Communal Violence in Twenty-first Century India: Moving Beyond the Hindi Heartland

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-280
Author(s):  
Sanjal Shastri
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Regional Parties ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Communist Party Of India

Using communal violence data between 2006 and 2017, this study challenges the idea that communal violence is primarily an issue in the Hindi Heartland. The data demonstrates how Karnataka and West Bengal are also witnessing rising levels of communal violence. The study goes on to take a closer look at the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka and West Bengal. It demonstrates how a combination of factors ranging from localized narratives of Hindu nationalism, caste coalitions, alliances with regional parties and the decline of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI[M]) in West Bengal and the Janata Party (JP)/Dal in Karnataka have been crucial factors for BJP’s rise in these two states.

Modi may yet face a real opposition if it can unite

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
National Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Congress Party ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Opposition Parties

Subject The likely strategy of the BJP's opponents. Significance The opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lacks a coherent strategy at national level ahead of elections due in 2019. However, the large turnout at a public rally in Patna late last month, where Lalu Prasad Yadav brought together representatives of 18 opposition parties, suggests that there is popular support for a challenge to the BJP. Impacts States in which elections are due are more likely to see outbreaks of communal violence. Sonia Gandhi will come under increasing pressure to relinquish leadership of the Congress party. The BJP may support the creation of a separate Gorkhaland, at the risk of alienating support in the rest of West Bengal.

Waiting for the Revolution

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Previous Volume ◽  
The Revolution

Waiting for the revolution is a volume of essays examining the diverse currents of British left-wing politics from 1956 to the present day. The book is designed to complement the previous volume, Against the grain: The far left in Britain from 1956, bringing together young and established academics and writers to discuss the realignments and fissures that maintain leftist politics into the twenty-first century. The two books endeavor to historicise the British left, detailing but also seeking to understand the diverse currents that comprise ‘the far left’. Their objective is less to intervene in on-going issues relevant to the left and politics more generally, and more to uncover and explore the traditions and issues that have preoccupied leftist groups, activists and struggles. To this end, the book will appeal to scholars and anyone interested in British politics. It serves as an introduction to the far-left, providing concise overviews of organisations, social movements and campaigns. So, where the first volume examined the questions of anti-racism, gender politics and gay rights, volume two explores anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid struggles alongside introductions to Militant and the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Modi's stance on religious violence faces major tests

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Religious Violence ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Political Career ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Religious Plurality ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party

Subject Outlook for communal politics and conflict. Significance Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces growing pressure to distance himself from the Hindu nationalist hard-right, with which he has been associated throughout his political career. This pressure has emerged both externally and internally: while US President Barack Obama during his official visit to India underlined the necessity of preserving India's religious plurality, the heavy defeat of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi state elections was seen partly as the electorate's rejection of Hindu nationalism. Impacts Delhi's ties with Dhaka could worsen if election campaigning in Assam results in acute anti-migrant/anti-Muslim violence. A major episode of communal violence would damage India's ties with Middle Eastern and Western partners. Hindu nationalist groups will pose a risk to Modi's policies on land and subsidies.

Modi’s party will not yet seek uniform civil code

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Marriage Contract ◽  
Personal Law ◽  
Cow Protection

Subject Indian government's efforts to criminalise triple talaq. Significance India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to outlaw Muslim men’s right to terminate a marriage contract by thrice pronouncing “talaq” (divorce). The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in December mobilised its majority in parliament’s lower house to pass the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, though the legislation was blocked in the upper house last month. The bill, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi championed personally, is regarded by some as overdue protection for Muslim wives and by others as an attack on Muslim personal law. Impacts The BJP’s Hindu nationalism will help it to win upcoming polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and hold power in those states. Elections in states with sizeable Muslim populations are likely to see outbreaks of communal violence ahead of polls. Further attacks on Muslims by cow protection vigilantes are likely.

The Identity Crisis of Bengali Dalit Refugees in Manoranjan Byapari’s Autobiography Interrogating My Chandal Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2110427
Author(s):  
Tarik Anowar
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
State Government ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
The State ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Lower Caste ◽  
Communist Government ◽  
Communist Party Of India

Manoranjan Byapari is a famous Bengali Dalit writer whose family migrated from East Pakistan and took shelter in a refugee camp in West Bengal. In his autobiography Interrogating My Chandal Life, Byapari has given an account of Bengali Dalits’ victimization on the basis of caste in the pre-Partition Bengal and post-Partition West Bengal. In colonial Bengal, Dalits were known as Chandal or Untouchables. In 1911, their identity was recognized as Namashudras. After migrating to West Bengal, they were identified as Bangal and Dalit refugee. West Bengal and central governments did not warmly welcome the Namashudra refugees. They were sent to refugee camps which were crowded, unhygienic and did not provide adequate dole. Later they were sent to Andaman, Dandakaranya and other parts of India for their rehabilitation. In this dire situation, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) appeared as the Messiah to the Dalits and protested against the rehabilitation policy of the ruling government. The fake sympathy of the communist party had been revealed when they came in power in 1977 in West Bengal. Most of the communist leaders were upper-caste Hindus. In 1979, communist government secretly massacred the Namashudra refugees who were settled on the Marichjhapi Island. The state sponsored murder of Dalits remained undiscovered for many years. This study will examine the impacts of the Partition of Bengal on Dalits. It will further address how the state government provided different treatment to the Namashudra refugees for their lower caste identity.

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