"Hello, friends!" "For the last 10 days," news of religious riots has been pouring in from many places in the country. "Riots, caused in the name of religion." "Jahangirpur in Delhi," "Karauli in Rajasthan," "Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh," "Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka." But these are only the latest examples. "We are seeing a general trend for the last several years," where people are increasingly getting more hateful in the name of religion. "Minister of State for Home Affairs," "Nityanand Rai informed the Parliament," "during the period from 2016 to 2020," "there were about 3,400 communal riots." Communal / Religious Riots. A pattern is emerging from these riots. "A mob carries weapons and swords and takes out a rally," "some of them would then insult other religions," "some would throw stones," "some would claim that outsiders were brought in specifically for rioting," some politicians and 'religious' people would give violent speeches.
"And when the riots are over," "some heartwarming stories would come
up," "how a Hindu protected
their Muslim neighbours," or how a
Muslim protected their Hindu neighbours.
The question here is that why is
this happening? "I'm not talking
about any specific riot," I'm
talking about the general trend. Who is
responsible for this? And what can be
the solution to it? "Friends, I
won't be answering these questions in this video." But these questions have been answered 100
years ago. "By no one else that our
Freedom Fighter, Martyr Bhagat Singh."
"In June 1928," Bhagat
Singh wrote an article for the Kirti Magazine.
Communal Riots and Their Solutions.
Bhagat Singh gave a detailed analysis of this. "And you'd be surprised to know," "the situation in India at that
time," "it's still the same
now, not much has changed." "Each
point that Bhagat Singh talked about,"
remains valid to date. "Come,
let's understand them in this video."
"""Communal clashes in several states" "on Ram Navami, which was on
Sunday," "West Bengal,
Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.""" """Incidents of stone-pelting
and vandalism broke out late last night.""" """The communal violence was
seen in as many as seven states."
"And now, Jahangirpuri in Northwest Delhi" "continues to be tensed
today.""" """Similar
patterns of communal tensions and clashes"
soaring in Karnataka's Hubbali city
after violent clashes broke out last night. "There Section 144 has been
imposed.""" Bhagat Singh
began his article by acknowledging that India's
condition was worsening. People had
started seeing their neighbours as enemies.
Simply because of their religion.
"In his article, he writes about 4 direct reasons" as to why it was happening. First: the communal mindset of some people. He cites the example of the riots in Lahore. Where rioters from all religions killed innocent people from all religions. "The people who died were from each of
the religions," but were innocent. And the rioters were from all religions too. Singh claims that the justification of the
rioters is that people from their
religion were killed by people from other religions. And that their riot was mere self-defence. Bhagat Singh points out that there is no logic to the justification. People who die in the riots aren't criminals. "Neither does rioting a mob kill a
person," because he had done some
wrong. "In riots, people are
brutalised simply based on their religion." A Hindu or a Muslim kills the other person
based on whether the other person is a
Hindu or a Muslim. The mob isn't
concerned with anything else. Bhagat
Singh says that the communal riots had shamed India on the world stage. And that the country's future seemed very
bleak. The second reason stated by him
is the Herd Mentality of the people. "Some
people pick up sticks, rods, swords, knives," simply to maintain their dominance. "When a Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh, sees a
person from his religion arming himself,"
he can't keep calm and gets swept up in the emotions. Thus forming a part of the mob. "Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Bhagat
Singh," "in the manifesto of
Naujawan Bharat Sabha," discussed a
point related to this. They expressed
utter disappointment on how easy it is
to hurt people's feelings in the name of religion. "If a branch of a peepal tree
breaks," a Hindu is provoked by it. "Even if the smallest piece of the Tazia
breaks," a Muslim is angered. They claim that humans should be more
important than animals at least. "But
in our country, people are willing to behead another person," in the name of 'sacred animals.' "In their manifesto, they had said
that" "how religious
superstition and bigotry," are
obstacles to our progress. "Moving
on, in the third point, "
Bhagat Singh blames the communal politicians. He said that the situation then was such that some politicians had openly become communal. They give inflammatory speeches which directly give rise to the riots. He also clarified that there were some politicians who were
concerned about it. And that they
weren't able to speak up against it. Because
the communal way of thinking was becoming inescapable in the country. There was a strong influx of communality. So even the ones concerned had to keep their
heads down and remain quiet. "In his fourth point, Bhagat Singh
blamed the media." He said that
journalism was once a respectable profession.
"But by then, it had become a dirty mess." "With big, bold headlines on the front
page of the newspapers," more
hatred was spread about people in the name of religion. Multiple times it had happened that something
was printed in the newspaper which led
to the riots. "Today, the same role
is played by the TV media." "In
his article, Bhagat Singh goes on to"
list the real duty of the newspapers.
To educate people. To stop the
hatred among the masses. And to spread
communal harmony and brotherhood. Feelings
of communal harmony and mutual trust should be incited in people so that a common nationalism could be
promoted. But the newspapers were doing
the exact opposite. "About which
Bhagat Singh had written," he cries
tears of blood when he sees all those things happening. He reminisces about the days of the
Non-Cooperation Movement. When the
independence they dreamt of was almost in the grasp of our country. The country's independence was almost
realised.
"But at the time of writing the article, Independence
seemed far fetched. " "Because
of the riots, the system and bureaucracy had strengthened their roots." "By that, he meant the British
Raj." Bhagat Singh then writes that
the four reasons he stated were the
direct reasons behind the communal riots.
"But greater than these,"
there was a fundamental reason for the communal riots in the country. He claims that the reason was the Economic
Factors. "Here, he cited Karl
Marx," who said that everything in
the world happens because of economic factors.
