The written word is an important vehicle for all those who seek to influence society, whether from the progressive, the secular, the reactionary or the communal point of view. Journals, magazines, newspapers, articles that seek to promote and protect secular and progressive values are far too few in number. And those that are consistent and sustained in their commitment, even fewer. Communalism Combat is certainly one of those, which can be so counted.

In the years of its publication, the journal has provided its readers a comprehensive understanding of the issues it has focussed on, including from the gender point of view. In its coverage of violence against women, it has, moreover, been careful to protect the privacy of victims. This is an important aspect of non-sensational gender sensitive reporting that is often forgotten in what is unfortunately the race to report first.

Sometimes, movements for social change that challenge the homogenisation of cultures and identities by right-wing ideologies and political platforms, themselves suffer from a one-dimensional view in their analysis of what they want to change. Gender or caste based structures, and the discrimination these structures generate, are often ignored. Communalism Combat has played a positive role in filling the gap that exists in including gender as a tool of analysis in social reporting.

The struggle against communalism, because of the very nature of the methods of violence it uses, does include the struggle against the targeted violence against women of the community involved, in most cases, women of the minority community. Yet, although this aspect is most important, there are so many other ways in which communalism negatively impacts on women’s status, not least, in the way that it seeks to strengthen religious identity, often based on retrograde anti-women religious rituals and traditions.

This is a less reported or studied area of the impact of communalism on women’s lives that could be strengthened. In its many reports that have focussed on women, Communalism Combat has tried to analyse the different ways that communalism devalues women’s status. Importantly, the journal has analysed the position of women in relation to fundamentalism of different communities. By looking at the position of women in the Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities, the journal has shown that all religious fundamentalism, regardless of the religion or community it seeks to represent, has, as a common denominator, the oppression and subordination of women. Such an approach strengthens the struggle for secular values and women’s advance.

The trend of depoliticising movements against communalism and for secular values in the name of autonomy from political parties helps maintain the status quo that favours existing power structures. This would mean an advantage for precisely those political forces whose aim is to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra. The NGOisation of secular struggles has often reflected in the sacrifice of analysis of the hard politics of communalism to an amorphous appeal for unity and communal harmony. While certainly important as a goal, peace and unity efforts sans politics would be inadequate as strategies to resist the communal offensive. In this context, Communalism Combat’s role has been extremely significant.

One need not agree with its politics on every issue to recognise that the journal has not shied away from taking on the politics of communalism, its representatives, its organisations, its leaders. In that, it has displayed a courage that should provide an inspiration or a model for many who believe that the better part of valour would be not to name names because of the consequences.

For all these reasons and more, one wishes the journal a long life and many more decades of fearless defence of the secular values that are essential for India’s very existence.