I came across an interesting article by Zainab Sikander in these columns wherein she argued that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s anti-Mughal stand is merely an expression to reinforce anti-Muslim sentiments, and has nothing to do with history. However, my experience suggests that most of the Muslim intellectuals try to vilify the truth of history. This act embeds the belief among the masses that discussing issues like the ‘tyranny of Mughals’ is an attack on the minority community. It must be understood that history owes to none, but truth and time.
In Zainab Sikander’s opinion, renaming cities such as Prayagraj is an attempt to wipe out the Mughal identity that she considers to be an imperative part of India’s civilisation. I agree that the Mughals are part of our civilisational discourse, but not like the way she thinks they are — her argument is shallow because Prayagraj existed with its name since several millennia before its name was changed and primogenital evidence of this comes from the Rig Veda. The Mughals ruled only for three centuries, but the history and identity of ‘Prayagraj’ is older than 24,000 years ago. The antiquity of Prayagraj and its importance to the Indian civilisation is immense. However, we must investigate the events and circumstances around the period when the most powerful Mughal ruler in India, Akbar — who in 1578 ensured that he was addressed as Ghazi — chose to construct the fort Illahabas that later came to be called Allahabad.
“Emperor of Islam, Emir of the Faithful, Shadow of God on earth, Abul Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar Badshah Ghazi, is a most just, most wise, and a most God-fearing ruler.” — Abd al-Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab al-Tavarikh-II, 279–80.
Also read: BJP’s West Bengal plan must not be ‘vote for Modi’ and get a Yogi or Biplab in return
From Prayagraj to Illahabas to Allahabad
In 1574, Akbar decided to build a fort and name the place ‘Illahabas’. According to most accounts, the fort was complete by 1584. Portuguese Jesuit, Father Monserrate, Italian Jesuit missionary and priest Rodolfo Aquaviva and Francisco Henriques arrived at Akbar’s court in early 1580s. Monserrate writes in his travelogue: “religious zeal of the Musalmans has destroyed all the idol temples.” According to him, “in place of the Hindu temples, countless tombs and little shrines of Musalmans (had) been erected.” Just two years after deciding to build Illahabas, Akbar had rewarded Badauni, the Mughal historian, with gold coins for his gesture of declaration to soak his beard with infidel Hindu blood.
Those who live with the belief that Illahabas was founded by Akbar for some secular cause and Illah does not come from illahi of kalima, perhaps, are not aware of Akbar’s acts, which strongly identify him as a Jihadi. A Ghazi, in his own words, is not a secular soul. It is tough to deny that a king who was so excited about someone soaking his beard in Hindu blood won’t have changed the name from Prayagraj to Illahabas as an attack on Hindu faith.
Zainab Sikander, in her article, says renaming cities are also about removing “Muslim sounding names”. But Yogi Adityanath has just brought back the name that existed for millennia till it was changed in the Mughal period. Name changing is not at all about Hindu or Muslim, nor is it about politics. It is all about the truth of the land. Irrespective of where the Kaaba sits, the sun rays would always enter from the east.
Also read: RSS to go by what ‘samaaj’ thinks on Kashi & Mathura mosques, after seers’ call to remove them
Older identities are important too
Zainab Sikander also objects to the scrapping of an under-construction Mughal museum and the UP government’s plan to turn it into a museum dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji. She considers the great escape that Shivaji made from the captivity of mighty Aurangzeb in 1666 from Agra as a non-significant occurrence. Even Aurangzeb considered it to be one of the biggest failures of his life. Agra being the Mughal capital for 90 years is a very short time period when you consider that the state houses one of the oldest Republics of the world — Kashi — standing tall, holding the flag of an oldest living civilization of the world.
No one is trying to blame the Muslims. But keeping 90 years of Agra as the Mughal capital above the millennium-old identity of the place and the heroics of Shivaji, suggests having a myopic vision of India’s history. The truth of Mughal tyranny is horrendous and potent enough to scare any democratic and civilised person of the day. Akbar, considered the most secular of all Mughals, had shown the religious bigotry — the emperor allowed the slaying of ten scores of cows and showered their blood onto the walls of temples (Sir Henry Miers Elliot, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Volume 5, page 464).
