Nation building means constructing a national identity which aims at uniting the people within a country so that it remains politically stable. It is closely related to the concept of national integration. It demands a democratic government and participative civil society. Nation building in India faces several challenges such as casteism, regionalism, communalism, insurgency, extremism and terrorism.
(a) Terrorism – It is the actual use or threat to use violence with an intention to disrupt life and create panic. It is called ‘asymmetric’ or ‘indirect’ warfare. It may take the form of assassination of political figures, hijackings, bombings and attacks on civilians etc. Earlier, terrorism was State-centric e.g., LTTE in Sri Lanka. However, modern day terrorism aims for abstract ideological or religious goals at the global level e.g., Taliban, Boko Haram. India has been the target of numerous terrorist attacks e.g., bomb blasts in Mumbai (1993, 2006) and LET attack on 26th November 2008 in Mumbai, attack on Parliament (2001), attacks on security forces at Uri (2016) and Pulwama (2019).m
(b) Communalism refers to excessive pride in and attachment to one’s own religion/sect that leads to religious orthodoxy or fundamentalism and promotes intolerance and hatred of other religious groups.
In India, roots of communalism can be traced to:
1. British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’.
2. Hindu and Muslim revivalist movements.
3. Rise of communal, fundamentalist parties and other vested interests that aim to radicalise members of their communities.
4. Politics of appeasement by various political parties.
5. psychological factors – history of communal violence has led to lack of trust between Hindus and Muslims.
6. Role of media and ‘fake news’ which may indulge in sensationalism aimed to incite communal hatred.
Some of the prominent cases of communal violence in India are:
1. 1947-49 there was mass bloodshed in the wake of the Partition of India.
2. 1969 Ahmedabad riots.
3. 1983 in Assam against Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh.
4. 1984 Anti-Sikh riots broke out after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi especially in Delhi.
5. 1992-93 saw the worst riots post independence following demolition of the Babri Masjid especially in Mumbai, Surat, etc.
6. 2002 Gujarat riots especially in Godhra.
7. 2013 Muzaffar nagar riots in UP.
(c) Left Wing Extremism – Left Wing Extremism (also called Maoist movement or Naxalism) has major support base among landless labourers, dalits and tribals who experience a sense of oppression, injustice and neglect. The first attempt to promote a peasant struggle was the Telangana Movement (1946-51). The Naxal movement originated in 1967 in Naxalbari (West Bengal) led by Kanu Sanyal and writings of Charu Majumdar.
Since 1980s the movement has taken a militant turn. In 2004 CPI (M-L), People’s War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre of India merged to form CPI (Maoist) which aims to overthrow the government, Naxal activities aim to and destroy public property and attack police and officials. The Red Corridor of Naxal activities extends across States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, etc.
