For education purpose

1. Problems of Communal
Divide and Tension in
‘Final Solutions’

2. Prepared by Gayatri Nimavat
Roll No. :6
M.A. semester 3 Batch : 2022-24
Paper 202: Indian English Literature - Post-
Independence
Email id : gayatrinimavat128@gmail.com
Enrollment no. : 4069206420220019
Submitted to the Department of English, MKBU

3. 01 communaldivideinindia
Thegujaratriotsof2002
communaldivideintheplay
02
03
‘Traintopakistan’bykhushwant singh
04
Tableofcontent

4. INTRODUCTION
Communal divide and communal tension are two of the most pressing problems
facing India today. Communal divide refers to the deep-rooted divisions
between different religious and ethnic groups in society. Communal tension is
the conflict and violence that arises as a result of these divisions.
Mahesh Dattani's play Final Solutions is a powerful exploration of the problem
of communalism in India. The play tells the story of a Hindu family who is
caught in the crossfire of communal violence. The play shows how
communalism can poison relationships, destroy communities, and lead to
devastating consequences.
Dattani's play is a stark reminder of the dangers of communalism and the
importance of working towards a more inclusive and harmonious society. It is a
play that is more relevant than ever today, as India continues to grapple with the
problem of communalism.

5. mAHESH DATTANI
Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is a well-known Indian
director, actor and the first playwright in English to be awarded the
Sahitya Akademi award. His highly acclaimed plays include Final
Solutions, Dance Like a Man, Bravely Fought the Queen, On a
Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara, Thirty Days in September, and The
Murder that Never Was.
Dattani's plays are strongly Indian in flavour and tone which attract
the audiences because of their strong emotional appeal. He has
presented a large variety of social phenomena we come across in
everyday life. He has been quite audacious in staging themes that
are considered taboo in our society. However, there is no
obscenity or vulgarity in his expression in dealing with sex-related
issues. His treatment of the subject is subtle and the dialogues of
his characters are catchy. (Sharma)

6. Communal Divide inIndia
India's vibrant form of militant nationalism is more accurately referred to as Hindu
nationalism, extremism, or militancy than as Hindu fundamentalism. Although the Hindutva
movement does see the Vedic age and its religion as the golden age of Indian harmony and
spirituality and incorporates religious practices from many Indian sects, it rarely focuses on
a return to religious scripture or fundamentals. Instead it teaches that without self-
strengthening and unification of Hindus, Hindu civilization is threatened by non-Hindu
forces, including the anglicized ways of some leaders of the Congress Party, the party of
the Nehru family. Hindu nationalism emerges and gains strength from the cultivation of a
sense of collective anxiety about Hindu powerlessness, the presence of non-Hindu others,
and the penetration of alien customs and thought. Colonialism's displacement of Indians
from power induced anxiety and critical self-reflection, which grew more intense as
independence approached. And since the 1947 Partition of colonial India into the separate
states of India and Pakistan, 1857, a major revolt that affected about a third of India, there
were not many recorded instances of broad-based Hindu-Muslim violence. During the
Mutiny Hindu and Muslim rebels allied and fought against the British-Indian colonial army.
In short, violent communalism is largely a recent phenomenon, a product of modernization
and colonialism. (McLane)

7. Thegujarat riots of2002
The Gujarat riots of 2002 are referenced in Mahesh Dattani's play Final Solutions in a number of ways. The
play is set in the aftermath of the riots, and the characters are grappling with the trauma and divisiveness
that they have caused. The Gujarat riots were a series of anti-Muslim riots that took place in the Indian
state of Gujarat in February 2002. The riots were sparked by the torching of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims,
which killed 59 people. In the ensuing violence, over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
On 27 February 2002 58 people died when a train coach was burned just outside the railway station of
Godhra, a small town in Gujarat, India. An altercation between Hindu-nationalist activists on the train and
Muslim tea vendors in the railway station had - at least that was the perception - sparked a fire inside the
train coach. This marked the beginning of one of the worst incidents of Hindu-Muslim violence since
India's independence, exceptional for its scale, brutality and the open involvement of police and ruling
politicians. Throughout Gujarat, large mobs pillaged, looted, raped and killed for over three months,
resulting in a great loss of lives and property. According to official figures 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus
died, and 2,500 people were injured as a result of extremely brutal acts or torture, burning. raping and
maiming. Human rights organizations estimate that at least 2,000 people perished. Factories, shops, bore-
wells, textile looms, rickshaws, warehouses, etc. were burned in what seemed deliberate attempts to
damage the livelihoods of the victims. More than 200,000 people were displaced. The violence was, on the
whole, extremely one-sided; as most of the incidents amounted to a coordinated assault by Hindu mobs
and the police on isolated Muslim localities it is warranted to speak of an anti-Muslim pogrom."
(Berenschot)