Also read: Do-piyaza, blood-spitting paan, camels — The ‘bizarre’ food of Mughals in Western travelogues
Mughals: ‘Symbol of slavery mentality’
Adityanath’s assertion that Mughals were “the symbol of slavery mentality” is not wrong either. Even if I pick the most liberal Mughal rulers, only distress would come to the Mughal Fan Club. Akbar killed innocent Hindus and cows, organised Meena Bazar to get concubines for his Harem, and used to send abundant money to Mecca on various occasions. According to James Todd, Akbar had measured the “killed ones” by weighing their janeu. Even if I just count the atrocities at the hands of Akbar, it will be a challenge to keep an account of them all. Those interested in knowing the ugly facts on Akbar the great, must read primary sources such as Akbarnama.
Zainab Sikander goes on to compare the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians with the Mughals, stating that while the former breaks mosque today, the latter broke temples in the past. This is one of the weakest assertions in her article. More than 40,000 temples were destroyed during the Islamic rule in India (Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them). Before making such claims, the author must present statistics to show how many mosques have been broken by the BJP politicians. Such unsubstantiated claims only lead to polarisation.
Also read: Hussain Shahis’ Krishna Bhakti, Mughals’ Mathura link — lesser-known facts about Muslim rulers
The Jizya truth
The article also tries to justify Jizya by citing the differentiation on its application to different strata, based on Aurangzeb’s Fatawa ‘Alamgiri. But what one must also enquire is the percentage of wealth Aurangzeb was making out of this tax. According to Jagjivan Das (quoted by Irfan Habib in The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556-1707), Jizya formed 15 per cent of the Mughal Empire’s total revenue between 1708 and 1709. This seems to suggest a huge economic problem because GDP per capita growth was negative during this period, according to economic historian Angus Maddison (Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD).
Thomas Rolt, the president of English factory at Surat, said in 1679 that Jizya was charged by enforcing heavy suppression and was also a tool to convert poor Hindus to Islam (The English Factories in India, New Series, Volume 3). Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci, too, had a similar opinion which he expressed a quarter century after (1679) Rolt. Borrowing references from Fatawa ‘Alamgiri to project Mughal history should be the last thing anyone should do, for the book had nothing more than contempt for the “kafirs”. The book supported slavery and addressed it under following points:
- If two or more Muslims, or persons subject to Muslims, who enter a non-Muslim controlled territory for the purpose of pillage without the permission of the Imam, and thus seize some property of the inhabitants there, and bring it back into the Muslim territory, that property would be legally theirs.
- The right of Muslims to purchase and own slaves
- A Muslim man’s right to have sex with a captive slave girl he owns
- No inheritance rights for slaves
- The testimony of all slaves was inadmissible in a court of law
- Slaves require permission of the master before they can marry
- An unmarried Muslim may marry a slave girl owned by another but a Muslim married to a Muslim woman may not marry a slave girl
- Conditions under which the slaves may be emancipated partially or fully
Aurangzeb had sent presents worth around Rs 6,66,000 to Mecca and Rs 70,00,000 to foreign Muslim countries and its rulers. All this was happening when India’s GDP per capita growth rate was negative. It clearly speaks of the character Aurangzeb was.
Also read: Hindu Samrajya Diwas — why and how RSS is reviving a forgotten chapter of history
Taj Mahal
Now, to the Taj Mahal. The ‘monument of love’ was built at a cost of 4.18 Silver Rupees at a time when millions starved in great Deccan Famine. The Taj came into existence upon the blood of those who starved to death in the famine, Indian artisans’ efforts and a Hindu ruler Jai Singh’s land. The Cambridge Economic History of India — a book edited by Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib — documents the extortionist traits of the Mughals. While India’s GDP share percentage in world economy did not diminish (though it was highest before Islamic Invasions), the GDP per capita growth remained negative throughout the Mughal period (Angus Maddison, Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD).
It is tough to understand why the Mughals must be given credit for creating a structure when nothing except the order to commission was run by them. India was always home to fabulous architecture like the Kailasha temple. What must be asked is why the Mughals could never build anything so marvellous, like the Taj, back in their homeland?
