Role Of Communalism In British Colonialism

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INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS COMMUNALISM?
Communalism is an allegiance to one’s own ethnic group or religion rather than the society as a whole. (Wikipedia)
It usually refers to an organization that assimilates communal rights and alliances of decidedly localised independent communities. Prominent libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin defines communalism as, “a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation", as well as "the principles and practice of communal ownership.”
It refers to an ideology or a thought system that functions on the belief that people who follow the same religion have common secular interests or convictions. It propagates the idea that people of one religion have differing …show more content…

It was an instrument used by the colonialists to secure the land by sectionalizing it on religious and casteist lines.
The advent of the British administration system took place and, realizing the danger of unity among the masses, the policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ was …show more content…

They did not seek to promote any religion, such as Christianity as it was at the time, unlike their French and Portuguese counterparts, which is also why the westernization of India was only till a certain degree and not entirely.
False consciousness in communalism
‘False consciousness’ is a Marxist term used to define how capitalist society misleads the ideological, institutional and materialistic processes of the proletariat and the classes. These practices are said to hide the true goings-on between the classes and the actual state of affairs leading to the anguish of the proletariat.
Communalism in modern politics of India
Communalism as an ideology and a political phenomenon did not exist before the 1870s. Communalism is purely modern concept with its roots in popular participation and mobilisation spread with the intent of segregating the nation along religious lines, and an alive and kicking one at that.

ISLAM AND INDIA
How the conversion took

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