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India: Weaponizing the Holi festival for communal polarisation | Irfan Engineer

 

Weaponizing the Holi festival for communal polarisation 

Irfan Engineer

According to advice of the Dy. Superintendent of Police in Sambhal – Anuj Kumar Chaudhary – that Muslims should stay indoors if they felt uncomfortable with Holi colours being sprinkled on them – as the festival comes only once a year, whereas Jumma namaz takes place 52 times in a year – it appears that the Muslims might have heeded his advice and remained indoors. There are no reported complaints from any Muslim that they were on streets – with or without any work – and got coloured. They changed the timing of their congregational Jumma namaz in the Holy month of Ramazan – to accommodate the Hindus observing their festival – and some might have decided to forgo their obligatory prayers. The Hindu nationalists in Sambhal (UP), and in other BJP ruled states had the streets entirely to themselves till they wanted. Chaupai, a Holi procession passed peacefully through 10 mosques in Sambhal, including the border wall of Shahi Jama Masjid (Pragynesh, 2025). The BJP MLA from Bihar – Haribhushan Thakur Bachol – made a similar appeal on the legislative assembly premises, asking Muslims to stay indoors on the day of Holi (Pandey, 2025). No one from the BJP or their alliance partners in Bihar, including JD(U) condemned the statement.

Hansraj Meena (25) in Dausa (Rajasthan) ventured out and despite his objection, colour was forcibly applied on him. He died after being assaulted by three persons who applied colour on him. Meena should have remained indoors but he ventured out to go to a library to prepare for his state civil service exams. He did not heed the advice of Dy.S.P. Chaudhary (Khan, 2025).

Provocative slogans were raised during Shimga festival on 13^th March, 2025, when Madachi miravnuk, an old Konkani ritual, when tree trunks are carried to the Dhopeshwar temple in Rajapur (Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra) on the eve of Holi. Those carrying the tree trunk rammed into the mosque gate several times while raising provocative slogans (Express News Service, 2025). Muslims staying indoors did not protect this mosque.

UP police had to baton charge the traditional ‘laat sahab’ procession in Shahjahanpur district as those participating in the procession threw brickbats on the police, injuring three of them. Trouble started when those playing Holi threw footwears at the police (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). In Unnao (UP), drunk Holi revelers threw brickbats at the police in which three police officers were injured. To control them, police used their batons to disperse them. In the baton charge, many revelers were injured (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). In the traditional Phag procession in Gunj Muradabad village, on 14^th March 2025, they were singing objectionable songs. At the conclusion of the procession, some drunk youth started teasing and playing mischief. When police resorted to mild baton charge, they started throwing brickbats at police. At least three police personnel were injured due to the brickbats thrown at them (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). Muslims remaining indoors did not save the police or the drunken brawls resorted by the revelers.

On 13^th March 2025, on the eve of Holi festival, a man in Dombivili, a distant suburb of Mumbai, attacked a 17-year-old boy when a water balloon allegedly thrown by him landed on the man (Press Trust of India, 2025). This man in Dombivili did not heed the advice of the Dy.S.P. of Sambahal resulting in unnecessary conflict.

Does policing and maintaining law and order mean asking law abiding citizens from marginalized communities to remain indoors, while the potential law breakers from more powerful and dominant sections of the society have the freedom to indulge in revelry even in violation of law endangering peace? In the same vein, women are asked to remain indoors if they do not want to be sexually assaulted.

This approach also encourages those who believe in ‘might is right’ doctrine to be law unto themselves. The Dy.S.P. of Sambhal Anuj Kumar Chaudhary is seen in the viral video taking note of the fact that during the Holi festival people consume bhang (cannabis) and therefore mishaps of forcibly applying colours on Muslims might occur. However, he does not warn the consumers of cannabis. Will the police advice Indians who do not want to be killed in a potential road accident to remain indoors on the eve of new year celebrations as the likelihood of drunken driving increases?

