Religious violence in India includes the targeting of religious institutions, the persecution of people on the basis of their religion. Many times this violence took the form of riot. Religious fundamentalism is a major cause behind religious violence with Hindu nationalism, Khalistani activists, Fundamentalist Christianity, and Islamic fundamentalism acting as major forces. Major conflicts include the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, the riots in Mumbai in 1992, the 2002 Gujarat violence, the 2007 Orissa violence. Lesser incidents occur in many towns and villages.

The United States Department of State in its annual human rights report for 2006 noted attacks against religious minorities in India.^[1] State Department's annual reports on religious freedom for 2007 expressed concern over organized societal attacks against religious minorities.^[2] However in judging overall religious freedom, the report noted signs of improvement in India along with Saudi Arabia and Vietnam compared to Iran, Iraq, Burma, Eritrea, North Korea, China and Egypt.^[3]

Ancient India

There are some incidents of orthodox Brahmins, under rising Sunga emperor Pusyamitra Sunga, adopted a violent anti-Buddhist policy.^[5]He is recorded as having "destroyed monasteries and killed Monks".^[6][7] British historian John Keay wrote, "As a source of political differentiation and conflict they (religious and cultural identities) are not much in evidence in pre-Islamic India, were often exaggerated thereafter, and only became paramount during the last decades of British Rule." ^[8]

Around 1030 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked the temple of Somnath in Gujarat. Over 50,000 Hindus were slaughtered. Mahmud of Ghazni personally destroyed the Shiva lingam after stripping it of its gold. ^[9]

During Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent from 13th to 16th century, Islamic invaders and rulers destroyed and replaced many Hindu temples with mosques.^[10]

During the Goa Inquisition, described as "contrary to humanity" by Voltaire ^[11], conversions to Catholicism occurred by force and many native Goans were executed by the Portuguese.^[12][13]

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the revolt was fractured along religious lines,^[14] and Hindus dissatisfied by the Muslim rulers, supported the British.^[15]

In the Moplah Rebellion in 1921, dissatisfaction of Muslim Moplah community with the British rule and sectarian resentment against the land owning Hindu Nairs who sided with the British,^[16] led to riots, with a jihad being declared against non-Muslims^[17].

Direct Action Day, started on August 16, 1946, led approximately 3000 dead and 17000 injured.^[18]

The Partition of India was based on religion, leading to two states — the Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan (comprising what is now the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh) and the Hindu-majority Union of India (now the Republic of India). In the riots after the partition, more than 50000 people, comprising of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in Punjab, Bengal, Delhi and other parts of India died. ^[19]

Constitutionally India is a secular state, ^[20] but large-scale violence have periodically occurred in India since independence. In recent decades, communal tensions and religion-based politics have become more prominent, ^[21] coinciding with a rise in Islamic terrorism. Although India is generally known for religious pluralism, ^[22] the Hindutva ideology propagates that India belongs to the Hindus, and the Christians and the Muslims are "aliens", ^[23] and many proponents of this ideology portray violence against Muslims and Christians as a form of "self-defence" against "invaders". ^[24] The Hindutva ideology is at the core of Sangh Parivar politics and its expression in violence against religious minority. ^[23] Throughout the history of post-Independence India, both Muslim and Christian communities have faced repeated attacks from Hindu activists. ^{[25][unreliable source?]} As the Hindutva ideology has grown more powerful over the years, many Hindutva activists have partaken in riots against minority communities. ^[26] Over the last decade, religious violence in India has increasingly become what academics believe to be organized pogroms to eliminate minority communities. ^{[27] [28] [29]} Some state governments in India have been accused of not effectively prosecuting those who attack religious minorities. ^[2]

Sikh militancy and 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the leader of the Damdami Taksal, a Sikh religious group based in India,^[30] had heavy influence among many Sikhs in Punjab. Bhindranwale was a Khalistani separatist militant leader who tried to spread the original values of Sikhism and persuaded young people to follow the original rules and tenets of the religion and supported the creation of the proposed Sikhism-based theocratic state of Khalistan.^[31] Bhindranwale and other militants occupied the Akal Takht complex, including the Golden Temple, in Amritsar.^[32] He was killed in Operation Blue Star by the Indian Army, who had orders from Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to kill separatist Sikh militants inside the temple.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by two of her Sikh guards as part of the retaliatian of many Sikhs after Operation Bluestar. After the assassination the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place in Delhi. The main perpetrators were led by supporters of the Indian National Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty.

