Communalism in the Provinces A Case Study of Bengal and the Punjab, 1922-26

Communalism in the Provinces: A Case Study of Bengal and the Punjab, 1922-26 Mushirul Hasan Relative communal harmony, a feature of Indian politics during the Khilafat and the early phase of the non-co-operation movement, broke down in the mid-1920s, to be succeeded by communal antagonisms which frequently took the shape of gruesome communal killings. To attribute these unpleasant realities to mere 'false consciousness' on the part of Indians or to the British policy of 'divide and rule' is only a partial explanation of the phenomenon; the growth of communalism has to be related more fundamentally to the structural changes in the polity and the uneven development of various communities in British India.