Muslims are not the only victims during the Holi festival. Many Hindus do not like to be coloured. Women also are vary of Holi festival as they too are targeted by strangers against their wish on the pretext that everything is permissible during Holi. They say “bura na mano Holi hai”. The BJP and Hindu nationalists use the occasion to communally polarize people and assert dominance of Hindus. However, the moot question is, shouldn’t we take note of what damage such an approach will do to the Hindu religion and ethics? Not long ago, these festivals were celebrated peacefully with participation of people from all communities. This writer has also enjoyed playing Holi in his school days, and indeed taking part in all other festivals of all religious communities. The unprecedented and massive deployment of police force now necessary since a decade tells its own story. Holi is such a beautiful festival in which one reminds oneself to burn all negative feelings and instincts like acquisitive desires, selfishness, jealousy, fear, hatred into the Holi fire. Mughal emperors too played Holi with their durbaris for days together and called it Eid-e-Gulabi. Amir Khusro and many Muslim poets have composed beautiful verses on Holi.

 

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To whom does this land belong?

To whom does this land belong? Ram Puniyani Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin; based on new research about the pre-modern history, stated that the archeologists have concluded that the Iron Age first began in Tamil Nadu. Melting iron was introduced in Tamil Nadu 5300 years ago. Precise dating indicates iron was first introduced in the region in 3345 BC. Stalin emphasized this finding to be pivotal to understanding the historical timeline of the Indian subcontinent and said proudly that “I’m constantly saying that the history of India will be written from Tamil Nadu,” highlighting the research’s potential to reshape historical narratives. Should it matter so much to present time? In a way proving that ‘we’ were the ‘first comers’ here many ‘nationalist’ ‘ethnic’ tendencies used it to dominate the society in various countries. One recalls that in Sinhala assault on Tamil (Hindus) in Sri Lanka had to suffer a lot at the hands of Sinhala ethnic nationalism, which claimed that Sinhala are the first comers in that Island so the nation belongs to them! Here in India Hindu nationalism is no different. It did raise the bogey of ‘foreign religions’ Islam and Christianity. It regarded Hindus as synonymous with Aryans and went on the claim that Aryans are the original inhabitants of this land. This claim was articulated by the second Sarsanghchalak of RSS, M.S. Golwalkar, who in his book, ‘We or Our Nationhood defined’ wrote that, “We—Hindus—have been in undisputed and undisturbed possession of this land for over 8 or even 10 thousand years before the land was invaded by any foreign race” and therefore, this land, came to be known as Hindustan, the land of the Hindus” (Golwalkar, 1939, page 6). This was in contrast to Lokmanya Gangadhar Tilak who had said that Aryans came from the Arctic region, ‘Arctic Home of Vedas’. Golwalakar Solved this dilemma without contradicting Tilak by saying that the Arctic area itself was here in Orissa Bihar Region, which later shifted to north, “...that then it moved north-east and then by a sometimes westerly, sometimes northward movement, it came to its present position. If this be so, did we leave the Arctic Zone and come to Hindustan or were we all along here and the Arctic Zone left us and moved away northwards in its zigzag march? This acrobatics had to be performed to prove that the Aryans are natives of this land. If this is not emphasized, the propaganda against Muslims that they came from outside