E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Is There an Alternative to… 163organizations that base themselves on the interestsof one religious community;(b) Pampering communal organizations and forces byconceding their demands, even when they arepatently violative of secularism and thecommitment to assure equal rights to peoplebelonging to all faiths; and(c) Using a communal appellation like “ Hindu” or“Hindutva” to define common nationhood, therebycreating the apprehension that the meaning andcharacter of nationhood is being altered through ajugglery of words. It is easy to see that all three ofthese repudiate secularism or equal respect for allreligions in practice, and can therefore be called"pseudo-secular' or anti-secular.When all parties are equally anxious to seek dividendsfrom the communal card, all sections, however fundamentalistor fanatical, are looked upon as potential allies. No party iswilling to "alienate' any section by dissociating itself orcondemning the potential friend. How then can public opinionbe created against the forces of communalism? If one sees thata competitor is likely to get 'the solid support' of a communalgroup, one feels compelled to adopt a tactic that will help tominimise the disadvantage, and that is to attempt to split ordivide the target group, by discovering a moderate group or agroup that can take extreme positions in the intra-groupcompetition for the support of the community. The result is thefluid state of permutations and combinations that we witness,and the increasing inability of parties to resist the forces ofdivisiveness, fanaticism, fundamentalism and its backlash, andso on. Political parties, in power or outside, fail even to preventopen and naked incitement to communal violence, publicspeeches threatening retribution by massacre, assassination,arson, etc., the production and playing of highly provocative