8. Communal Divide intheplay
Dattani's Final Solutions is a brave attempt at portraying communal conflicts in India.
The play examines the liberal attitude of communalism. He is successful in handling
such a burning social issue. In the world of Indian English drama, Dattani's plays emerge
as a stunt that at once captures the attention of audience with the novelty of their
sensational themes.
The drama projects two Muslim intruders in a traditional Hindu family during a
communal Hindu-Muslim riot. Smita, the young daughter of Ramnik and Aruna Gandhi,
reveals that she has been introduced with the two Muslim men. The old grandmother
Hardika remembers the Hindu Muslim riots at the time of partition and appears panicky.
She is also shown in flashback as a fifteen year old girl - wife Daksha. Aruna is a typical
housewife. She had a meaningless and a blind faith that Lord Krishna is the real
protector. Ramnik has been secretly carrying the guilt consciousness for the black deed
of his ancestors. Therefore, he gives shelter to the two Muslim young men.
The theme of Hindu-Muslim hostility is introduced as the background of the play through
the device of chorus. The men in the chorus put on Hindu masks and Muslim masks
alternatively. They reveal the set view of Hindu and the Muslim towards one another.
(Agrawal)

9. In Final Solutions, Communal riot breaks due to disturbance of procession. In most of the cases the matter of
dispute is very simple. But due to involvement of some unsocial elements, it takes the shape of communalism
and later on it is distorted and ultimate result is communal violence. During communal riots, mankind
undergoes tremendous spiritual losses, during and after riot. Respect for life, dignity of humanity, love for truth
and justice, fellow feeling and brotherhood are mercilessly butchered in riot. The propaganda, based on
falsehood, has its heyday during riot. People lose not only their bodies but also their souls. It is a great
catastrophe to humanity. As Bobby says:
A minor incident changed all that… We were playing cricket on our street… The postman… was in a hurry and
asked Javed to hand the letter over to the owner. Javed took the letter… and opened the gate… a voice boomed,
‘What do you want?’ Javed holding out the letter… his usual firmness vanishing in a second. ‘Leave it on the
wall’, the voice ordered. Javed backed away, really frightened… the man came out with a cloth… wiped the letter
before picking it up, he then wiped the spot on the wall the letter was lying on and he wiped the gate! We all
heard a prayer bell, ringing continuously. Not loud. But distinct … We’d heard the bell so often every day of our
life that it didn’t mean anything… but at the moment… we all heard only the bell… The next day… I found…
Someone had dropped pieces of meat and bones into his backyard. (Dattani) (P.200)

10. Daksha's diary portrays the theme of Hindu-Muslim riots as an integral part of the partition. Daksha
recorded the incident as "a most terrible thing". Though everybody was awake waiting for midnight, it was
not joy but probably the lighting and bloodshed that kept them alarmed. After forty years of independence,
Hardika again witnesses a Hindu Muslim communal riot. The incident of two Muslim young men entering
her house for safety reveals that the episode is turned this time:
This time it was not the people with the stones. It was those two boys running away who frightened me, those
two who were begging for their lives. Tomorrow they will hate us for protecting them. Asking for help makes
them feel they are lower than us... I know their wretches pride! (Dattani)
Many are proud to be religious; Aruna too is such a character in Final Solutions. She is proud of Hindu
practices and is hesitant to give Javed and Bobby a glass of water to quench their thirst.
Dattani shows how the seed of riot is sowed and some vested groups reap its fruit. He also discusses the
role of politician, police and public at the time of communal riot. Dattani demonstrates that the major cause
of difference endangered by the two leading communities in our country is their sense of superiority. The
Hindus always think that they are superior to the Muslims and the Muslims think the same. This causes a
big chasm in their relation. The scarcity of religious tolerance is the leading factor for generating a breach
in the society. The sentiment of two different groups can be traced in the chorus of the play Final Solutions:
(Uma Devi)