falls to the ground and the whole purpose is defeated. Hindus are the natives. Many theories prevail about this. Many European scholars including Indophile MaxMuller believed that Aryans had invaded India. This theory is baseless as it was the era of pastoral society, where migrations were the norm and not invasion. Invasions came up later with the formation of Kingdoms. The other most logical one, based on linguistics and geological evidence, argued that Aryans came here in a series of waves of migration. Aryans being the natives of this land had a major obstacle to overcome, in the form of Indus Valley Civilization, which dates before Aryans arrival here. This civilization was distinctly different from the Aryan habitations and was there before Aryans came here. It had an urban setting unlike the Aryan habitations. By undertaking a lot of acrobatics; attempt was made to concoct a seal with Horse, to have been found in that Indus valley region. As per a Frontline article, the horned bull seal was modified to look like a horse, the symbol of Aryan culture. It was a computer distorted image of a Unicorn bull. The whole Race theory stands discredited today. It was an attempt by colonial powers to show their racial superiority giving them the right to rule. On similar lines Brahmanical ideology also claimed Brahmins and upper caste to be descendents of a superior race so entitled to have a superior position in society. Indus valley civilization preceded Aryans arrival here. A natural calamity wiped out this civilization and many of its inhabitants moved down South. So where do we stand today Vis a Vis Aryan debate and Indus valley civilization? The earlier archeological and linguistics studies has been supplanted by the impeccable DNS genetic studies. ‘Population genetics’ is the most foolproof method to understand the pre modern societies. Just a few years ago, Tony Joseph (book ‘Early Indians’) an Indian writer put together Population Genetics studies along with the prevalent linguistics and archeological findings. This book on one hand shows that we are all mixed up. The migration to India took place in various stages. He outlines that it was 65000 years ago that Homo sapiens made their way to India from South Africa. Citing DNA studies he shows that subsequent large migrations to India took place between 7000 and 3000 BCE and lastly between 2000 to 1000 year ago the pastoralists came from Central Asian Steppe. As such Aryan and Dravid stand for a group of languages rather than distinct races. The BJP led central Government has formed a committee to document the 12000 year old history of India. As things are so crystal clear from the DNA-Genetic studies about the fact which says we are all mixed up people; why such a committee? The idea is to prove that Hindus (Aryans) are the original inhabitants of this land. After the result of population genetics not much remains to dig into this issue except for claiming the ‘land’ and showing bigger rights here. Society has gone through many transformations over the centuries. The pastoral society, the boundaries of Kingdoms and now national boundaries are what is the reality. One can stand with Tagore to see the impact of National boundaries to dream of a world without boundaries, which seems ultra Utopian today. The assertions of ‘first comer’ are the hallmark of sectarian nationalism. Such tendencies are contrary to the values of Indian Constitution and United Nations Declaration of Human rights. Equality of all citizens irrespective of language and religion is what we need to aspire for the future. Digging into the past with warped ideology should have no place in today’s politics, they can best be left for academics and professionals of those disciplines rather than made the base of political ideology.

