Lal Chand, the principal spokesperson of the Punjab Hindu Sabha and later the leader of Arya Samaj, highlighted the extent to which some Municipalities were organised on communal lines: 'The members of the Committee arrange themselves in two rows, around the presidential chair. On the left are seated the representatives of the banner of Islam and on the right the descendants of old Rishis of Aryavarta. By this arrangement the members are constantly reminded that they are not simply Municipal Councillors, but they are as Muhammedans versus Hindus and vice-versa.

1) Some of the early nationalists believed that nationalism could be built only on a Hindu foundation.
2) As pointed out by Sarvepalli Gopal, Hindu, revivalism found its voice in politics through the Arya Samaj, founded in 1875, with its assertion of superior qualities of Hinduism.
3) The organization of cow protection leagues in large parts of North India in the late nineteenth century gave a fillip to Hindu communalism.
4) The effort of organizations such as Arya Samaj was strengthened by the Theosophical movement led by Annie Besant from 1891.
5) Besant identified herself with Hindu nationalists and expressed her ideas as follows: The Indian work is first of all the revival, strengthening and uplifting of ancient religions.
6) This has brought with it a new self-respect, a pride in the past, a belief in the future and as an inevitable result, a great wave of patriotic life, the beginning of the rebuilding of a nation.

Communalism:
1) Organising a religious group on the basis of its hostility towards the followers of other religions to fight even material issues.
2) Communalism as an ideology or movement has been defined in various ways by various scholars.
3) According to Nehru, communalism is one of the obvious examples of backward-looking people trying to hold on to something that is wholly out of place in the modem world and is essentially opposed to the concept of nationalism.
4) According to another scholar, communalism denotes organised attempt of a group to bring about change in the face of resistance from other groups or the government through collective mobilisation based on a narrow ideology.