Decoding Communal Violence: Co(n)textualizing Bhagat Singh in Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions

The Hindu-Muslim communal violence is one of the major and alarming problems in the contemporary
independent India. Since ancient times, India has been suffering from communal conflict between Hindus and
Muslims and over a century the problem has gradually acquired the shape of communal violence appeared in the
form of riots and terrorism. Bhagat Singh, one of the greatest intellectuals and freedom fighters had showed his
deep concern for communal disharmony in our country before independence in 1927 through his article,
“Communal Riots and Their Solutions” figuring out the causes and solutions of this issue. Mahesh Dattani’s play
Final Solutions in 1991 successfully fictionalizes an occasion of communal clashes exploring the rationale of the
problem. Does the play reflect the causes and solutions of communal violence as pointed out by Bhagat Singh in his
article? Elaborating the relationship between literature and history, the New Historicists consider history and
historical documents as “co-text” to literary texts. Can Bhagat Singh’s article on communal problem be read as “cotext” to the play, Final Solutions? Does the play uncover other causative factors that have not been mentioned in the
article? Or are those new addition to the problem? Making a New Historicist reading of the play and putting parallel
importance to the article, the paper aims to look into the various causes and solutions of communal violence that
have been discussed in the article and dramatized in the play. The play discloses how communal violence is
organized, planned and executed by the selfish politicians and religious fundamentalists who manipulate and
exploit the religious prejudices of bigoted people and propagate rumours that arouse communal zeal among masses
and mobilize them to start communal riots. The study also focuses on Dattani’s endeavour to offer a solution to the
problem by establishing the role of education in empowering the youths and keeping them away from rebel groups
by providing the lesson about the value of tolerance and forgiveness that help us to be more liberal, generous,
sensible and humanistic in our attitude towards other communities.