Combating Communalism at the Grassroots by OneWorld South Asia 2:14pm 21st Jan, 2004   20.01.2004    MUMBAI: Tackling communalism at the grassroots has proved to be the most effective method of combating it, rather than relying on global bodies and institutions.    In riot-scarred Gujarat, the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) runs peace centres for the victims, where members of the Hindu and Muslim communities are given a daily induction into the finer points of each other’s religions, to promote tolerance.    In southern Rajasthan, 28-year-old social activist Bhanwar Meghwanshi uses a 40-page monthly magazine, brotherhood cricket matches between the two communities, peace cassettes, street plays and cycle expeditions to spread the message of peace.    At a seminar on The Solution to Communal Conflict Lies in Local Hands, Not in Global Bodies at the World Social Forum organised by civil society media organisation, OneWorld South Asia, activists from across the Indian subcontinent agreed that strengthening local bodies can play a crucial role in curbing communalism.    As Rahimaben, general secretary of SEWA, stressed, “People don’t want conflict, they want peace. There is an urgent need to integrate both the communities so that they can prevent the authorities from inciting them.”    George Mathew, director of the Delhi-based Institute of Social Sciences, cited the 1996 example of a local village body in an obscure district in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, which stoutly resisted attempts to destroy a local mosque in order to beautify a temple. “They fought to protect the mosque and maintained communal harmony,” he said, “If local bodies are strengthened, all conflicts can be eliminated.”    In the same vein, Gagan Sethi, managing trustee of NGO Jan Vikas, advocated the need for “transformation politics,” to change mindsets. He emphasised that civil society should work on sensitising micro-level public institutions such as schools, local police, local judiciary and primary health centres, and engage in dialogue with minority religious institutions, rather than treat them as taboo.    In one of the most enduring images of the intense two-hour debate, Sethi related the story of Muslim para-legal Saira, the only graduate in her family, who, after handling litigation cases for scores of riot victims in Gujarat relief camps, later fell in love with the enemy—a Hindu policeman. But in the true spirit of communal harmony, she courageously decided to make home with him, overcoming all attitudinal blocks.    In stark contrast to the success stories of NGOs in India, civil society in the neighboring countries of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is virtually powerless and ineffective in tackling communalism.    According to S. P. Nathan, the national campaign coordinator of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, “Civil society is not committed to bridging the widening divide between the Tamils and Sinhalese.”    In Bangladesh, advocate Shahdeen Malik said, “Communalism is silent and insidious.” He claimed that around 5 million Hindus were forced to migrate to India over the past 40 years, due to a gradual process of land-grabbing, which had disinherited them of their lands.    In a dangerous trend, Malik said Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has removed the word “minority” from the government vocabulary. Visit the related web page
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