Defaming Gujarat will not help anti-Hindu brigade
By MV Kamath
Narendra Modi is again in the news. There are several conclusions drawn from the Supreme Court judgement on his alleged involvement in the Godhra riots. It does not really matter whether he had been absolved in the case against him or not. The issue is not Modi, nor is it the Godhra riots and what followed. Nor, for that matter, is the demolition of the Babri Masjid. History can be cruel. Is there any record of Hindu rulers indulging in large scale demolition of mosques? But there is plenty of valid information available on the number of Hindu temples demolished by Muslim rulers, provided by Muslim historians themselves. To them Muslim rulers who indulged in their barbaric activities were merely following the tenets of Islam. Our secularists ignore this evidence.
On the Babri issue, let it be remembered that it was not demolished overnight. Hindu leaders had literally pleaded with Muslim religious leaders for an understanding of their emotive needs. There was clear evidence that the mosque had been built on the very site where a temple to Sri Ram existed. That temple had been viciously destroyed. If Muslim spokesmen had shown some grace and conceded to Hindus what was so dear to them, there would have been a tremendous surge of Hindu-Muslim bhai bhai. But that was not to be.
Had the Muslim leaders been accommodative, then there would have been no Godhra; more importantly, there would have been a surge of communal harmony, throughout the country. For what, in reality, happened, one has only Muslim leadership to blame, not to speak of their alleged secular supporters. It is no secret that Babri Masjid is only one of hundreds of temples destroyed by predatory Muslim rulers. A full list of all the temples destroyed is available in Sita Ram Goel’s classic study: Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them. It names not only the Muslim historians, but the books they had written and the information on temples destroyed, men killed and citizens converted to Islam.
One of the worst examples of desecration was that carried out by Ghazni Mohammad in 1,000 AD when soliders under instruction not only smashed the Linga in the Somnath Temple but had parts of it scattered before a mosque in Ghazni for people to trample upon. Forget the number of innocent Hindus killed on orders, some by no less than Akbar who is honoured by the epithet ‘Great’. There are records of near 30,000 people massacred – and we are expected to forget these facts. The secular Hindu excuse is that such killings were characteristic of medieval times. But how many Hindu rulers went abroad to Muslim countries all the way from the Middle East to Central Asia not only to demolish mosques but to indulge in conversion to Hinduism?
But forget for a moment all the temples destroyed right down from the times of Ghazni Mohammad – and they number in hundreds – to the times of Aurangazeb.
Remember what happened on August 16, 1946, ominously termed Direct Action Day. The then Chief Minister of undivided Bengal, Suhrawardy in a public address denounced Hindus and assured the mob he was addressing that the police would not interfere in its actions against Hindus. The slaughter that followed in Calcutta left up to 10,000 dead and, according to the then British Governor of Bengal Sir Frederick Burrows, the streets of Calcutta resembled the trenches of Somne in World War I. Rivers of Blood literally flowed. Printed and cyclostyled copies of a Muslim League circular were secretly distributed among Muslims in India. (The circular has been reproduced by Jusitce GD Khosla in his book Stern Reckoning – page 313 – published by no less reputed an organisation as Oxford University Press). It is a long circular giving instructions to Muslim Leaguers on what they should do. To quote a few: (a) With Pakistan established, whole of India should be conquered (b) One Muslim should get the right of five Hindus, i.e. each Muslim is equal to five Hindus (c) All temples should be destroyed. (d) Hindu culture should be destroyed (e) Hindu women and girls should be raped, kidnapped and converted into Muslims (f) Muslims should sabotage whole of India and Congress Governments for the final invasion by Muslims….”
And it goes on and on. It sounds ridiculous at this point in time but it reflects Muslim League sentiments of that period. Indeed, if I might strike a personal note, in an interview I had with Sir Feroz Khan Noon, he told me that if Pakistan is not conceded, Muslims will make Chenghiz Khan look like an amateur. That seems to be the prevalent sentiment among the Lashkar-i-Toiba even to this day. We are a good people. We don’t even have the courage to hang Afzal Guru even after the action has been sanctioned by the President of India, lest we offend Muslim sentiments. What do our secularists do? They attack Narendra Modi. Pakistan can get away with murder. According to Asian Age (January10) in Pakistan Hindu girls are abducted on an average of 10 to 15 every month and married off to Muslims. Pakistan has not arrested and tried any terrorist for the last two years. Pakistan Sikhs are barred from celebrating their festivals, according to The Press Journal (July 18). According to The Times of India (July17) 400 militants are holed up in 42 camps close to the Line of Control (LoC). The DNA (July 21) reports that Pakistan has been printing fake Indian currency notes for distribution in India. There is deadening silence among our secularists. It is easier to run down Narendra Modi. Why am I recalling past history? It is for the simple reason that I am sick of our secularists who refuse to understand, let alone accept what has long been a burden on the Hindu psyche. I am tired of the constant imposition of a sense of guilt on Hindus. One wants to forget the past and let bygones be bygones but our secularists will not allow it.
What is worse, Muslim fundamentalists are taking advantage of secularist support, whether in the print or electronic media. They do not want Afzal Guru to be hanged. They want Narendra Modi to apologise. If anybody has to apologise it is that section of the Muslim community which continues to support terrorism in India and which showed poor grace on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. If the past has to cease haunting us, one expects the Muslim community to show some recompence. That, alas, is lacking. We are not driving Muslims out of India. Pakistan is driving Hindus out. And it is heartening to learn that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has at last come to realise that terrorist camps are again being activated in Pakistan. Who, does one think, will be their victims? There are many Suhrawardys even now in Pakistan.?
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