11. Chorus 1 : The procession has passed through these lanes every year. For Forty years!
Chorus 2, 3 : How dare they ?
Chorus 1,2,3 : For forty years our chariot has moved through their mohallas.
Chorus 4,5 : Why did they ? Why did they today ?
Chorus 1 : How dare they?
Chorus 2,3 : They broke our Rath. They broke our chariot and felled our Gods!
Chorus 1,2,3 : This is our land! How dare they ?
Chorus 1 : It is in their blood!
Chorus 2,3 :It is in their blood to destroy!
Chorus 4 : Why should they?
Chorus 5 : It could have been an accident.
Chorus 2 : The stone that hit our God was no accident!
Chorus 3 : The knife that slit the poojari’s stomach was no accident. (Dattani) (P.168)

12. When Javed and Bobby were about to leave the house Bobby
picked up the image of Krishna, which was tiny , and seated it in
his palm with the intention to ridicule Aruna’s faith and break her
pride. He sarcastically says, (Sheyamala)
Booby: !See! I am touching God!
CHORUS ALL (pounds thrice): We are not idol breakers!
Bobby: Your God! My flesh is holding Him! Look, Javed! And He does
not mind!
Bobby: He does not burn me to ashes! He does not cry out from
heaven saying He has been contaminated! (Dattani) (73)

13. Daksha hates Muslims because her father was killed in a communal riot, and because her overtures of friendship to
Zarine, a young Muslim girl, were rejected after other communal riots that razed Zarine’s father’s shop, and which
incidentally, was bought by Daksha’s father-in-law. Javed, the young Muslim fundamentalist and member of a
‘gang’ has long nursed a resentment against the world because of the ‘otherness’ and the demonisation of his
community and religious identity by the dominant community. Ramnik Gandhi, Daksha’s son is trying to atone for
the sins committed by his father and grandfather, and therefore becomes a conscious ‘secularist’. Daksha tells us
about the riots in which her father was killed, how she and her mother took refuge from the flying stones in the
pooja room, and how her faith in God, represented by the idol of Krishna was suddenly gone, never to return.
These things have not changed that much after forty years too, as the play has opened in the midst of another riot,
and a curfew is on in the small town of Amargaon where the Gandhis live. Daksha’s diary has the usual retellings of
communal hatred and desecration of religious signifiers.
The violence perpetuated by the communal people in our society affects family life and that is dramatized in the
characters of Smita, Ramnik Gandhi, Aruna, Bobby and Javed. The same character Daksha with two names
(Daksha and Hardika) shows how the attitude of the same person to communal tension has changed over the
years. Two Muslim boys, Bobby and Javed take shelter in Ramnik’s house during communal violence in the town.
The dialogue between these two boys with the members of Ramnik’s family reveals the deep-rooted distrust
between two communities. Aruna, Ramnik’s wife argues with her husband and daughter, Smita against giving them
shelter in their house when Aruna forbids Bobby and Javed to touch the water with which she bathes the Gods. It
shows the attitude of Aruna to her religion. The relationship among the members of Ramnik’s family is affected by
the communal feelings prevalent in our society. But Dattani works out a solution by making people understand the
evil inherent in such kind of communal hatred between two major communities in our country. (Uma Devi)