The riots started on 1st November and continued till 3rd November 1984. The killings were led by activists and sympathizers of Indian National Congress. The first killing of a Sikh reported from east Delhi in the early hours of November 1. About 9 am, armed mobs took over the streets of Delhi and launched a massacre. Everywhere the first targets were Gurdwaras – to prevent Sikhs from collecting there and putting up a combined defence. The then Congress government was widely criticized for doing very little at the time, possibly acting as a conspirator, especially since voting lists were used to identify Sikh families. ^[33] .The reactions seemed politically managed and confined to the Congress party .^[34]

Ayodhya and Babri Mosque

During the almost 800 years of Muslim conquest and rule in India, Islamic invaders and rulers destroyed and replaced many Hindu temples with mosques.^[36] In more recent times, Hindu groups such as Vishva Hindu Parishad are attempting to reclaim some of these sites, which include some of the most scared sites such as Ram Janmabhoomi and Krishnajanmabhoomi. This attempt to reclaim such sites has often led to tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities in India.^[37]

On December 6, 1992, members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal destroyed the 430 year old Babri Mosque in Ayodhya,^[35] allegedly built over the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama. This action caused great anger in the Muslim community. The resulting religious riots caused at least 1200 deaths.^[38][39] Reprisals against Hindu minorities also occurred in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Since then the Government of India has blocked off or heavily increased security at these disputed sites while encouraging attempts to resolve these disputes through court cases and negotiations.

Bombay Riots and blasts in Mumbai

The Bombay Riots occurred in the city of Mumbai, there was an incident of arson, killings and property destruction in every suburb of the city. The riots occurred in the aftermath of the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu nationalists on December 6, 1992. 500 people died in the resulting violence of the worst civil unrest in India since the partition. Four people died in a fire in the Asalpha timber mart at Ghatkopar, five were killed in the burning of Bainganwadi; shacks along the harbor line track between Sewri and Cotton Green stations were gutted; and a couple was pulled out of a rickshaw in Asalpha village and burnt to death. ^[40] The riots changed the demographics of Mumbai greatly, as Hindus moved to Hindu-majority areas and Muslims moved to Muslim-majority areas. It is estimated that almost 200,000 people moved location in the aftermath of the riots.

After the riots the 1993 Bombay bombings occurred, where a series of thirteen bomb explosions took place in Mumbai (then Bombay) on March 12, 1993.^[41] The coordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history. The single-day attacks resulted in over 250 civilian fatalities and 700 injuries.^[42] The attacks are believed to have been coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, don of the organized crime syndicate named D-Company, which had operated as a terrorist organization.^[43] It is believed that the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the destruction of Babri Mosque. There were fears that the attacks would restart the rioting, but this did not occur.

2002 Gujarat violence

In 2002 a series of communal riots took place between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in February-May 2002, sparked by the Godhra Train Burning. According to the death toll given to the parliament on May 11, 2005 by the government, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, and another 2,548 injured. 223 people are missing. The report placed the number of riot widows at 919 and 606 children were declared orphaned.^[44][45][46] According to human rights groups, the death tolls were up to 2000.^{[47][48][49][50][51][52][53]} According to the Congressional Research Service, up to 2000 people, mostly Muslim were killed in the violence.^[54] Tens of thousands were displaced from their homes because of the violence. The large-scale, collective violence has been described by some as a "massacre"^[55] and an attempted pogrom or genocide^[56] of the Muslim population. According to New York Times reporter Celia Williams Dugger, witnesses were "dismayed by the lack of intervention from local police", who often "watched the events taking place and took no action against the attacks on Muslims and their property".^[57] The perpetrators of the violence, Sangh leaders^[58][59] as well as the Gujarat government^[60][61] maintain that the violence was rioting or inter-communal clashes - spontaneous and uncontrollable reaction to the Godhra train burning.^[62]

