The Role of Government Policies in Creating Communal Divide: Contrasting the Colonial Era with the Present Times

Indian is one of the biggest democracies with possibly the most diversified population. Thus, it becomes almost conspicuous for there to arise communalism within the subcontinent. Contrary to other nations, in India, communalism has come to be more widely associated with the state and religion than anything else. It is not a new phenomenon in India but has in fact, always been a part of the socio-economic structure of the country. However, the magnitude of the problem cannot be said to be as extreme under certain rulers as against others. The roots of the phenomenon can be traced to the ethnic and cultural diversity prevalent in the nation but predominantly to the politically charged groups with personal gains from the resulting consequences. This, although detrimental to the peaceful continuity of the nation, more often than not is espoused due to certain political ideologies which owing to the phenomenon, more often than not continue to flourish. It further also brings about a fundamental change in the ways of the country, which can be felt around in every dimension of the nation, including the social, political, and economic arena, and go on to induce complications in the intricate structure upon which our nation is built. This paper makes an attempt to analyse Indian history to bring forth these very political ideologies and their impacts on India, both before and after independence. The paper is divided into subparts the rule of the Mughals, the colonial government, and the post-independence period. Through this paper, I seek to argue and showcase the interrelatedness of the present regime to that of the past. Moreover, how under the garb of modernity, development, advancement, and so forth, the different governments always have and continue to make religion their stepping stone to establish the ideologies that best suit their interests.