Religious processions pair binaries to trigger conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. These binaries include domination and resistance, conquest and subjugation, sacred and profane and such like. The pairing builds upon a long history, and memory, of harnessing religious processions as a tool for political mobilisation, a scintillating account of which is provided by political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot in his essay, ‘The politics of processions and Hindu-Muslim riots.’
The phenomenon of religious processions culminating in violence is more than a century old, and repetitive in its performance. But the recent violence on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti has injected two new elements into religious processions—the state’s post-violence role; and the use of mass media, particularly TV channels and social media, to further deepen the binaries outlined above.
Religious processions are much like columns of soldiers marching through a foreign territory. Opposition to the march creates a context and pretext for retaliation,
— source newsclick.in | Ajaz Ashraf | 28 Apr 2022