COMMUNALISM
The Razor's Edge

As we fight the more obvious, militant expressions of communalism, says Ashish Rajadhyaksha, we should also recognise its more subtle forms---a well-entrenched conservatism among both Hindus and Muslims, which has traditionally defined 'official' history .

Despite the official secular programme of the nationalist movement, the dominant culture of nationalism remained Hindu.  Thirty years after Independence the pattern continues and the Muslim still feels an outsider, says Imtiaz Ahmad.

The Ahmedabad riots of 1969 marked a watershed in the history of Hindu-Muslim rioting.  Since the early seventies, says Asghar Ali Engineer in conversation with "Factsheet", larger and more complex economic and political forces have shaped communal riots.

Riot-prone Meerut is a pretty accurate microcosmic representation of what happens in areas where communal forces operate, says Rajiv Tiwari after visiting that city following the riots in September 1982.

Historian Bipan Chandra, author of, the classic study on Indian nationalism, Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India, has been writing on communalism in India for a long time. His essay, "Historians of Modern India and Communalism", published in Communalism and the Writing of Indian History, is well-known as the chief exposition of the 'false consciousness' school of intepretation. We publish below a Factsheet  interview with Prof. Chandra.

Des Raj Goyal, editor of Secular Democracy, has since long been a vehement critic of religious revivalist organisations. His book, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, published after the emergency, is one of the most comprehensive studies on the ideology and conduct of the ASS. He was, interviewed in Delhi by Moin Shakir for the Factsheet

Mushirul Hasan comments on contemporary Muslim problems.  We reproduce his opinions, for though it may be difficult to reconcile them with his own writing on the pre-Independence period, they are nevertheless important in that they do represent the thinking of a large section of the Muslim intelligentsia.

The  `Islam' of a number of Muslim organisation is an ally of retrogressive politics in the country and protects the elitist nature of Muslim politics. Moin Shakir critically examines the history and role of the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Majlis-e-Mushawarat and the Muslim League.

An Open Letter to Baslasaheb Deoras:  A Concerned Observer Writes To The RSS Chief by Rajiv Tiwari

The portrayal of the Muslim in Hindi commercial cinema comes from a series of preconceived notions about the people, the traditions and their culture. But the stereotype has changed in forty years, says Iqbal Masud.

Counterpoints

Source: Factsheet 2: Communalism, The Razor's Edge
from the Factsheet Collective, CED, Mumbai.