Also read: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who championed a ‘Hindavi Swarajya’, wasn’t against Islam
History by the ‘hunted’
Yogi Adityanath’s decision to name the museum after Shivaji is a step towards ensuring that the tale of hunt is also written by those who were hunted. No king or warrior had ever given as bloody a blow to the Mughals as Shivaji and the Maratha Empire had. Shivaji was the first leader to speak about “Swaraj” and he must be celebrated in the land where he made a tyrant Aurangzeb to eat a humble pie.
Being “anti-Mughal” is not being “anti-Islam”. It is simply saying the truth out loud. The more one sides with tyrant Mughals holding the edge of faith, the more damage they bring for the Islam.
Aabhas Maldahiyar @aabhas24 is a practicing urban designer, columnist, author and an amateur History Researcher. Views are personal.
Indian Muslims identify themselves with mughals (who were outsiders) at the cost of their own people (all indians including hindus). There might be a miniscule gene pool in them derived from Central Asian invaders but are overwhelmingly South Asian. When they ignore their tyranny and idolise those invaders just because of religion, conflicts are bound to happen. At the same time, majority should be prudent to be forward looking and understanding that division is only going to hurt this country.
Mr Alok: It is utterly preposterous to insinuate that Indian Muslims identify themselves with Mughals and are therefore at odds with other Indians. Equally ludicrous is your claim that Indian Muslims:
“.. idolise those invaders just because of religion, conflicts are bound to happen ..”
An extension of your specious argument to Christians, Jews, Sikhs would be:
“.. Indian Christians idolise the British & Portuguese invaders and just because of religion, conflicts are bound to happen .. “
“.. Jews idolise Israel and just because of religion, conflicts are bound to happen .. “
“.. Sikhs idolise Khalistan and just because of religion, conflicts are bound to happen .. “
In fact, one could make the claim that since most Indian Jews opt to immigrate to Israel and break ties with India, they are aligned with Israel. Likewise, Sikhs have fought a bitter war over Khalistan where both Sikhs and Hindus have slaughtered each other and are therefore at loggerheads with India and Hindus. Christians, especially groups like Anglo-Indians have preferred to leave India for Western countries and so on. Indeed, the history of the interaction of the major religions of India has been one of uneasy truce with periodic episodes of violent strife. The Partition of 1947-48 being one of the worst examples of this mutual bloodletting.
Coming back to Muslims. In today’s India, most Indian Muslims languish in poverty and face immense discrimination and indeed violence in India. In BJP run states such as UP, they face threats to life and limb for merely adhering to another religion, Islam. And that happens regardless of their patriotism. The patriotism of Sartaj, a corporal in the Indian Air Force did not prevent the lynching of his father Mohammad Akhlaq (RIP) in Dadri in 2015. Nor did it lead to any real prosecution of the lynchers since many of the guilty were BJP party leaders or were connected to BJP bigwigs. And the PM who could easily have reined in his lumpen followers and thugs like Adityanath has done precious little to stop the violence against Muslims.
So rather than say that Muslims adhere to and identify themselves with Mughals, I would claim that it is Hindus who adhere to the violent, fascist philosophy of Hindutva modelled upon Hitler’s Nazism and Mussolini’s fascsim and the ones who will cause the splintering of India.
Splintering of India??? Is it not the real intent and rest is just justification. India was divided in 1947. Muslims had their country. Want to know which other group is yet to be settled??
If ‘The Print’ continues to engage writers of this caliber or continues to publish articles having strong religious connotations favouring only one religion, probably will lose atleast one reader, “me”.
Best Wishes.
????
You don’t like truth? Or do you like only the lies told by Congress and communists in the name of history?
If Ramayan, Mahabharat all happened in northIndia. Can you show one old temple around delhi, ruled by most secular peaceful kings of the universe( as per many in India)
Shekhar Gupta, have you noticed that India’s record in the pandemic, the death rate per million and the fall in economic output, is truly atrocious, the worst in the world by quite a degree? Do you see a link between the sort of mental case the author is and the record of this government? I do, and I consider your sponsorship of this piece a moral failutre.
Lol … Talk something related or context to the article man ..
