Communalism, Caste and Hindu Nationalism: The Violence in Gujarat (review)

Ironically, Gujarat, the home of Mohandas K. Gandhi, has been vital for the growth of Hindu communalism in India since the 1980s, having become the site of recurring communal violence against both Muslims and Christians. Now a nerve center for the Hindu nationalist movement, it is known as the “Hindutva laboratory”—Hindutva meaning “Hinduness.” In February 2002, government officials and police at every level were complicit in allowing, even encouraging, the the massacre of Muslims in a number of areas. Many of these authorities had ties to a group of extremist Hindu organizations known as Sang Parivar, the most prominent organizations of which were the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh (known by the dreaded initials rss), the Vishva Hindu Parishad, and the Bajrang Dal. The political face of the Hindutva movement, the Bharatiya Janata Party, was founded in 1980 as a reconstructed Jana Sangh Party, which had been created by Shyama Prasad Mookerji in 1951 under the rubric of “one country, one nation, one culture, and the rule of law”—the “one” being Hindu.

This recrudescence of extreme Hindu nationalism has surprised many people and led to a growing body of work aimed at explaining it, including Shani’s. Communalism, which has a long history in India, is normally understood as the sectarian conflict between Hindus and Muslims. Shani, however, questions the sectarian nature of the conflict. Her argument is that caste conflicts within Hinduism fostered communalism in the 1980s and 1990s and exacerbate the anti-Muslim feeling and violence. Hindus, for example, flock to Hindu revivalism on the grounds that the state has appeased the Muslim minority though a quota system at the expense of opportunities for Hindus. As Hindu parties gained power and communal violence between Hindus and Muslims escalated, caste conflicts between the upper castes and the lower castes increased dramatically. The Hindutva rhetoric about the appeasement of Muslims and the threat to Hindus resonates deeply with upper-caste and urban middle-caste Hindus, who were also exceedingly anxious about employment and education advantages (reservations) given to lower- and backward-caste Hindus. They see the inferior castes and the Muslims as a single undifferentiated threat, but the Muslims are the most most readily identifiable enemy, and the easiest to attack.

Shani supports this theory through a case study of the large-scale riots of 1985 in Ahmedabad, where she traces the unprecedented anti-Muslim communal violence to a rift among Hindus. Shani develops this thesis in three stages: (1) by examining the background of the politics of reservations and caste; (2) by analyzing the course of the Ahmedabad riots of 1985; and (3) by recounting the creation of “ethno-Hinduism.”

Shani makes her case with telling detail. The extensive bibliography is an excellent guide to the study of communalism and of ethnic competition and violence in India. Hindu-Muslim conflict in India is the result of a complex mix of local circumstances and national influences. The overarching lesson is that the responsibility of political leaders, including those at the highest level, is paramount. When these leaders harness the power of the state for racist and murderous purposes, the result is a disgrace to humanity.