Shiban Khaibri
It is a travesty, really a charade, rather a misfortune for this country that there should be individuals, groups and even some political parties seeing in rulers of the past like Aurangzeb, a descendent of invader Mughals, as their hero, as their messiah and as their icon. Abu Aazmi of “samajwadi” Party, all of a sudden, coming with panegyric statement in favour of Aurangzeb and immediately endorsed by some political parties on various TV channels, has triggered an avoidable controversy especially in Maharashtra. Should it not be suspected that mistimed and provocative lines of praise for the fanatic ruler were spoken for creating ill will , bad blood and for polluting the peaceful atmosphere of the country. Those who allow and endorse such cheap liberties taken with the right to freedom of speech are hanging on a slender thread of gaining anything substantial other than the likes of what was recently witnessed in Nagpur where the rioters emerging from all lanes created lot of commotion , rioting and selective attacks on cars and shops and property allegedly belonging to some Hindu residents .Does not, therefore, elegies need to be written on how and why have things come to such a pass in this country that a cruel and ruthless fanatic , the one who conspired and had slaughtered his own brother, Darashukhu and presented on a tray ,his severed head to his imprisoned father Shahjehan, and had his brother Murad imprisoned to grab the throne, Shah Shujahis another brother also made to get killed , should find followers and eulogists in this country even after 318 years of his death .
Any idea of the horrible atrocities perpetrated on Kashmiri Pandits through his most cruel Governor Iftiqar Khan, the role of Pandit Kripa Ram Dutt to lead a group of persecuted Kashmiri Pandits to Anandpur Sahib to seek the blessings and divine help from the 9th Guru Sri Teg Bhadur Ji who attained martyrdom at the hands of Aurangzeb on November 24, 1675 . Great Guru’s two disciples Bhai Satti Dass and Bhai Dayala were executed in the most barbarian ways. It is another thing that during spate of debates on TV channels none of the speakers, probably dwelt with how merciless and atrocious was Aurangzeb in Kashmir.
Is it any hidden fact that even Aurangzeb’s own son Akbar could no longer tolerate his father’s wicked religious policies of razing Mandirs, levying Jazia on Hindus and persecuting them which , as a result, compelled him to rise in revolt against his father resulting in his fleeing to Deccan and eventually to Persia and die incognito.
Aurangzeb, was so heartless so as to not allow reasonably sufficient drinking water in simmering summer to his imprisoned father Shahjahan leaving him parched thus invoking from him , “Marhabasudmarhababer Hinduwaan, murda rah may diyemdayam-i- aab; Aye pisr- tuuajab Musalmani, pidrrabaaabtarsaani ” or ” Praise the Hindus – they offer water even to their dead ones but , you , my son, are a marvellous Muslim to cause me in life all sort of troubles for lack of drinking water…”Mauzzam or Bhadur Shah ,who in his 64th year of life ascended to the throne after the death of Aurangzeb, stepped into his father’s shoes in the same way to fight war of succession by slaughtering his two brothers Mohamad Azam and Kam Baksh. Such a ruler having ruled this country with bias policies and cruel methods, strangely, is a darling of many of those who boast to be loving this country and its identity and even claiming to have “fought” for its freedom from the British. Anyone openly declaring emotional attachment, love and regard for invaders and bigots who persecuted innocents, the indigenous inhabitants of this country, could possibly do it for ulterior motives and for doing dirty and cheap politics.