When he is burning with reality check in the article they will bring what aboutery of economics & death rate into picture.
lol true
Hey ,
I am assuming you haven’t studied in a regular school or your brain hijacked by few.
Which is better 11/100 or 2/10 ?
Liberandus like u shud stop talking about education
After all u retards r nothing but slaves of commies and jihadis
Using jargons and psuedo connotations doesn’t make u morons knowledgeable
Shame on u and ur pathetic life
I m proud to be a sanatani slave than being a jihadi lap dog like u
Mughalo ka jhutan kha kha k taklu usi me ched raha hai.
Ab tak kitna khaya Taj Mahal, Agra fort, fatehpur sikri vagaira vagaira ki khairat ki aamdani se?
Naam badal badal k des ko lootne wale kutre,zara deshwasiyo ko yeh bhi bata na k Allahabad ka naam badalne me ₹800,000,00,00.00 ka choona des k khazane ko lagaya.
Dosto jaante ho, har sarkari board,sikke,papers,traino k boards, internet pe information, aur anginat vastu, jaga,aadi addi sab kuch jaha Allahabad likha ho usko badalna parra hai…. …jab 800 crore se zyada kharcha ho jata hai,tab jaa k Ek bade shahar k naam se juda har kuch badalta hai. Ab Taklu ko apni jeb se to nikalna ni hai, peechwara to hum logo ka hi fatta hai. Aur is matter me kai crore jo yeh saap nighal jaate hai,uska to hisab alag .
Khali logo ko bewaquf bana bana kar 5 saal bitayege,fir election k waqt, hidu muslim mandir masjid karege….
? what you are talking is nowhere related to the article … article is well informed ok
What nonsense ? Why trying to divert ?
Yogiji ne sahi kiya . Agar isase bhi jyada lge , ham dene ko tyar hain,. Looteron aur hatyron ka naam hataane ko.
Anyone who acts an apologist for the genocidal, misogynist patriarchal, rapist pedophile founder of the evilest intolerant supremacist cult of terror revered as ideal specimen of the mankind to be emulated is a terror operative himself/herself. They must be prosecuted and made to do gharWapsi. Time to make India constitutionally and legally HINDU RASTHTRA with malaysia like policies to induce Ghar wapsi or else no benefits to Cult of PEDO.
Mr Santani: Would the “ghar wapasi” you clamour for apply to Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis tribals and atheists?
And then, in the Hindu Rashtra that you will generate by trashing the Constitution, what will you do to Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, tribals etc. who do not comply with your “ghar wapasi” policy ? Impose a Hindu version of “jizya” on them? Or, like the Nazis who inspired the RSS and the BJP and clearly also bigots like you, will there be concentration camps, forced labour and mass executions for the non-Hindus of your Hindu Rashtra? In any case, de facto concentration camps are already being built in Assam to get rid of human beings who presumably are “termites” – to cite Amit Shah. Of course, the euphemism “detention centre” is used to describe what is essentially a concentration camp.
One more serious question Mr Santani. Sikhs have been agitating for Khalistan, a separate homeland for adherents of the Sikh religion. That violent conflict has been quelled although it still simmers in pockets here and there, Any thoughts on how your “ghar wapasi” schemes would impact Sikhs ? Will it not revive the Khalistan struggles ?
Care to elaborate Mr Santani ?
Ghar wapsi does not apply to sikhs and jains . They were not converted through brute force or lollipops . Moreover , sikh,buddha and jain religions are almost derived from hinduism
Ms Purnima Srivasthav: Thanks for the response.
Alas, you are missing the woods for the trees. The 2 substantive points being raised in my posts are:
1: The RSS strategy to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra by trashing Art. 25 of the Constitution pertaining to religious freedoms
2: The RSS tactic of “ghar wapasi” applying it to religions it today – I re-iterate today – considers alien to India viz. Islam and Christianity.
You might claim that the RSS tactic of “ghar wapasi” is only aimed at Christians and Muslims. But whether that will assuage these other groups is highly uncertain. As events in the past have shown.
In 2015, when Jains in Maharashtra wanted meat bans to be extended during the “Prayushan Parva”, an eight-day Jain festival, the Shiv Sena taunted them in its mouthpiece Saamana saying:
“Muslims have Pakistan. Where will Jains go?”
