Revision summary
Religiosity is lived faith and rite; communalism is religion as a political bloc against an other. The two can share symbols, but they differ in aim: salvation or worship versus power and exclusion. Ayodhya shows the turn: old Rama devotion organised into a campaign that demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992. Riots and polarised voting completed the shift from pilgrimage to communal identity. Protecting worship while punishing hate keeps the distinction real.
Model answer
Flow diagram
flowchart TD F[Religiosity prayer pilgrimage] --> A[Rama bhakti Ayodhya] A --> P[Political campaign rath yatra] P --> C[Communalism bloc vs Muslim other] C --> D[6 Dec 1992 riots polarisation] L[Law equal citizenship] --> F L -.-> X[Checks C]
Conclusion
- Protect pilgrimage and prayer; prosecute hate, rumour, and riot. Mixed civic life, not a ban on faith, is the reply to communalism.
Religiosity is devotion; communalism is the political use of a religious bloc against another community. In independent India, Rama bhakti at Ayodhya was transformed, through campaign and the 1992 demolition, into communal mobilisation. The distinction stands only if the state defends faith as a right and refuses that transformation.
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