द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

142 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
to give up the Khilafat movement and to divert their whole
attention to the Nationalist cause. But some of the Nationalists
as well as the more reactionary Moslems continued to keep up
the Khilafat Committees, as Moulana Shaukat Ali did in
Bombay, and where that was not possible, they started other
organisations of a sectarian and reactionary character, under
different names. This reactionary movement among the
Moslems called forth a similar reactionary movement among
the Hindus and branches of the Hindu Mahasabha began to
grow up all over the country. The Hindu Mahasabha, like
its Moslem counterpart, consisted not only of erstwhile
Nationalists, but also of a large number of men who were
afraid of participating in a political movement and wanted a
safer platform for themselves. The growth of sectarian
movements among both Hindus and Moslems accentuated
intercommunal tension. The opportunity was availed of
by interested third parties who wanted to see the two com-
munities fight, so that the Nationalist forces could be
weakened. The causes which generally led to intercommunal
rioting were the slaughter of cows which outraged Hindu
feelings and the playing of music before mosques at prayer-
time, which gave offence to Moslem feelings. Friction would
also be caused if a Moslem mosque or a Hindu temple was
defiled in any way. Once there was a mental tension between
the two communities in a particular locality, such incidents
could easily throw the spark to light the flame of communal
passion and it was not difficult for third parties to employ
agents to do this dirty work.
The worst episode in the events of 1926 was the Hindu-
Moslem riots in Calcutta which broke out in May and again
in July. The trouble arose through an Arya Samajist¹ proces-
sion playing music while passing before a mosque. The Arya
Samajists claimed that they had been having the procession for
many years without any trouble. The Moslems declared on
the contrary that the music was interfering with their worship
inside the mosque. Fighting went on for many days and
many were killed on both sides. Ultimately when both parties
¹ As explained in Section III of the Introduction, the Arya Samaj is
a reformist sect of the Hindus with a large following in Upper India.