Answer: 

Introduction:

Religiosity is the totality of religious beliefs, values, practices and rituals. Communalism essentially means a strong attachment to one’s own religious community and is the belief that because a group of people follow a particular religion, they have common social, political and economic interests.

Body:

Difference between religiousness and communalism:

• India has always been religious, but communalism came recently: Indian society has always been spiritual and religion has been the guiding force of Indian civilization by setting the standards for personal and social life. However, communalism came as a result of the British Divide and Rule policy.
• The basis for communalism is politics rather than religion, whereas religiosity is all about adherence to one’s religion
• Religiousness is more about attaining peace and harmony within one’s self as well as among people. While communalism is a power struggle against other communities and is more focused upon some deprivation which is sought to be corrected by mobilizing people.

Transformation of religiosity to communalism in free-India:

• The seeds of communalism were sown by the British through their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy. These seeds bore bitter fruits in independent India because communalism had caused great pain to the people in the form of partition and other communal riots.
• The unease and bitterness towards other communities, although not so harsh, remained in the hearts of people. The development also became uneven among communities due to multiple factors and this led to further resentment among communities. Any trigger to this sentiment in the form of an act or speech would make things worse and communal riots would ensue.
• This was experienced in the Sikh riots, Ayodhya dispute, Godhra riots as well as the recent Delhi riots.
• In the case of Sikh riots, the frustration of landless Sikh farmers, who could not reap the benefits from the Green Revolution, was portrayed by radical communal leaders as a result of the deliberate actions of the Hindu majority government. The leaders like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale used the tenets of Sikhism and enforced them using violent means. Thus religiosity (basic tenets of Sikhism) was converted to communalism as a result of political goals of the leaders.

Conclusion:

Religiousness was always a part of the Indian way of life. It has helped us dive to spiritual depths that no other civilization has ever delved into. This is what held so many diverse cultures together. Today, religion has a big role to play in Indian politics and thus religiosity is seen to be side-lined by communal ideas which give greater electoral benefits. But transformation of religiosity into communalism for petty political gains of few creates serious obstacles to good governance, economic development and social harmony of our country. This must be prevented at all costs.

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