Causes for the Origin and Growth of Communalism in British India

Introduction

• Following the brutal suppression of the 1857 rebellion, the Muslims lost everything, their land, their job and other opportunities and were reduced to the state of penury.
• The Bengal government’s order in the 1870s to replace Urdu by Hindi, and the Perso-Arabic script by Nagri script in the courts and offices created apprehension in the minds of the Muslim professional group.
• Besides they resented competing with the Hindus who had taken recourse to the new avenues opened by colonialism. 
• With the emergence of Indian nationalism especially among the educated Hindu upper castes, the British saw in the Muslim middle class a force to keep the Congress in check. 
• The competing three strands of nationalism namely 

1. Indian nationalism, 
2. Hindu nationalism, 
3. Muslim nationalism.

Causes for the Origin and Growth of Communalism in British India

Hindu Revivalism

• Some of the early nationalists believed that nationalism could be built only on a Hindu foundation. 
• As pointed out by Sarvepalli Gopal, Hindu revivalism found its voice in politics through the Arya Samaj, founded in 1875, with its assertion of superior qualities of Hinduism. 
• The organization of cow protection leagues in large parts of North India in the late nineteenth century gave a fillip to Hindu communalism. 
• The effort of organizations such as Arya Samaj was strengthened by the Theosophical movement led by Annie Besant from 1891.

 Rise of Muslims Consciousness

• Islam on the other hand, to quote Sarvepalli Gopal again, was securing its articulation through the Aligarh movement. 
• The British, by building the Aligarh College and backing Syed Ahmed Khan, had assisted the birth of a Muslim national party and Muslim political ideology. 
• The Wahabi movement had also created cleavage in Hindu-Muslim relations. 
• From the Wahabis to the Khilafatists, grassroots activism played a significant role in the politicization of Muslims.
• Even important Muslim leaders like Ali brothers had always been Khilafatists first and Congressmen second. 

Divide and Rule Policy of British 

• The British imperialism followed the policy of Divide and Rule. 
• Bombay Governor Elphinstone wrote, ‘Divide at Impera was the old Roman motto and it should be ours’. 
• The British government lent legitimacy and prestige to communal ideology and politics despite the governance challenge that communal riots posed. 
• The consequence of such sectarian approaches by all parties led to increasing animosity between Hindus and Muslims in northern India which had its fall out in other parts of India as well. 
• The last decades of the nineteenth century was marked by a number of Hindu-Muslim riots. Even in south India, there was a major riot in Salem in July-August 1882.

Cow Slaughter and Communal Riots

• Gaurakshini Sabhas (cow protection leagues) were becoming more militant and there were reports of forcible interference with the sale or slaughter of cows. 
• The riots over cow-slaughter became frequent after 1893 which spread to all provinces and 15 major riots of this type broke out in the Punjab alone between 1883 and 1891. 

Failure of Congress and Government to combat Communalism

• The Indian National Congress, despite its secular and nationalist claims was unable to prevent the involvement of its members in the activities of Hindu communal organisations. 
• Congressmen’s participation in Shuddhi and Sangathan campaigns of the Arya Samaj further estranged Hindus and Muslims. 
• British deliberately dodged the issue, as the identification of the Congressmen with revivalist and communal causes provoked anti-Congress feelings among Muslims in North India.

Moves of the Congress

• Tilak, Aurobindo Gosh and Lala Lajpat Rai aroused anti-colonial consciousness by using religious symbols, festivals and platforms. 
• The most aggravating factor was Tilak’s effort to mobilise Hindus through the Ganapati festival.
• Lal Chand spared no efforts to condemn the Indian National Congress of pursuing a policy of appeasement towards Muslims.
• Hindu and Muslim Communalism were products of middle class infighting utterly divorced from the consciousness of the Hindu and Muslim masses. -Jawaharlal Nehru.

Role of Syed Ahmed Khan

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh movement was initially supportive of the Congress 
• Of the seventy-two delegates attending the first session of the Congress only two were Muslims
• Later Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and other Muslim leaders like Syed Ameer Ali, the first Indian to find a place in London Privy Council, projected the Congress as a representative body of only the Hindus.
• However, there were Muslim leaders like Badruddin Tyabji, Rahmatullah Sayani in Mumbai, Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur in Chennai and A. Rasul in Bengal who supported the Congress.
• But the majority of Muslims in north India toed the line of Syed Ahmed, and preferred to support the British. 
• By collaborating with the Government Syed Ahmed Khan hoped to secure for his community a bigger share than otherwise would be due according to the principles of number or merit.

Religion in Local Body Elections

• Local administrative bodies in the 1880s provided the scope for pursuing communal politics. 
• Hindus wresting the control of municipal boards from the Muslims and vice- versa led to communalisation of local politics.