Communalism: It means attempts to Promote religious ideas between groups of people which are identified as different communities.
Communalism can take various forms in politics:
(i) The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotype of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one'* religion over other religions. This is so common that we often fail to notice it, even when we believe in it.
(ii) A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one' own religious community. For those belonging to majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the ** community, it can take the form of a ***** to form a separate political unit.
(iii) Political mobilisation on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain **** in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena.
(iv) Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal ****, riots and massacre.