When did India Get Freedom?

When did India Get Independence? Ram Puniyani Kangana Ranaut, the actor and MP was the first who spelt her understanding about India’s Independence when she stated that India became Independent in 2014; when Modi came to power. It was the first time that BJP got majority on its own strength. The hint was India was a slave country earlier; slave of ‘foreign rulers’ or was ruled by Governments which wanted to pursue the path of secular, democratic values. She meant that with Modi in power; full Hindu Nationalism will be unleashed. Not to be left behind recently another actor Vikrant Massey claimed that India got freedom in 2014, when ‘we’ got free expression of Hindu identity. To cap it all now the new date has been thrown up for the real freedom of the country by none other than RSS Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat. While addressing in Indore he stated that 22 January 2024 was the day when we got Independence, “the date should be celebrated as "Pratishtha Dwadashi" as the true independence of India, which had faced "parachakra" (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day. The ideals and life values presented by Lord Ram, Krishna, and Shiva are included in the "self of India" and it is not at all that these are the Gods of only those people who worship them, he said. Bhagwat further said that the invaders destroyed the temples of the country so that the "self" of India also perishes. Projecting Ram Temple Pran Pratishta (Life installation) as the panacea of all our social problems he further added, "I used to ask those people that despite talking about socialism after independence in 1947, giving slogans of 'Garibi Hatao' (eradicate poverty) and worrying about people's livelihood all the time, where did India stand in the 1980s and where have countries like Israel and Japan reached?" The RSS chief said he used to tell these people that "India's livelihood path goes through the entrance of Ram temple and they should keep this in mind." Bhagawat's constructs are taking the story further and he wants to legitimize the criminal act of demolishing the Babri Mosque. Overarching the diverse cultural and religious traditions he wants to present only Lord Rama as the sole cultural symbol of this country. Even in the broad spectrum of Hinduism there are Lord Shiva, Lord Shrikrishna, Goddess Kali among others. Then we have the glorious traditions of Lord Mahavir, Gautam Buddha, Nanak and Kabir as the part of the great canvass, which India is. While the population genetics studies clearly show that Aryans were also the migrants, before them there were other natives here. And diverse people coming here can either be seen merely as aggressors walking the path of ways of Kingdoms. Chola Kings ruled in Srilanka, or Alexander tried his best to win over India. Different dynasties and people like Shaka, Hun, Ghulams, Khalji and Mughal rules were ‘part’ of the subcontinent. This is seen by sectarians as an attack on ‘our’ civilization while those who struggled for Independence of India from the British saw it as an intermixing of historical process; leading to the foundational diversity of the country. Jawaharlal Nehru most aptly describes it as, “some ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.” As per RSS chief the aggressors wanted to demolish our soul by demolishing our temples. The temple destructions in Medieval and late early India were purely for the sake of power and wealth. The earlier attacks and conversions of Jain and Buddha places of worship were due to reaction from Brahminism. To demonize particularly the Muslim rulers, this formulation of temple destructions and many other myths have been propped up. Two examples will suffice while Aurangzeb destroyed nearly 12 temples; he also gave donations to nearly hundred Hindu temples. The eleventh century ruler of Kashmir, Raja Harshdev, appointed a special officer to uproot the idols of Gods and Goddesses, which were made of Gold and Silver or studded with diamonds and rubies. Bhagwat and his ilk see the country through a narrow Brahiminical prism. It was during the colonial period that Indian boundaries emerged. It was the Colonial period which was a period of slavery. The previous conquers who ruled settled here and became a part of our national and cultural life. The British ‘Policy of Divide and rule’ planted the notion of earlier rulers being the plunderers and temple destroyers. The previous rulers who ruled did not take away our wealth outside, while the British plunder project led to impoverishment of India. The slavery was imposed by the British and the struggle against them was the freedom movement which culminated in Independence on 15th August 1947, with our Constitution being implemented on 26 January 1950. Those deviating from this date are the followers of nationalism under the garb of religion, who are uncomfortable with the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity of the Constitution which emerged from the freedom struggle. He needs to introspect what the countries like Japan and Israel achieved through demolishing old holy places and building the one’s of their religion. He also needs to know that after the Ram Temple movement has picked up India’s growth and unity has seen a downward trend. There is a consistent fall in the various indices related to health, nutrition, educational status with increase in poverty levels. The massive foundations for economic, educational, scientific and industrial prosperity were laid much before the divisive politics of Ram Temple got a boost in the decades of 1980 and 1990s. Bhagwat’s statement totally ignores the massive anti colonial movement. The reason for this is that those who stood for Hindu and Muslim nationalism were not the part of it. In a way his statement is a great insult to all those who sacrificed their live for the freedom of the country from the clutches of colonialism, the period of our slavery.

