By Ram Puniyani
Communal violence has been the bane of Indian society with increasing intensity. While in the pre-colonial era, it was an occasional ethnic strife, from the period of British rule, it started to become a regularly occurring phenomenon. The communal historiography, looking at history through the prism of religion of the ruler, introduced by the British, was the solid base of the emergence of narratives that formed the ground for various communal streams, Muslim and Hindu.
These streams devised their own mechanisms to create a ‘social common sense’ and instigate violence in the communities, based on religion. While this phenomenon has seen an exponential rise during the past three decades, scholars, journalists, activist-researchers have made serious efforts to understand the newer mechanism to communalise the majority community and also the newer ways of initiating violence.
A dogged journalist, Kunal Purohit, in a path-breaking book, H-Pop- Inside the Secretive World of Hindutva Popstars, brings to our notice how popular culture is being shaped by songs that are spreading hatred against the heroes of the national movement, such as Gandhi, Nehru, in particular, and against Muslims. He warns us that Hindutva pop stars are adding intense hatred, particularly in the North Indian scenario.
Another important book is Weaponization of Hindu Festivals, by Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade (Pharos Media). Both these activists-researchers are part of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, by legendary Asghar Ali Engineer. This centre has constantly been monitoring and studying the nature and intensity of communal violence.
This story was originally published in newsclick.in. Read the full story here.