How many Holiest of the Holy religious places of Hindus, he razed to ground and had mosques erected thereupon and what type of atrocities he perpetrated on Hindus to get converted, may not have been sincerely, accurately and honestly described by those historians whom we were asked to read and those policies adopted by the Governments in this country after partition which largely eulogised and glorified the atrocious invaders are not the points at issue. What looks really the proverbial Achilles heel is how general people, especially those whose ancestors and close relatives were the victims of bigots like Aurangzeb – even the general masses- to take it as their fait accompli and reconcile with their inner conscience to “allow” roads, bridges, cities, parks, villages, hotels, institutions etc named after them even after attaining independence before portioning the country on two nation theory. In other words, what rationale is there in having Babur Road, Humayun Road, Akbar Road, Jehangir Road, Shahjehan Road, Aurangzeb Road, Tughlak Road, Lodhi Road, Safdarjung Road, Sher Shah Suri Road etc in and around Delhi only – the capital of India, not to speak of hundreds of places, cities and villages named after them in this country? It can be inferred that the conflict and the dissonance -between what ought to have been there versus what was thrust – such wrong doings striking at the pride of Bhartis, keeping humiliation and sense of subjugation alive, caused as a result of invasion by foreigners and undermining the right to faith of natives by them even by employing cruellest means, having been resolved and acknowledged as irreversible. That is the real tragedy.
This tragedy has been getting accentuated over years in a row in two ways. One — by not reviewing the history books, not insisting for rewriting them in correct, factual and impartial manner , hiding nothing so as to include the correct and undistorted version in the curriculum in schools and colleges . Two–by continuously voting to power that very political party and the like minded other parties who preferred to glorify and honour on perpetual basis such invaders, bigots , looters and tyrants , all in the name of that much hyped secularism and liberalism.
In this country, quite strange it may look, barbarism of our ruthless invaders has been glorified and celebrated on unending perennial basis. The very name of invader Bhaktiar Khiljee sends shivers down the spine, the destroyer of world famous Nalanda University, who burnt multi storied library containing tens of thousands of books and manuscripts and ordered genocide of scholars and teachers there, has a very famous Railway station in Patna named after him as “Bhaktiyarpur Junction”. In this University, Holy Vedas , Upnishads, Sanskrit, Buddhist scriptures, Grammar, Logic, Mathematics, Medicine, Architecture, astrology and other subjects were taught to Indian and foreign students. Mughal King Akbar rechristened Maha Prayag Raj in Uttar Pradesh as Allahabad and restoring it its original name was not only remotely not conceded even after 450 years but the very idea vehemently opposed by “secular ” lobby all these years until October 2018.The list is unending but who will apportion the blame, who allowed all this to happen and continue ?We, the people of this country are increasingly responsible.
To call a spade a spade, the other part of the issue is as to what was going to be achieved by demanding by some groups, demolition of the grave of Aurangzeb? That idea in itself is stupid and ill-advised as also totally redundant. We never believe in insulting the dead even if our sworn enemy. Besides, where shall this trend end? Bharti / Sanatani culture and traditions do not allow disrespect to the dead even if having been atrocious and terribly absolutist. Such demands, it may be plainly clarified , will not resolve the basic problem of replacing distorted and falsified descriptions in our History books with the correct and honest version. The most powerful Kashmir King, builder, warrior and lover of art Lalitadatya Muktaped who ruled for 37 years is nowhere to be found in our history books and our young students across the country know a zilch about this iconic historical figure although he is greatly acclaimed and explained by foreign historians but not by our own and that is most unfortunate for this country. We have, sort of, abandoned to remember, revere and keep alive the legacy of most of our historical heroes and iconic figures, forts, temples and institutions.
While these lines are being written , it is painful to watch the type of violence, looking almost premeditated and well planned, having taken place in Nagpur where the same modus operandi of collecting and ferrying stones and bricks to points of ”the launch ” has been observed as in other instances. While it speaks about the administrative and in particular intelligence failure, it is again distressing as also alarming to see the same pattern of violence right from Mhow to Sambal to Nagpur. Nagpur did not see, as per reports, riots but attacks from one side, where only selected targets were chosen. Had recent Jantar Mantar provocations to do something in such disturbances, conspiracy theories, if any, must be probed into and unravelled. Law breakers must get exemplary punishment to put an end to the ”pattern” because any city, any town, any village can become another Nagpur.
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