Anti-Christian violence

In India, there is an increasing amount of violence being perpetrated by Hindu Nationalists against Christians.^[63] According to UCLA history professor Vinay Lal, the increase in anti-Christian violence in India bears a direct relationship to the ascendancy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).^[64] Incidents of violence against Christians have occurred in many parts of India. It is especially prevalent in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi.^[64] The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are the most responsible organizations for violence against Christians.^[63] The Sangh Parivar and local media were involved in promoting anti-Christian propaganda in Gujarat.^[63] The Sangh Parivar and related organisations have stated that the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against "forcible conversion" activities undertaken by missionaries,^[65] a belief described as mythical^[66] and propaganda by Sangh Parivar;^[67] the Parivar objects in any case to all conversions as a "threat to national unity".^[68]

In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in violent attacks on Christians in India. From 1964 to 1996, thirty-eight incidents of violence against Christians were reported.^[64] In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported.^[69] In 1998, it went upto ninety.^[64] Between January 1998 and February 1999 alone, there were one hundred and sixteen attacks against Christians in India.^[70] Between 1 January and 30 July 2000, more than fifty-seven attacks on Christians were reported.^[71] The acts of violence include arson of churches, forcible conversion of Christians to Hinduism, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bibles, murder of Christian priests and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.^[64][63] The attacks often accompanied by large amounts of anti-Christian hate literature.^[71]

In some cases, anti-Christian violence has been co-ordinated, involving multiple attacks. In 2007 Orissa violence Christians were attacked in Kandhamal, Orissa, resulting in 9 deaths and destruction of houses and churches.^[72][73] Nearly twelve churches were targeted in the attack by Hindu activists.^[74][75][76] Twenty people were arrested following the attacks on churches.^[75]

Foreign Christian missionaries have also been targets of attacks.^{[25][unreliable source?]} In a well-publicised case Graham Staines, an Australian missionary, was burnt to death while he was sleeping with his two sons Timothy (aged 9) and Philip (aged 7) in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999.^{[63][77][78][25][unreliable source?]} In 2003, the Hindu nationalist activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang responsible.^[79]

In its annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians."^[80] The report listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims.^[80]

Christian Militancy in North-East India

Religion has begun to play an increasing role in reinforcing ethnic divides among the decades old militant separatist movements in north-east India.^[81][82][83]

The separatist group National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) seeks to convert all tribals in the state of Tripura, who are mostly Hindu or Buddhist, to Christianity. It has proclaimed bans on Hindu worship and has attacked animist Reangs and Hindu Jamatia tribesmen who resisted. Some resisting tribal leaders have been killed and their womenfolk raped. The RSS has attempted to counter Christian separatist groups by backing Reang and Jamatia tribals, and has called for the central government to help arm and fund them.^[82]

Hindu nationalists, upset with the rapid spread of Chistianity in the region, link the overt Christian religiosity of the groups and the local churches' liberation theology-based doctrine to allege church support for ethnic separatism.^[82] Vatsala Vedantam identifies statements from the American Baptist Churches USA as endorsing the Naga separatist cause.^[84]

According to The Government of Tripura, the Baptist Church of Tripura is involved in supporting the NLFT and arrested two church officials in 2000, one of them for possessing explosives.^[85]. In late 2004, the National Liberation Front of Tripura banned all Hindu celebrations of Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja^[86]. The South Asia Terrorism Portal reports that up to 90% of the NLFT cadres are Christian^[87]. The Naga insurgency has Christianity as its basis, and has been repeatedly involved in violence against Hindus in the region.^{[88][89][90][91]}

Ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits

In the Kashmir region, approximately 300 Kashmiri Pandits were killed between September 1989 to 1990 in various incidents.^[92] In early 1990, local Urdu newspapers Aftab and Al Safa called upon Kashmiris to wage jihad against India and ordered the expulsion of all Hindus choosing to remain in Kashmir.^[92] In the following days masked men ran in the streets with AK-47 shooting to kill Hindus who would not leave.^[92] Notices were placed on the houses of all Hindus, telling them to leave within 24 hours or die.^[92]

Since March 1990, estimates of between 250,000 to 300,000 pandits have migrated outside Kashmir due to persecution by Islamic fundamentalists in the largest case of ethnic cleansing since the partition of India.^[93]

Many Kashmiri Pandits have been killed by Islamist militants in incidents such as the Wandhama massacre and the 2000 Amarnath pilgrimage massacre.^{[94][95][96][97][98]} The incidents of massacring and forced eviction have been termed ethnic cleansing by some observers.^[92]

Lesser incidents

Lesser incidents of religious violence happen in many towns and villages in India. In October 2005, five people were killed in Mau in Uttar Pradesh during Hindu-Muslim rioting, which was triggered by the proposed celebration of a Hindu festival.^[99]

On January 3rd and 4th of 2002, three Hindus and two Muslims were killed in Marad, near Calicut due to scuffles between two groups, in what began as a trivial altercation over drinking water at the public tap.^[100].

On May 2 of 2003, eight Hindus and one Muslim were hacked to death by a Muslim mob, in what is believed to be a sequel to the earlier incident^[101][102]. The National Development Front (NDF), a right-wing militant Islamist organization, was suspected as the perpetrator of the Marad Massacre^[103].

Media portrayal

Religious violence in India have been a topic of various films and novels.

• Gandhi - a 1983 film which included portrayal of the Direct Action Day and Partition riots.
• Bombay - a 1995 film centred on events during the period of December 1992 to January 1993 in India, and the controversy surrounding the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.^[104]
• Earth - a 1998 film^[105] portraying Partition violence in Lahore.
• Fiza - a 2000 film,^[106] plot setup amidst Bombay riots.
• Hey Ram - a 2002 film^[107] with a semi-fictional plot centres around Partition of India and related religious violence.
• Mr. and Mrs. Iyer - a 2002 film.^[108] The story revolves around the relationship between two lead characters Meenakshi Iyer and Raja amidst Hindu-Muslim riots in India.
• Final Solution - a 2003 documentary film about the 2002 Gujarat violence, banned in India.^[109]
• Hawayein - a 2003 film about the struggles of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
• Black Friday - a Hindi film on the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, directed by Anurag Kashyap.^[110]
• Amu - An award-winning film about a girl orphaned during the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots.
• Parzania - a 2007 film about the riots in Gujarat in 2002.^[111] The film was purposely not released in Gujarat.^[112][113] Cinema owners and distributors in Gujarat refused to screen the film out of fear of retaliation by Hindu activists.^[2] Hindutva groups in Gujarat threatened to attack theaters that showed the film.^[2]

See also

• Caste-related violence in India
• Communalism (South Asia)
• Hindu nationalism
• Hindutva
• List of riots
• Religious harmony in India
• Religion in India

Notes

References

• Template:PDFlink
• Violence against Christians continues
• Next Stop Orissa
• Template:PDFlink
• Sangh Parivar makes it a bloodthirsty Sunday for Muslims and Christians
• Saffron terror
• Vandals in Orissa
• Communal Violence and the Denial of Justice
• The Danger of Hindutva to Secular India
• 'Hardline' charity begins in the donation box
• UK charities scam linked to Sangh Parivar

External links

• Coalition Against Genocide
• People's Union for Civil Liberties