Does economic development invoke violent conflicts or pacify those conflicts? Does democracy bring out violent conflicts or solve those conflicts? In this article, I try to answer these questions by focusing on religious riots which happened in Indian states of Bihar and Gujarat.
Bihar is well known for its poverty and violence. Being one of the poorest states in India for long time, Bihar has experienced many communal riots in which 1989 Bhagalpur riots have the largest scale. Contrary to Bihar, Gujarat has good reputation for its economic development, however, it experienced most brutal communal riots in 2002. To answer above questions, I analyze two riots, that is, 1989 Bhagalpur riots and 2002 Gujarat riots by focusing on economic dimension.
In both riots, economic factor played an important role. Bhagalpur city is known for its silk industry which was dominated by Muslims. Hindu business community used riots as a best opportunity to break Muslim dominancy. In rural area, Hindu peasants utilize riots to buy Muslim lands at minimum cost. Shortly, Bhagalpur riots provided an ideal opportunity for Hindus to beat Muslim rivals.
Economic factor also played an important role in 2002 Gujarat riots. There are two factors in case of Ahmedabad city. Economic development changed the minds of Dalits and Hindu middle class for supporting Hindutva forces. Dalits lost their job due to the change of industrial structure under the impacts of globalization. Hindu urban middle class fall in “identity crisis” which is precipitated by rapid urbanization. Their unstable conditions were utilized by Hindutuva forces which produce riots.
Though the economic level of both states is contrasting, economic factor prepared the ground for riots. In this sense, we can say that the level of economic development is not so significant for the understanding of the riots. At the same time, it is not possible to explain riots only by economic factor, because it is the political parties that provide necessary ideologies, organizations, movements and opportunities for the production of riots. In this sense, democratic politics is the decisive factor to instigate riots. Then does democracy produce only riots?
In case of Bihar, the political forces which strongly contain riots have been ruling for 20 years. Contrary, the state government which has direct responsibility for 2002 riots still holds power in Gujarat. We can evaluate that Bihar overcomes the “politics of violence” at least for 20 years, but we cannot say so in a case of Gujarat. However, in spite of the pressure of Gujarat government, there are a certain number of citizens who are fighting for realizing justice. We find a ray of hope in their activities for the future of Indian democracy.