Communalism is narrow-mindedness in which a person thinks that only his religion is right and others are wrong. It often leads to clashes. Those who are blinded by communalism consider followers of other religions as low and even as enemies. Communalism is very dangerous as it often leads to clashes between followers of different religions. It was communalism that caused India’s partition.
Communalism comes from the word communal. If we look into the dictionary meaning of ‘communal’ it means ‘shared by all members of a community’ or ‘for common use’. But in India, it has acquired this negative meaning of blind adherence to one’s religion with enmity for other religions. A word with a positive meaning has been changed into negative meaning.
