Reflections on Communal Riots

Reality thus demands that we should re-examine the entire issue and completely revise our approach and methods. In most cases, communal riots in India are triggered off over very minor issues. That a small matter can rapidly lead to a horrific communal riot is not a chance occurrence. There are historical and psychological causes and factors behind this. Whether we accept it or not, the fact is that many people from other communities perceive Muslims as their enemies. One reason for this is the memory of the Partition of India. The Partition was in itself enough to provoke and inflame our fellow countrymen. And, more than this, the Partition was engineered in such a way that it left many delicate problems unresolved. There are numerous other historical factors that have made many of our fellow countrymen see Muslims as their enemies and develop negative feelings about them. It is like an enormous amount of lava bottled up inside a volcano. The volcano can burst at any moment, bringing in its wake tremendous destruction. I do accept that someone can, on reasonable grounds, claim that the demand for the Partition of India was, in part, a reaction to the attitude of others. But the question is: What is the practical use or benefit of making this claim? This sort of claim may be useful only if the aim is to make a logical or academic analysis of a problem. But it has nothing to do with real-life affairs. When an issue becomes one of life and death, an intelligent person does not think of logical analyses and arguments. Instead, he focuses on the practical aspects of the issue before him, so that he can decide on a practical course of action to follow. If he engages in a heated debate about who is to blame for his woes, he will not be able to take any decision about the practical measures that he needs to adopt to solve them. And so, the real problem will remain as it is, unresolved.