On 12th November, The Print published an article in support of self-proclaimed historian and YouTuber Dr Ruchika Sharma, who claims to have a PhD in history from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), after she faced backlash from pro-hijabi individuals on social media as she criticised hijab. Interestingly, while speaking to The Print, Ruchika claimed that “none of her peers came to her rescue.” Furthermore, she declared that she would “think twice” before talking about any other religion. She said, “What’s happened to me speaks volumes. After the threats, I’m afraid. Next time, I’ll think twice before discussing other religions, perhaps, other than Hinduism.”
How it all started
It all began on 3rd November when Ruchika quoted Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist on a mission against compulsory hijab in Islamic nations. In a post, Masih had shared a video of an Iranian student who was harassed by her university’s morality police over her “improper” hijab. In protest, the student stripped down to her underwear. The video went viral, and reports emerged that the student was later arrested and labelled as “troubled”.
Quoting Masih, Ruchika wrote, “I’m so proud of this woman. This is your daily reminder that the hijab is a symbol of oppression. From its origins being both classist and misogynistic to it being used as a weapon to oppress scores of women today.” Her post garnered over 500,000 impressions on social media, with hundreds of comments and reposts, most of them hateful towards her.
Ruchika argued in a reply to her own post that she had written about the “oppressive origins of hijab” long ago and shared a screenshot of her article from Firstpost published in 2019.
I had written about the oppressive origins of hijab long back. Its history is narrated here. Screenshotting the relevant section. Link here (https://t.co/xB4A0v562R) pic.twitter.com/eUkaTslqoq
— Dr. Ruchika Sharma (@tishasaroyan) November 3, 2024
In another reply to a person who claimed only one in a million women say hijab is oppressive, while millions of others wear it willingly as a badge of modesty, Ruchika wrote, “Hijab is oppressive. There’s history to show that. That said, even now, it’s utterly oppressive. And just because the other million women don’t say it out loud doesn’t mean they aren’t oppressed. Even if a single woman is forced to wear it, it’s oppressive!”
Hijab is oppressing. There's history to show that. That said even now, it's utterly oppressive. And just because the other million woman don't say it out loud doesn't they aren't oppressed. Even if a single woman is forced to wear it, it's oppressive!
— Dr. Ruchika Sharma (@tishasaroyan) November 3, 2024
Over the next ten days, she was hounded by Islamists for her comments, and at one point, she called God an “invisible burger in the sky,” which was linked to the ongoing controversy she had sparked and was interpreted as “blasphemy” for referring to Allah. Screenshots of her reply to an X user, Mufasa, where she said, “Decency, shamelessness — your invisible burger in the sky won’t decide that. Sit down, kid. Every woman can decide her morality for herself. The illusion here is that wearing hijab somehow protects you, makes you better in the eyes of some invisible burger in the sky,” went viral on social media.
Decency, shamelessness tera invisible burger in the sky decide nahin karega. Baith ja, chhote. Every woman can decide her morality for herself. The illusion here is wearing hijab somehow protects you, makes you better in the eyes of some invisible burger in the sky.
— Dr. Ruchika Sharma (@tishasaroyan) November 8, 2024
Those who felt she insulted Allah, demanded scrict action against her and trended hashtag #ArrestRuchikaSharma.
How Ruchika Sharma distorted history and mocked Hinduism
This particular incident was not the first time Ruchika came face-to-face with the reality of how speaking against a religion can make someone’s life difficult. While she spoke against Hinduism conveniently without much drama or online abuse, speaking against Islam has been a completely different story for her. Over the past few years, she had made headlines for all the wrong reasons as she attempted to present a mockery in the name of history revolving around Sanatan Dharma.
Ruchika Sharma has a strong penchant for presenting her views as history to her gullible audience. However she has repeatedly come under fire for it, sometimes even from her followers which consist of radical Muslims and leftists. Her Muslim supporters even lambasted her for calling the Muslim veil’s origins “classist and sexist,” threatening to stop her from speaking out against the hijab if she wanted to continue earning their support.
The former student at JNU, who runs the “Eyeshadow & Etihaas with Dr Ruchika Sharma” YouTube channel saw one of her articles taken down by Scroll for presenting false claims. In 2017, the website published an article titled, “History lesson: Padmavati was driven to immolation by a Rajput prince, not Ala-ud-din Khalji” penned by her. The article, was later taken down as it presented wrong facts about history.
It stated that Rani Padmini dreaded being raped by Devapala of Kumbhalner after he defeated and killed her husband, Rawal Ratan Sen and hence performed Jauhar (the Hindu Rajput tradition of mass self-immolation to elude capture, captivity and rape by Turko-Persian Islamic invaders). Unsurprisingly, the piece had to be taken down because it was ridden with glaring inaccuracies and the media portal was denounced for spreading misinformation.
Ruchika Sharma is also an ardent cheerleader of Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan and even praises them for their alleged ‘generosity’ in her tweets and interviews to media outlets that share her ideology. Notably, there is no empirical data on their noble deeds except the manufactured claims of leftists and liberals.
However, there is an abundance of evidence demonstrating how these two oppressors murdered, maimed and plundered Hindus as well as their temples and religious places. She regularly glorifies and humanities evil Muslim rulers who are remembered for their large-scale massacres, imposing jizya and their cruelty and hatred for Hindus. She regularly glorifies and humanises evil and atrocious Muslim rulers who are remembered for their large-scale massacres, imposition of jizya (tax on non-Muslims) and their animosity for Hindus.
The so-called boldness in criticising religion finally bows down to Islamists
In conclusion, Ruchika Sharma’s so-called “boldness” has clearly met its match. It’s easy for her to criticise Hinduism without facing much trouble, but when she dared to comment on Islam, she quickly realised it wasn’t the same game. From twisting facts about Hindu history to praising tyrants like Aurangzeb, her version of being a “historian” has backfired in the most royal way possible, drawing the kind of backlash she probably did not expect.
