The Role of Communal Harmony for Sustainable Development of the Indian Society

India is justly famous for its complex social systems. Indian society is multifaceted to an
extent perhaps unknown in any other of the world's great civilizations. It is the country of
different blooming cultures and it has set an example of unity and diversity as here reside
people of different castes and religions and they all live in harmony under the tri-colour flag
of this nation. However, this harmony has been disturbed many a times by different religious
groups and communities. India is the land of multi-religions and different linguistic groups.
These people live together here in perfect harmony and celebrate many festivals like Diwali,
Holi, Eid, Christmas etc. with equal zeal. Time to time this harmony is broken ad disrupted
due to differences between certain religious groups.

Communal well-being is central to human life.

-Cat Stevens

The sovereignty and secularity of the nation is guaranteed by the Constitution of India itself.
India is known to maintain communal harmony even as people of different religions and
castes reside here. It is known for its secular ways. The state does not follow any official
religion. It gives its citizens the freedom to choose their religion and change it at any time.
Strict action is taken against individuals or groups who try to tamper with the communal
harmony of the country. More particularly Article 25 to 30 of the Constitution guarantees to
everyone the right of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and the right to freely
profess, practice and propagate religion.

From time Immemorial, it has been seen that different races fought battles against each other
on Indian soil and got themselves firmly entrenched, but India has assimilated them all into
her blood. The conflicting cultures were at last modelled by this country to her own genesis
and pattern. India has witnessed a great diversity of faith and religion from the earliest times,
but this has not interfered with the peaceful pursuit of the ways of life of different sections.
Christians and Jews who came to India in the first century of the Christian era found hospitable
reception here. After several centuries, the Parsis and Muslims received equal reception. Ever
since then, India has been marked by the prosperity of communities belonging to different
religions. The people of India values the importance of National Integration.
The dictum of catholicity of Indian Culture, ‘live and let live’, have been forged through ages,
different religious races and cultures of the vast country into a united concept of oneness that
is India. It was this inherent unity and communal harmony which enabled India to fight against
the British might as one man for freedom.

Communalism endangers the national integrity. National integrity refers to the perception of
single national identity among people of a country belonging to various races, castes and
religion. When there is a slight pinch of communalism is amalgamated with the secularity of
the nation it largely endangers the national integration and thus subsequently affects the
people of the country belonging to different races, castes and religion. The foremost danger
to National Integration is rapid communalism. Communalism’s ugliest manifest is communal
riots which occur in this country with a disconcerting frequency.

Admittedly, there is no doubt that the communal question was nurtured and grew to
menacing proportions with the politically motivated encouragement given by British rulers to
certain communities. The expectations of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru did not
come into reality. The spurt of communal riots in the post independence years is as a reminder
of the harsh reality and proved that communalism has now deeper roots than before. Now,
steps should therefore, be taken to strengthen the feeling of National Integration, Unity and
Communal Harmony.

Religion is a very sensitive issue. India has always followed a policy of secularism. The
Constitution of our country gives absolute freedom to every individual to choose his/her
religion. However, there are certain groups and individuals that disrupt the peace and
harmony in the country by spreading communal violence. But, ultimately peace has always
triumphed over communal violence. It is the sacred duty of our political leaders to inject
the importance of communal harmony in their political programs. The danger of
communalism can be averted if the self-defeating and suicidal slogans like ‘my state’, my
language’, my caste’ and after all ‘my religion’ are supreme, give way to the noble sentiment
of India first and last and always. It will integrate our emotions and aspirations and ensure
Communal Harmony and National integration of the country. Then the slogan ‘unity in
diversity’ will be true and be our hopes and aspirations.

Those who are at WAR with others are not at PEACE with themselves. –Anonymous