COMMUNAL CONFLICT, the biggest unresolved political dynamic of Independent India, has been the subject of a number of books and innumerable articles in this country. Former bureaucrat Prateep Lahiri’s book is a new and remarkably clear sighted addition to this literature.
At one level, the book tries to provide an overarching view of the problem, while, at another level, the author seems to seek out the root of the communal corn buried deep in the Indian psyche. The result of that clearly intense quest is Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India, a work that is certain to be read and discussed in the years ahead.
The book is made up of a series of essays strung loosely around the theme of communal conflict, its causes and remedies. The author has organised the chapters in four sections, the first of which deals with the phenomenon of communal violence, it’s probable causes and the way the Indian state apparatus responds to such crises. The second section discusses Muslim issues and tries to dismiss commonly held misconception about the community that lead to stereotyping. The third section is on wider Hindu-Muslim issues, the linkages of communal politics and terrorism and ideas such as the clash of civilisations. This section contains a brief but interesting account of the history of Muslim communal politics in India and argues that this strand ended in India with the Partition of the country while Hindu communal politics continues. The fourth and last section contains essays on five major communal riots in India, including the ones in Jabalpur (1961), Indore (1969), Bhagalpur (1989), Bombay (1992-93) and Gujarat (2002).
Lahiri’s insight into communal conflict has been considerably honed by his personal experience as a young Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer in Madhya Pradesh during the 1960s.
During his tenure in that state he was personally involved in dealing with two riot situations — one at Jabalpur (1961) when he was assistant collector and magistrate and the other at Indore (1969) when he was District Magistrate. The motivation to write a book on communal conflict stems from that experience. “The subject of communal disturbances, specifically of Hindu-Muslim riots, has been an area of interest for me virtually from the beginning of my career in the civil service,” he writes.
Lahiri believes that proper handling and appropriate intervention can prevent violence in many cases. While he argues, “it is evident that the administrative machinery in charge of law and order, including the handling of Hindu-Muslim riots, is not in position to have a lasting impact on the social and political dynamics often responsible for such occurrences,” he also maintains that the administrative machinery can often prevent the outbreak of violence as well as mitigate the consequences of such violence. The author’s tone is scholarly and at times the book reads like a textbook for budding civil servants.
The chapter on “Handling of Communal Riots”, for instance, could well serve as a must read manual for administrators. His prescriptions are the result of findings that suggest the administrative machinery is usually less than even-handed in communal situations. “The Gandhi-Nehru construct of principled secularism seems to no longer hold any meaning for the politicians of the day,” he laments. “Functionaries at the cutting-edge level, i.e. the magistracy and the police in the lower echelons of these departments are usually governed by their prejudices in dealing with the minorities.” The author, however, believes that the system can still work if there are clear cut directives from the top.
The only section of the book where the author’s arguments seem somewhat contrived is the one on “Terrorism and the Indian Muslim” where he insinuates that Islamist ideologies have little or nothing to do with terrorism in India. He writes that “Corruption and nepotism have provided the bedrock for the growth of terrorist movements in India.” At one point in the chapter, he even tries to dismiss the view that organisations like the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Indian Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) are necessarily linked to terrorism in India. According to him, “concrete evidence of the involvement of these outfits has not been, generally speaking, submitted in courts of law.” There are many who will dispute the assertions in this chapter.
Leaving aside the book’s content, what does comes across strongly is the author’s worldview and ethical notions. Lahiri clearly belongs to that generation of Indian civil servants, which genuinely strove to provide honest, impartial and effective governance at the grassroots. Sadly, he is part of a fast disappearing breed.
The rise of opportunistic politics and the decline of administrative standards can only lead to national grief. And this is perhaps why Lahiri remains pessimistic about the future.
“The outlook for communal riots ending in the proximate future is bleak,” he concludes but adds, almost as an afterthought, that perhaps economic development and increasing prosperity could hold the key to the problem of communal conflict and intolerance.