BHAGALPUR MASSACRE

National Foundation for Communal Harmony, 31.12.1995

State/District                             Period of Riots                      No. of Beneficiaries

Andhra Pradesh:             

ASSAM:                

BIHAR                  

GUJARAT:           

KARNATAKA:              

MADHYA PRADESH               

MAHARASHTRA:                   

Bombay          December, 1992         

January&March, 1993            255

RAJASTHAN:                

UTTAR PRADESH:                    

                                                                                      Total:                        1028

Bhagalpur Riots, 1989: A Sociological Analysis by Rowena Robinson

There cannot be a sociology of India which ignores the study of communalism and communal politics and violence. The analysis of communal violence is essential not only to perceive the social conditions involved in its origin but also to understand the fundamental implications for the relationship between the state and society in India today. It is out of such concerns that this essay on the Bhagalpur riots is being written.

Conclusion:

This essay has attempted a detailed analysis of the Bhagalpur riots. The approach differs both from writers who lay the blame for the riots solely on economic or political 'causes' and those who argue that riots are a spontaneous eruption of primordial instincts or deep- rooted antagonisms. It is more sophisticated than that as there is an interweaving of the political, the economic and the religious. These are difficult to disentangle at the existential level. Again, instead of seeing the riots merely as spontaneous eruptions, the essay has tried to show how communal ideologies were gradually spread in an organized manner at this particular historical juncture.

In addition, the essay has attempted to analyze the constitution of crowds and networks through which they were mobilized for the killing and looting. It is important for us to cease talking in vague terms about 'mob' violence. As social scientists we need to flesh out our descriptions with accuracy and detail. Collective violence needs to be understood both in terms of the ideology that underpins it and the form and organization it takes.

The essay also has attempted a critique of an earlier analysis of the Bhagalpur riots made by Pandey (1991). While not rejecting his concerns, at attempt was made to redress certain significant problems perceived in his approach, it remains important for us to locate the local within a larger, national political context. An understanding of the role of the state at the local level is also essential.

What has been offered in this paper, therefore, is an examination of the Bhagalpur riots in a perspective which takes into account these interconnections. The analysis located itself on a middle terrain where the local and external, the view from above and that from below, meet. it has shown that keeping the two artificially apart can prove self-defeating. Only by bringing together the local and the national can we comprehend the spread and intensity of the communal ideology which could account for the kind of violence perpetrated in Bhagalpur. Again, the role of the state forces cannot be kept out of our analyses.

(Source: The Social Action, April-June, 1996)