Opinion Don’t fall into the communal trap
Yashwant Sinha writes: The current economic situation is ripe for violence. But people should resist provocation, and administration must exercise a calming influence.
"Many people get hurt or even lose their life when communal riots take place." (Illustration: C R Sasikumar) 
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India is sinking deeper by the day in the quicksand of communal hate and violence. The prime minister has not uttered a word so far on these developments nor appealed for peace amongst the warring groups, which raises questions about his party and the government. Moreover, the economic situation is grim, especially on the employment front, and what better way can there be to divert the attention of the unemployed and frustrated youth than to get them involved in religious strife?
Let me explain. According to a report published by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), in a five-year period from 2017 to 2022 the labour participation rate has dropped from 46 per cent to 40 per cent. What does this mean? It means that more than 450 million people have disappeared from the workforce. In other words, they are not even looking for a job now out of sheer frustration. The government has naturally challenged the report. But while the CMIE report is based on research, the government’s denial is based on surmises. According to economist Mahesh Vyas, the real GDP growth at constant prices in 2021-22 was no more than 1.7 per cent compared to the period before Covid. But employment in 2021-22 was actually nearly 2 per cent lower than the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20. It means that India will not only not reap the advantage of demographic dividend but the absence of employment opportunities will drive the youth to frustration and lawlessness.
The rising inflation is only making matters worse. Imagine the plight of a young person who has spent many years looking for a job and has found none. He has now given up completely and sits at home. His parents and other elders in the family curse him for being useless and resent his being a financial burden on the family. Then this young man goes out, hangs around with others like himself and they all suddenly discover an opportunity. There is a “shobha” or some other “yatra” being planned by people in his area. All that he has to do is to join it, carry a saffron flag or a stick or a sword, and shout slogans if passing in front of a place of worship of the other community. He will either get paid for it or at least have alcoholic drinks to his heart’s content. He will also get a peculiar sense of power as part of the mob. The young man in the other community is briefed by his elders at the same time and incited to “defend the faith” by assembling in the place of worship and facing the other community’s mob when it approaches. The situation thus created is ready to explode and, in fact, on several occasions, it has exploded. In many cases, the administration is either inept or even complicit under instructions from the powers-that-be and would actually allow violence to take place.
Many people get hurt or even lose their life when communal riots take place. Property is destroyed, livelihoods are lost and the bitterness created lasts for years. In many cases, a transfer of population also takes place when people shift from one “mohalla” to another for safety. The damage to people’s psyche is incalculable. The reasons for the current atmosphere of hate and violence that we are witnessing are directly ascribable to the prevailing economic situation.
My advice to the people of my country, therefore, is that whatever the provocation, they should keep their cool. Even if some members of one community provoke the other community, they should try to restrain themselves and not fall in the trap. Soon this strategy of pitching one community against the other will begin to come apart. I am saying all this on the basis of personal experience. My former Lok Sabha constituency (Hazaribag) in Jharkhand is a communally sensitive district. The long years that I spent in Parliament representing this place were marked by a continuous effort to maintain peace between the two communities. Hazaribag’s Ram Navami is unique. It extends for at least two days after Navami, to Dashami and Ekadashi as more than a hundred trucks carrying “jhankis” (depiction of gods) traverse a route which includes a mosque on the way. The situation is readymade for a communal clash and one did indeed take place in 1988, and reportedly propelled a BJP candidate to the Lok Sabha seat in 1989. It was the first victory for the party from that seat.
When I became an MP from there in 1998, it became my full-time job to prevent communal riots from taking place, especially in view of the fact that some elements in the BJP, including the former MP, were ever ready and keen to ignite the communal fire. On one occasion when I learnt that the mobs of the two communities were confronting each other in a certain part of the town, I rushed there with my wife. Brickbats were flying all around and the mobs of the two communities were facing each other with whatever weapons they could lay their hands on. We stood between the two sides, reasoned with them and persuaded them to disperse before the police arrived, late as usual.
The moral of the story is that communal peace will remain a distant dream until all hands are on the deck and the administration is determined to put down communal violence firmly and yet fairly. The state has no religion. The local administration, too, has none. A fair, even-handed and just approach is needed to stem the present tide. The politician will not do it unless it pays him electoral dividends. Will the civil and police administration fill the gap, stand up and be counted?
This column first appeared in the print edition on May 7, 2022, under the title ‘Don’t take communal bait’. The writer, a former Union minister, is vice-president, All-India Trinamool Congress
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