“A large number of the city’s builders are Jains and have no qualms accepting black money from flat buyers. Accepting black money is a sin and also a form of violence. Do they stop accepting black money during Paryushan?”
(ref: bit.ly/36diQ0p & ref: bit.ly/3iiWOvn )
Indeed, Shiv Sena compared Jain monk Naypadmasagari Maharaj to controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
My larger point Ms Srivasthav is that policies and ideologies that pit one numerically dominant identity or religion against other numerically weaker identities or religions will quickly lead to combat. Gestures of tokenism such as Sikhs & Jains being regarded as members of the fold today will not last. As the Sikh fights with Hindus over Khalistan or the Jain conflict with Maharashtrians amply prove. People quickly see through these marriages of convenience for what they actually are: sham friendships.
Mr. Kili : There is a special characteristic of your response. You create an imaginary situation and then ask the unsuspecting opponents to reply. You answer my question. You have raised the possibility of another partition of India? Since the country was divided in 1947 , and muslims got Pakistan, who are going to seek another partition. Are you talking about Gajba Hind?
Hindus have to stop being apologetic about correcting historical wrongs. Present day Muslims too should realise that their forefathers were Hindus.This is the only country in the world that Hindus can claim as their own.Better they start asserting this fact.
Hindus like you will be forever correcting historical wrongs – because you are incapable of building a future.
Says a rasgulla ..lol
MODERATORS:
HATE SPEECH AGAIN FROM rsagolla.
This Rasgulla person has lost his brains. Replying to every comment.
You are so right Jitendra. Hindus have been suppressed for so long. Muslims must apologise for the wrong they did to the Hindu community, their heritage and their sentiments. ‘Ek Hindustan not to rebbe do’ I would say. charm mani chahiye. ke welcome kayak, to destruction kardiya hamari country ko. Amman se rehang sheikh’, I would tell them.
Ms Damyanti: You bray:
“.. Muslims must apologise for the wrong they did to the Hindu community ..”
Going by that argument, would upper caste Hindus apologise to Dalits for the atrocities perpetrated upon the latter?
Khalistanis have no takers among Indian Sikh. Only those Sikh outside India are fascinated by Khalistan and supported by PAKISTAN. Hindu Rastra means people belonging to induc religion which includes Sikh, Jain, Buddhists, and protection for minorities like Parsis,Jews. This will curtail Islamic bigotry on this land. Secularism is not a one way street. Hindu’s secularism saw them getting extinct in Pak/BD/Afgan. India is secular only because Hindu are in majority. We all how Islamic state works
Mr. Khalistani, you barked:
“Going by that argument, would upper caste Hindus apologise to Dalits for the atrocities perpetrated upon the latter?”
Don’t poke your nose in matters unrelated to your community.. we have a strong affirmative action for our Hindu Dalit brothers and sisters. By the way, would you like to elucidate why Jutt Sikhs hate Majhabi and Ravisassiya Sikhs so much that they have to construct their separate Gurudwaras?
And, in the parting, I would love to burn your already burning derriere by leaving a fact for you to ruminate upon:
In almost every riots against Hindus, your Islamist brothers have primarily targeted Dalit Hindus.. and it has mostly been Dalit Hindus who have retaliated ferociously every time, be it Gujarat riots or more recently in Delhi.
And, to add more salt to your burn, Dalit brothers have been the leading force behind the Ram-Janambhoomi agitation as well.
Gaurakshak Samji: You do not decide what I write about – that is my bloody choice. Just as I do not prevent you from inhaling and getting high on the hot air emanating from Arnab Goswami & Adityanath.
You talk of affirmative action for dalits in India. Wonder if that affirmative action for Dalits that you brag about was in evidence in Hathras, UP where the Dalit woman was gang raped and died a day ago.
But let us get back to the issue of caste in Indian religions.
