused the
two interviewed subjects to throw weap-
ons at mosques may have caused riot
planners to become as prejudiced and
vengeful as they are now.
Police Complicity
The strongest chapter in Engineers book
addresses police complicity in commu-
nal riots and makes a nearly indisputa-
ble case for the need for more impartial-
ity in the world of law enforcement. En-
gineer asserts that the Indian polices
extreme biases result in communal
bloodshed continuing and escalating for
far longer than it should. Engineer states
chilling statistics; for example, during
the rst phase of communal rioting in
1992 in Mumbai, 192 of the 250 Muslims
killed were shot by police. Out of those
killed, over 90% died of injuries above
the abdomen, proving that police had
red to kill and not to disperse a rioting
mob. After the 1992 riots, 97% of riot
victims from the Muslim community
saw the police as their enemies. Mean-
while, 93% of Hindu victims stated they
would approach the police for help dur-
ing riots. This is only a small fraction of
the frightening facts that Engineer uses
to bolster his case.
Engineer proposes various measures
that the police should take in order to
become more responsible and impartial:
they should maintain greater vigilance
in the formative stages of riots, provide
immediate assistance to all victims of
violence, facilitate dialogue and recon-
ciliation between community leaders,
and counter rumours through the dis-
semination truth. These suggestions are
excellent, and, more importantly, feasible.
Curtailment of Freedom of Speech
However, Engineer also suggests a meas-
ure that would only result in further
abuse of power: the curtailment of free-
dom of speech. In addition to the above
activities, Engineer states that proactive
police intervention should consist of
police arresting those making provo cative
speeches (p 20). Freedom of speech is a
cornerstone of democracy, and generally,
it should be upheld regardless of the ab-
horrence of a speechs content. Having
communal leaders punished for making
speeches would likely make martyrs of
them among their respective communities,
further inaming communal sentiments.
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BOOK REVIEW
december 7, 2013 vol xlviII no 49 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
32
In addition to that, encouraging an
already-biased law enforcement system to
arrest people based on inammatory
speech would result in leaders of margin-
alised communities being arrested at a far
more frequent rate than leaders of the ma-
jority community. Detaining people for
acts of speech, of course, requires that law
enforcement ofcials pass judgment in
o rder to deem certain speech inamma-
tory or not. And as Engineer very correctly
states, police believe that to be communal
is only prerogative of Muslims, therefore,
encouraging police to arrest more people
based on violence-inciting speeches which
would simply result in the disproportion-
ate and unjust arrest of Muslims and the
turning of many a blind eye to any inam-
matory speech made by Hindus.
Law enforcement in India should in-
stead concentrate on consistently halt-
ing instances of violence, because no po-
lice force alone is capable of changing
ideological currents that shape the moti-
vations for such violence. It is possible
for police to vigilantly respond to ha-
tred-fuelled speech acts with increased
security, countering of false rumours,
surveillance of the speakers other acti-
vities, crowd control, etc without
arresting people for making the spee-
ches. Encouraging the arrests of people
based on their speech acts only further
justies and allows for acts like the
Gujarat Congress Partys shutdown of an
entire television channel during the
2002 Godhra carnage, or the Mumbai
polices arrest of a young woman who
posted a facebook status that was per-
ceived as anti-Shiv Sena.
Impact on Minorities
In another extremely rhetorically pow-
erful chapter, Engineer discusses the im-
pact of a communal social climate on
minority communities themselves, de-
scribing how groups respond to violence
by isolating themselves from diversity,
thus leading to more strife and distance
between communities and thereby caus-
ing more violence and tension. This
chapter should be required reading for
anyone who makes the extremely com-
mon, victim-blaming argument that
people who suffer communal violence
should have known better than to openly
aunt their religion through their
clothing and other orthodox practices.
According to Engineer, it is the fear of
violence that causes religious identity to
suddenly become the most important
aspect of (peoples) existence that can
save or endanger (peoples lives).
A communitys turn inward is caused
by development of perception of self
and other binary in ethno-religious or
religious-nationalist terms. Engineer
shows how this polarisation is manifest-
ed outwardly in many practices more
men start wearing skull caps or growing
beards increases after riots, men pray in
mosques more often as identity markers.
Muslim women start wearing burkha and
conform to the expected norms of behav-
iour to identify with the community or as
a measure for security. In an extremely
disturbing footnote, Engineer cites Sophia
Khan, director of Social Action Forum
Against Repression, Ahmedabad, who
reported a signicant decrease in the
amount of Muslim women ling domes-
tic violence cases, despite the fact that
domestic violence was on the rise.
Conclusions
To conclude Issues of Communal Violence,
Engineer briey explores possible avenues
for ameliorating communal violence in
todays society. He correctly asserts that
building peace has to exist both at the
state level as well as within society. The
state, he argues, will have to perceive
the threat posed by communal violence
and terrorism as a threat to democracy.
One cannot be fought in isolation from the
other (p 45). He is correct; in order for a
democracy to function all constituents
must be able to participate in a society
without fear for their lives and liveli-
hoods. At only two pages, Engineer does
not leave much room in this chapter for
the elaboration of actual schemes that
might start solving endemic problems of
communalism, but that, of course, can
be a topic for another book. As it cur-
rently reads, Issues of Communal Violence
is an extremely well-crafted primer on
the basic issues and causes behind com-
munalism and its violent iterations.
Aria Thaker (ariathaker@gmail.com) is with
Davenport College, Yale University, United States.
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