Communalism is an expression of ____________.

The correct answer is Option (2) → divisiveness

Option (1) diversity — Incorrect. The term ‘diversity’ emphasises differences rather than inequalities: India’s cultural diversity means that many different communities, defined by language, religion, sect, race or caste, live here. Diversity is only the fact of these differences; communalism is an aggressive attitude that turns one of them, religion, into a source of hostility.

Option (2) divisiveness — Correct. Communalism is aggressive chauvinism based on religious identity. Chauvinism sees one’s own group as the only legitimate or worthy group, with other groups seen as inferior, illegitimate and opposed. Communalists are prepared to condemn or attack everyone who does not share their identity, so communalism divides society along religious lines and has been a recurrent source of tension and violence.

Option (3) cultural identity — Incorrect. Every person has a cultural or community identity, based on birth and ‘belonging’, which gives a sense of who one is; having such an identity is not hostile to anyone. Communalism is not the identity itself but an aggressive chauvinism that condemns or attacks everyone who does not share it.

Option (4) religious identity — Incorrect. Communalism is based on religious identity, but communalism is about politics, not about religion. There is no necessary relationship between personal faith and communalism: a devout believer may or may not be a communalist. What makes it communalism is the aggressive attitude towards people of other identities.

Note: The pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, had, in the introduction to the chapter ‘The Challenges of Cultural Diversity’, lines on ‘so many divisive forces’ at work tearing apart the unity of the country, naming communal riots first among them. These lines have been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its section on communalism are still there.