Fact is, ALL, I repeat ALL Indian religions have endorsed and embraced caste based discrimination, regardless of what the scriptures in their respective religions might claim. In fact, even outside of India, Islam and Christianity practise discrimination on the basis of colour, ethnicity, denomination, class etc. In the US, there are black churches and white churches and congregations are separated on the basis of race. Likewise, Turkish Muslims consider themselves European and above Arab Muslims who in turn look down upon Indian & Pakistani Muslims who in turn look down upon African Muslims and so on, ad infinitum.
Bottomline: Religions, regardless of what they profess in their holy books and what their adherents say publicly, have not been able to stop discrimination and strife anywhere in the world. On the contrary, they often promote strife.
Regarding your claim that Dalits are involved in agitations for the temple business in Ayodhya and the RSS instigated violence in Godhra, well you need to look beyond just the caste label of these lumpen agitators. No middle class Indian, politician or affluent Indian will risk life and limb and participate in these riots. The lower rungs of society and its lumpen elements – and they are often Dalits or lower castes – are the ones who are conned into doing the dirty work of the upper castes. Proving merely that the caste system is at work in that upper castes don’t get their hands dirty when it comes to the gorier and riskier aspects of violence. Like your fellow traveller Dr Mayaben Kodnani who in 2002 went about goading her Hindutva supporters to kill and rape Muslims in Naroda Patiya whilst doing her damndest to not getting caught doing so.
In any case, I will let you go on with the chores you have volunteered to perform on the derrières of Arnab Goswami & Adityanath.
They are in a sense by reservation policy
Now Zainab Sikander will consult with her khala Rana Safvi and her apaa Arfa Khanum Sherwani.
Together will say ABBA, DABBA, JABBA
You seem unable to dismiss them, they cause burning to you.
And you have nothing factual to add except rant. Burning is now being caused to muslim apologists like you who in this age of social media are finding it hard to defend the fake historical narratives built by frauds like irfan habib over the years to whitewash the mass genocide done by islamic fundamentalists.
Thank you Abbas ji. We all must know these facts. Good you highlighted. Most of us are ignorant and there’s never any light shed.
Great work @aabhas24 Aabhas Maldahiyar ji. You are always a treat to read.
It’s very sad to have this kind of mental idiot CM for d County like India.
One day will come to know d truth
Well, he is likely to be the next PM of India. And people like the author of this article will surely back this saffron thug.
No he won’t be the next PM. That’s Shah. Remember South India!
Thank God that South India and Punjab exist such where these saffron thugs are kept at bay.
Lmao. Your comment shows straight hatred for him just because he is a proud Sanatani Hindu.
Mr Mayank Mishra: You seem to ignore the fact that most UPites seem to run away from this Hindutva ideologue and saffron rabble-rouser and seek their fortunes in the South of India where Hindutva is kept at bay. Renaming museums and cities, lynching innocent Muslims, destroying mosques and building temples do not bring prosperity to UP. Nor do Adityanath’s infamous Romeo squads.
Additionally, you also conflate Hinduism, an ancient religion, with Hindutva, a much recent political ideology. Hindutva is the fascist ideology created by the likes of B.S.Moonje, Savarkar and Golwalkar, all of whom were admirers of Hitler and Musolini. Indeed, Moonje visited Mussolini and the RSS he helped found was based on the very same militaristic foundations of the Italian fascists.
Hence, when people like you go about endorsing the naked violence endorsed and encouraged by a in the name of religion by a bigoted, saffron satan and call him a Hindu, you are insulting Hinduism.
SHAME ON YOU !
Just have sweet dreams about Sant Bandarwala ji
Shame on you Khalistani.. UPites have to migrate to other states just as you migrate to Canada, UK (sometimes illegally to the extent of marrying your own NRI sisters).. Moreover, there is a history behind the plight of UP, Bihar migrations, which didn’t start after Yogi became CM.