14. ‘Train topakistan’ by khushwant singh
Train to Pakistan was published in 1956 and soon attained an iconic status. Initially titled Mano Majra, it
was published in English and became the first novel to deal with the theme of Partition. Its title was later
changed to Train to Pakistan, as it was justifying the theme of the novel. Born in 1915 in Hadali, Panjab,
Khushwant Singh didn’t suffer much personally during Partition but being witness to those times and
hearing personal accounts from survivors, he understood the tragedy very well.
The tragic Partition of British India into India and Pakistan resulted in the movement of people
unprecedented in the world History, as more than ten million people had to migrate to and fro, but
surprisingly enough it missed the attention of the mainstream historians. Nevertheless, this predicament is
addressed and taken care of with utmost precision and scholarship in the Partition fiction like Train to
Pakistan, as at the very beginning it presents an articulate picture of Partition: (Ali)
The summer before, communal riots, precipitated by reports of the proposed division of the country into a
Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan, had broken out in Calcutta [August 1946], and within a few months the
death toll had mounted to several thousand. Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing.
According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed
and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped. From Calcutta, the riots spread north and east and
west: to Noakhali in East Bengal, where Muslims massacred Hindus; to Bihar, where Hindus massacred
Muslims. . . . Hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs who had lived for centuries on the Northwest
Frontier abandoned their homes and fled towards the protection of predominantly Sikh and Hindu
communities in the east. . . . Along the way—at fords, at crossroads, at railroad stations—they collided with
panicky swarms of Muslims fleeing to safety in the west. (Singh)

15. conclusion
After all this discussion, it can be say that Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions is a
powerful and disturbing play that explores the problem of communalism in India.
The play shows how communalism can divide people, poison relationships, and
lead to devastating consequences. Communal violence is a complex
phenomenon with many contributing factors, including religious extremism,
political manipulation, and social and economic inequalities. Dattani's play
highlights the role of these factors in contributing to communal riots and the
devastating impact that they can have on families and communities. Final
Solutions is a warning about the dangers of communalism and the importance of
working towards a more inclusive and harmonious society. The play urges us to
reflect on the root causes of communalism and to commit to working towards a
more just and equitable society where people of all faiths and backgrounds can
live together in peace.

16. Reference
Agrawal, Rameshchandra F. “Communal Conflicts in Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions.” 9 March 2019,
https://knowledgeresonance.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SP3-1-23.pdf. Accessed 17 October 2023.
Ali, kazim. “Understanding the Historicity of the Text: A Reading of Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan.”
Academia.edu,
https://www.academia.edu/50955822/Understanding_the_Historicity_of_the_Text_A_Reading_of_Khushwant_Si
nghs_Train_to_Pakistan. Accessed 17 October 2023.
Berenschot, Ward. "Rioting as Maintaining Relations: Hindu-Muslim Violence and Political Mediation in Gujarat, India".
In Jutta Bakonyi; Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (eds.). A Micro-Sociology of Violence: Deciphering Patterns and
Dynamics of Collective Violence. Routledge. 2014.
Dattani, Mahesh. Final Solutions. Penguin Group, 2005.
McLane, John R. Hindu Victimhood and India's Muslim Minority. In Charles B.Strozier, et al., editors. The
Fundamentalist Mindset: Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History. OUP USA, 2010.

17. Sharma, Vijay Kumar. Revisiting Mahesh Dattani. Edited by Vijay Kumar Sharma and Shyam Samtani,
Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited, 2016.
Sheyamala, M. “Communal Disharmony in Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solution.” IQAC – Kamaraj College,
2019, https://iqac.kamarajcollege.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/3.3.2-
CommunalDisharmonyinMaheshDattanFinal.pdf. Accessed 17 October 2023.
Singh, Khushwant. Train to Pakistan. Ravi Dayal Publisher, 2013.
Uma Devi, C. K. “Problem of Communal Divide and Communal Tension in Mahesh Dattani's Final
Solutions.” Ashvamegh Indian Journal of English Literature, https://ashvamegh.net/problems-of-
communal-divide-and-communal-tension-in-mahesh-dattanis-final-solutions/. Accessed 17
October 2023.

18. Thankyou