It is just a history textbook. Why should we bother about it? Let us worry about more important issues like jobs, highways, education, smart cities and Swacch Bharat. Why does the government want to bother about trivial things like history?
This is the rhetoric of a strong proponent of ‘Vikas’ on the right wing. The rhetoric of an anti-BJP and anti-RSS leftist is also the same. Both believe that forgetting controversial parts of history and forcing down whitewashed secular history is probably the best option for a society like India which has been invaded, plundered and divided over millennia starting from Muhammed Ghori (in 1192 AD).
Proponents of Vikas fail to realise that the civilisational battle is a long-term project and cultural heritage of a country should be protected in order to preserve the development achieved in the long term. Kerala has nearly 100 percent literacy, but some people are so barbaric that they slaughter a cow on camera. Is this the Vikas that we want?
A large majority of Hindus (especially the educated ones) are confused about their own identity. They are not worried about preservation/defence of their own culture. Instead, they are stuck in a state of Stockholm syndrome as far as history is concerned. Admiration for British and Mughals are symptoms of this disease.
The need for awareness about the persecution of Hindus under Islamic rulers has come to the forefront again. People are threatened with their livelihoods for expressing their views about Islamic onslaught on Hindus. Chef Atul Kochhar had to apologise profusely for tweeting about ‘Hindus being terrorised by Islam’. His tweet had a factual error as far as the figure ‘2000 years’ is concerned.
The argument of the mob out to punish him is: how can you insult Islam while making money in a Muslim country? Somehow these mobs fail to understand that lakhs of Muslims who are citizens of India take pride in routinely insulting Hindu sentiments by indulging in cow slaughter (thanks to Nehru).
If Indian government had included chapters about temple destruction by Islamic invaders, Aurangzeb’s atrocities on non-Muslims, brutal Calcutta killings, communal violence launched by Razakars of Hyderabad and Kashmiri Pandit exodus in the textbooks, we would not have had a situation where a Hindu would be called a bigot for stating the truth.
We have been taught about large hearted Akbar and his Ibadat Khana while ignoring atrocities of Aurangzeb. We fail to understand that Akbar adopted a conciliatory stance on Hindus only after he had subjugated and conquered Hindu rulers. The Taj Mahal captivates the Indian mind while obscuring the fact that hundreds of temple ruins lie scattered in many states of India. This has drowned the entire country in historical amnesia and enabled persecution of those who dare to raise their voice on these issues.
Instances where Islam terrorised Hindus
Historical amnesia will not affect us immediately. The whitewashing of religious bigotry in history will make us forget Hindu persecution at the hands of Islamic invaders.
- Quwwat-Ul-Islam mosque: The Quwwut-Ul-Islam mosque in Qutub Minar complex of Delhi was built with the ruins of 27 Hindu and Jaina temples. It was built by one of the earliest Sultans of Delhi, Qutubuddin Aibak. The name ‘Quwwat Ul Islam’ literally means ‘glory of Islam’. Is this not an onslaught of Islam on Hinduism? A similarly converted mosque named Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra was built on the orders of Muhammed Ghori in Ajmer during the same period.
- Aurangzeb’s reign of terror: No matter how much of whitewashing is done by the likes of Audrey Truschke, we are well aware that Aurangzeb unleashed a reign of terror. Temple destruction was unabated and Jizya reintroduced in his territory. According to the book ‘The Great Big Book of Horrible Things‘, 4.6 million people were killed under Aurangzeb’s rule. The Gyanvapi mosque stands as a testimony to the stellar contribution of Aurangzeb to the ‘composite culture’ or ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb‘ of India.
- Ruins of Hampi: Books and historians fail to tell a story more convincing than the ruins of Hampi (erstwhile Vijayanagar empire’s capital). All temples of Hampi except one were razed down by a combined force of Bahmani, Ahmednagar, Berar, Bijapur and Golkonda kingdoms during the battle of Talikota. All of them were Islamic kingdoms which ruled over parts of Deccan plateau. The vibrant city was sacked so badly that it was reduced to rubble and vacated after the battle of Talikota.
- Razakar atrocities on the village of Gorata: The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to join Pakistan or remain as an independent state in the post-independence scenario. If not for Operation Polo, the rampage of Nizam’s private militia called Razakars would have heaped more atrocities on the Hindu subjects of Nizam’s kingdom. The onslaught of Razakars on the village of Gorata has been documented as below by KM Munshi ( a leading Congressman) in his book ‘The End of an Era: Hyderabad Memories’: “All around the village, the dead bodies of animals were seen lying in a decomposed state. Heaps of human skeletons and bones and half-burnt dead bodies were seen lying even at the time of our visit to different places in the whole village. The village of Gorta is completely desolate, the houses and the localities have been entirely ruined… The loss is estimated at Rs 70 lakh”.
- Mappila/Moplah riots in Kerala: While the Congress and Mahatma Gandhi were singing the song of Hindu-Muslim unity during the Khilafat movement, Muslims in Kerala went about murdering and converting Hindus. They drove away 100,000 Hindus from the state during this bloody chapter of history. Annie Besant described the events in her book ‘The Future of Indian Politics’ as below: “They murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatize. Somewhere about a lakh of people were driven from their homes with nothing but the clothes they had on, stripped of everything. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India”
There are many more instances which one can quote to substantiate the fact that Hindus have been terrorised by radical Islam. Hindus are not safe in a modern nation – state like India if Muslims become a majority in any state. Kashmir is a trailer for Hindus of rest of India.
In addition to this, Hindus, the Sikhs have also martyred to save their religion from the Mughals. Guru Tegh Bahadur, Guru Arjan, Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Dayala have laid down their lives for refusing to convert to Islam. Had they succumbed to fear and yielded to Islamic terror, Sikhs would not have found the strength to endure the tough times under Islamic rule.
Forgetting all these historical events for the sake of ‘communal harmony’ or ‘secularism’ is not at all a fair proposition. We must never forget the barbarian nature of these events and ensure that such acts are condemned by one and all. Burying these historical facts to shield minorities from ’embarrassment’ will only embolden religious fanatics and extremists.