Since Independence and right uptill late 1950s, Kanpur-Calcutta belt was the most industrialized zone of India, and a job-magnate for rest of the India as well.. Then came the atrocious Freight-Equalization policy of Congress.. That coupled with rise of Socialism across Bihar, Bengal and UP put paid to this Industrial belt. So, before you spit on Hindi regions (actually your aim is at Hindus in general, as evident by your other comments), just introspect how you treat non-Jat Sikhs in Punjab
Gaurakshak Samji:
If your Hindutva buddies want to make India into a Hindu Rashtra where Hindus come ahead of all other religions and others are de jure and de facto second class citizens, should you be surprised if Sikhs want a separate state for themselves? And yes, the RSS might claim that Sikhs and Jains are of Indic religions and hence “kosher”. But should Sikhs trust the RSS, an organisation that did not particpiate in the freedom struggle, killed the Father of the nation and is behind almost every attack on the Muslim minority? Who is to say that what happens to Muslims & Dalits won’t happen to Sikhs or Jains?
Indeed, in 2015, the Shiv Sena was in conflict with Jains in Maharashtra and tauntingly asked the Jain community:
“.. Muslims have Pakistan. Where will Jains go? ..”
My point here is that India is an artificial nation, a hodge podge of some 600 odd kingdoms that the British ruled as one administrative entity. When they left, that single entity called undivided India became 2 entities – India and Pakistan. In 1971, it became 3 entities India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Restricting myself to India for now, you ought to realise that it is a fragile, fissiparous collection of regions, religions, languages, cultures, tribes and ethnicities that almost always are at loggerheads with each other. A federal structure, a modern Constitution, secularism and democracy have, against great odds, kept the country united and prevented it from going the way of countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Yugoslavia, the former USSR and so on. For all its faults, the Congress succeeded in nation-building, despite many stumbles in places like Kashmir, Nagaland, Punjab and so on. Indeed, during the early phases of the anti-Hindi movements in Tamilnadu, many southern states even threatened to leave the Union.
Bottomline: India is a collection of regions that have not necessarily willingly come together to form a country; it is actually a collection of regions that in many places are held together – often by force. Toying with this fragile coalition by promoting the Hindu identity above others as you and your Hindutva buddies are doing will mire the country in violence and unleash uncontrollable fissiparous forces.
And don’t forget that large swathes of the country are already not in the control of the Government of India. And no, I am not referring to areas of the country that the Chinese seized from India. I am talking of Naxalites.
“Aabhas Maldahiyar @aabhas24 is a practicing urban designer, columnist, author and an amateur History Researcher”
That he is an amateur historian is beyond any doubt ! That he is a “researcher” is a gross exaggeration – to say the least !
Please let us know how?
Do you dispute the books he quoted?
Where did this figure of 24,000 years come from ? The oldest human city settlements are 5000-6000 years old – Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mohenjodaro.
Read more history instead of ranting. Smh!
I did not expect from the print like this factual column ..the print must have like this approach..may some may say godi media..but 90 % people are not fool
It has become a fashion for many Hindu leftists, writers and film makers to abuse Hindu sentiments knowing very well the Hindus will never protest. latest to this list is Mr. Anurag Basu, a Bengali film maker who has made a film ‘Kabuliwallah’ in Netflix. He has diverted from the original story by Tagore to show the little girl ‘Mini’ doing Namaaz for the Kabuliwallah. Will he have the courage to depict a little Muslim girl praying in the temple? No way as that would be his last day in this world.
‘abuse Hindu sentiments’
You mean to say everyone should endorse any fabrication Hindus make ? You feel entitled, do you ?
Rasgolla: You are the uncivilised Adityanath clone who goes about proclaiming your hatred of Hindusim and Hindus in these columns – just as your mentor Adityanath goes about spewing his hatred for Muslims.
It is a pity that the moderators don’t stop Nazis like you who spew hatred for Hindus just as they don’t stop the Hindutva Nazis from spewing hatred for Islam and Christianity.
You are both two sides of the same base coin.
Moguls were cruel and barbaric .their contributions is to kill Hindus and rapists of Hindu women. Finally they build graves in huge lands except grave use the lands for public purpose
The Mughals made a country out of you. Your dress, food ,language, architecture, cities, all bear their imprimatur.
I suggest you overcome your inferiority complex – by building even better things. Are you capable of that ? Looking at Modi type of Hindus, I would say not.
Long before your mughals started their Jehad and built minarets of sculls of Hindus, we had built magnificent architectural marvels like Ajanta-Ellora, Ramanathaswamy Temple, Ranakpur Temple, Meenakshi Temple, Konark temple, city of Hampi, etc.