Narayan Guru belongs to Saint tradition -not Sanatan

Is Narayan Guru Part of Sanatan Dharma? Ram Puniyani Recently (31st December 2024) while inaugurating the Conference as a part of Sivagiri pilgrimage, Pinarayi Vijayan supported the proposal of Swami Satchitanand’s to stop the practice of removing shirts, to keep the torso bare while entering temples. It is believed that this practice came into being to identify those wearing sacred thread, upper caste which alone were privileged to wear it. Some people doubt it, but it is unlikely that there was any other reason for keeping one’s torso uncovered. The one’s not having sacred thread was to be prohibited from entering the temple. Vijayan also said that there are efforts to propagate that Guru was part of Sanatan tradition. He was far away from it as Guru propagated, ‘one caste, one religion, one God’. This equality irrespective of caste and religion is far away from the core of Sanatan Dharma. Vijayan also pointed out that Guru’s life and work is very relevant today as violence is being orchestrated by instigating religious sentiments. Guru was not merely a religious leader, he was a great humanist. His critics are also criticizing Vijayan that during his tenure as Chief Minister Hindus are being troubled. They give the example of Sabrimala where the ruling party decided to support the Supreme Court ruling of entry of even menstrual age women to the sacred temple. BJP spokespersons are up against Vijayan for insulting Sanatan Dharma in this instance also. The debate around Sanatan seems to have come to the fore for the second time. First it came up when Dayanidhi Stalin spoke against Sanatan. BJP-RSS is stating that Santan can’t just be reduced to caste and Chaturvarnya. Incidentally in 2022, Kerala had submitted a float for republic day parade. It displayed Narayan Guru. The jury from the Defense ministry stated that the Kerala float should display Shankarachaya from Kaladi rather than Guru. This was a major reason for rejecting the float. As such Sanantan stands for eternal and has been used for Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Hindu is a religion, which has no single prophet or no single holy book. Word Hindu does not find mention in its holy scriptures. It has two major streams, Brahmanism and Shramanism. Brahmanism is based on graded inequality and patriarchal values. Ambedkar renounced this Hinduism as he felt that Hinduism is dominated by Brahmanical values. The Shramanic traditions include Nath, Ajivikas, Tantra, Bhakti traditions which are away from the values of inequality. Today in popular parlance Sanatan Dharma and Hindu dharma are interchangeable. Some of the ideologues claim that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life based on Dharma. As per them Dharma is not the same as religion. As such Sanatan Dharma stands for primarily Varna system, caste inequality and sticking to these traditions. Dharma is best understood as religiously ordained duties. What is being opposed by social reformers is rejection of a religion which is based on inequality. If we take the example of Ambedkar himself, he regarded Buddha, Kabir and Jotirao Phule as his Gurus. What matters to him is rejection of inequality of caste and gender. In medieval India the saints Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Narsi Mehta and their likes harped on opposition to the caste system and some of them had to face attacks from upper caste rulers. As such Narayan Guru comes in as a great social reformer against the caste system and transcends religious divides. No wonder the present ruling Government, guided by Brahminical Hinduism, can't accept the float from Kerala which shows Narayan Guru. Narayan Guru was a deeply humane person. During the course of his growing up he went into a deeper engagement with spiritualism and the practice of Yoga. During the course of his philosophical journey in 1888, he visited Aruvippuram where he went in meditation. It is during his stay there, that he took a rock from the river, consecrated it and called it as an idol of Shiva. This place since then has been known as Aruvippuram Shiva Temple. This act later came to be known as Aruvipuram Pratishta. It created a lot of social commotion and opposition especially from amongst the upper caste Brahmins. They did not accept Guru's right to consecrate the idol. He replied to them "This is not a Brahmin Shiva but an Ezhava Shiva". This quote of his later became very famous and has been used against casteism. To fight against casteism he committed his life. His steps were a big practical means in challenging the deep set caste system. The revolutionary understanding of Guru was ‘one caste, one religion, one God’. He goes much beyond the caste and religious divides to proclaim, single humanity. Later on he went on to open the school, which was open even to low castes, quite on the line of what Joti rao Phule did in Maharashtra. Like the principles of Ambedkar’s Kalaram Temple movement he went on to built temples which were open to all the castes. The recent suggestion of Swami Satchitanand supported by Pinarayi Vijyan also argues that a bare torso may be medically bad as it may transmit diseases. There are many practices which need to change with time. One recalls that women did not have the right to cover their breasts. There was a breast tax if women covered the top. It was Tipu Sultan, when he annexed Kerala, when he abolished breast tax and women gained their dignity as they were permitted to cover their breasts. Temples are a part of our community life. Such changes in dress code have to accompany the changes in social patterns. The opposition to this is like putting the clock back. The politics in the name of religion at most of the places is against the social changes and change in political values. Kerala also shows many contrasts in diverse fields. It was here that on one hand the Acharya from Kaladi Shankar countered the Buddhists in debate. The Buddhists argued on materialist ground to focus on the issues of this world, while roughly speaking Shankar tried to argue the World is an illusion supporting the idealist philosophy. At present times in India, Kerala included, we need to follow the path of Saints like Narayan Guru and Kabir, whose humane values gave a direction of amity to the society. The conservative ‘status quo’ in most matters retards social progress.