History bears witness that "when
people are starving, jobless, and frustrated," "this frustration can either be
channelised," "so that there
can be a revolution," such as
during the French Revolution. I have
made a detailed video on the French Revolution.
When the famines led to thousands of women coming out on the streets to protest against their monarch. "But if the frustration is not channelised," it can lead to riots in the country. "People would start fighting among
themselves," "there would be
an increase in communal disharmony,"
and then dictators would rise from that.
"Yup, you heard that right."
"Hitler's popularity rose in Germany," following an economic depression. "Large-scale bank failures,
unemployment, " "economic
instability," "and
frustration, people started trusting a person" who took the country to more disasters. "And later, it led to the World
War." "Now, this was my two
cents,"
"when Bhagat Singh had written this article," Hitler hadn't risen to power on the scale
that we know of. But Bhagat Singh wrote
that the economic situation in India had
deteriorated a lot. And that it was the
fundamental reason due to which the
communal riots were on the rise. "And
because the reason for the communal riots was economic," its solution has to be economic too. "Simply speaking, Bhagat Singh
said" that there was a dire need to
improve the economic condition of the people.
He adds that it was very
difficult to do that given the circumstances then. Because the government wasn't interested in
improving the economic condition of the
people. Keep in mind that the was
talking about the ruling government of his time. The British India government. "For this exact reason, people needed to
band together," and protest against
the government. "So that either the
government takes an action, or the government is changed."
So that the foreign government could be thrown out. But it leads to another question. "When people are so busy fighting among
themselves," how can they fight the
government? How can people be stopped
from fighting among themselves? Bhagat
Singh claimed that the solution was class consciousness. They need to raise awareness among the
people. The poor labourers and farmers
had to realise that they should not be
influenced by the speeches of hate-mongering
politicians and 'religious' leaders. So
that they are not fooled. "Irrespective
of their race, colour, and religion."
Or even their nationality. """The
poor of the world regardless of race, colour," "religion, or nation have the same
rights.""" They need to
band together to overthrow the government and to fight for their rights. And these poor people have nothing left to
lose. And their freedom to win. "Here, you might be wondering," about why Bhagat Singh was focusing so much
on the poor people in his article. Why
was he not talking about everyone? Why
was he talking about the poor workers and farmers only? "There's a simple reason for it,
friends." "It's something that
you can notice even today," "in
all these communal riots," "in
all the riots that are happening nowadays," where are they taking place? "They aren't happening in Lutyens Zone,
Delhi." Jahangirpuri is a poor area
in Delhi. There are many slums around
it. "The riots that we saw in the
last few days," most of them were
at places where poor people live. And
these poor people become the victims of the riots. "In any religious riot, have you ever
seen" a Hindu politician or a
Muslim politician fighting? These
politicians duel each other. You will
never get to see this happen. Not only
the politicians. "In the riots,
have you ever seen" a Hindu
businessman or a Muslim businessman coming to fight in the riot? Armed with sticks and fighting. You will never see this. "Any Hindu or Muslim who has a good
job," wouldn't get into riots. They are busy with their work. "It is the unemployed, poor people"
who have nothing productive to do. "Mostly, they have no jobs or
businesses." "Because if you
see the politicians and the media giving these provocative speeches," "their children are safely studying in
foreign universities, " they are
happily settled there without having to worry about these things. And look at the people who are killed in these
riots. It is always someone from the
lower economic section. "In his
article, Bhagat Singh cites the example of Russia as well." It was ruled by a Tsar. "When there was a monarchy in Russia,
the economic condition was terrible there." "Because of this, frequent riots and
communal violence used to be seen in Russia." "For example, from 1881 to 1884," "and from 1903 to 1906," large-scale anti-Jewish violence was seen in
the Russian Empire. And this violence
was supported to quite an extent by the
incumbent government. The government of
the Russian Tsar. "But Bhagat Singh
claims that since the Russian Revolution,"
"since the Bolsheviks came into power," the situation had been stabilised. The economic condition of the people had improved. People were employed. "Each person was seen as a human," "rather than as Jewish, Christians, or
by their religious identities." "And
since people were aware," Singh
claimed that there were no religious riots in Russia anymore. He was talking about his time. "And then Bhagat Singh goes on to cite a
similar, positive example of India,"
of Calcutta. "There were
Hindu-Muslim riots in Calcutta," "but
in those Hindu-Muslim riots," trade
union workers had not participated in those riots. "The Hindus and Muslims working in the
factories," kept on working. They weren't participating in the riots. They were happy to work with each other. "According to Bhagat Singh, this
happened because" there was class
consciousness among the trade union workers.
"They were standing with each other," and understood the interest of their group. "In his opinion, this was an excellent
example" of how class consciousness
can prevent communal violence.
"Finally, Bhagat Singh concluded his article" reiterating that he had high hopes from
India's youth. He said that the Indian
youth was rejecting communalism and hatred.
And that many young people were open about their outlook. "They don't see themselves as Hindus,
Muslims, or Sikhs." "Rather,
they see themselves as humans." Bhagat
Singh wrote that he was very hopeful for the youth. "Apart from this, he praised some new
politicians as well." Those who
were actively trying to keep religion out of politics. They fought for independence. "Bhagat Singh didn't name the
politicians," "but most
probably," he was talking about
Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose.
"I say this because the next month, he wrote another article in the
same magazine" titled 'The Varied
Opinions of the New Politicians.' Where
he specifically pointed out Jawaharlal
Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. while
praising them. And I hope the lesson in
this blog will reach people. "If
you liked this blog," you can watch
my other blog on Bhagat Singh. Let's
meet in the next blog Thank you very
much!