Communalism is a situation when a particular community tries to promote its own interest at the cost of other communities. It is a belief that members loyalty should lie within the group instead of to the country in which they live. When the demands of one religious group are formed in opposition to another, it is called communalism. Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community. Communalism involves thinking along the following lines:

• The followers of a particular religion must belong to one community.
• Their fundamental interests should be the same. Any difference that they may have is irrelevant or trivial for community life.
• People who follow different religions cannot belong to the same social community. If the followers of different religions have some commonalities, these are superficial and immaterial. Their interests are bound to be different and involve a conflict.

The feeling of communalism leads to communal tension in society. People have strong communal feelings and try to show that their religion is superior compared to other religions and give more importance to religious interest. Such people do not look at other people with equality. They look at them from a communal perspective. These kinds of feelings divide society. Having a feeling of communalism is not only against society but also against the spirit on which our Constitution is framed.