Some Historical Questions

Sita Ram Goel

Why did Islamic invaders continue to destroy Hindu temples and desecrate the idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses throughout the period of their domination? Why did they raise mosques on sites occupied earlier by Hindu places of worship?  These questions were asked by Hindu scholars in modern times after the terror of Islam had ceased and could no more seal their lips.

In India - and in India alone - two explanations have come forth.  One is provided by the theology of Islam based on the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet.  The other has been proposed by Marxist professors and lapped up by apologists of Islam.  We shall take up the second explanation first.

The credit for pioneering the Marxist proposition about destruction of Hindu temples goes to the late Professor Mohammed Habib of the Aligarh Muslim University.  In his book, Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznin, first published in 1924, he presented the thesis that Mahmud’s destruction of Hindu temples was actuated not by zeal for the faith but by “lust for plunder.” According to him, India at that time was bursting with vast hoards of gold and silver accumulated down the ages from rich mines and a prosperous export trade.  Most of the wealth, he said without providing any proof, was concentrated in temple treasuries.  “It was impossible,” wrote the professor, “that the Indian temples should not sooner or later tempt some one strong and unscrupulous enough for the impious deed. Nor was it expected that a man of Mahmud’s character would allow the tolerance which Islam inculcates to restrain him from taking possession of the gold… when the Indians themselves had simplified his work by concentrating the wealth of the country at a few places” (p. 82).

Professor Habib did not hide any of the salient facts regarding destruction of Hindu temples by Mahmud, though the descriptions Le gave were brief, sometimes only in footnotes.  He also narrated how Mahmud’s exploits were celebrated at Baghdad by the Caliph and the populace and how the hero was compared to the companions of the Prophet who had achieved similar victories in Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.  Only the conclusion he drew was radically different from that drawn by Mahmud’s contemporaries as well as latter-day historians and theologians of Islam.  “Islam,” he wrote, “sanctioned neither the vandalism nor the plundering motives of the invader; no principle of the Shariat justifies the uncalled for attack on Hindu princes who had done Mahmud and his subjects no harm; the wanton destruction of places of worship is condemned by the law of every creed.  And yet Islam, though it was not an inspiring motive could be utilised as an a posteriors justification for what was done.  So the precepts of the Quran were misinterpreted or ignored and the tolerant policy of the Second Caliph was cast aside in order that Mahmud and his myrmidons may be able to plunder Hindu temples with a clear and untroubled conscience” (Pp. 83-84, Emphasis in source).

This proposition of Mahmud’s guilt and Islam’s innocence appealed to the architect of India’s secularism, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.  In a letter dated June 1, 1932, he wrote to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, that Mahmud “was hardly a religious man”, that he was “a Mohammedan of course, but that was by the way” and that Mahmud would have done what he did “to whatever religion he might have belonged” (Glimpses of World History, 1982 Reprint, p. 155).  In fact, Pandit Nehru went much farther than Professor Habib.  The latter had written how Mahmud gave orders to burn down thousands of temples at Mathura after he had admired their architectural excellence.  Pandit Nehru narrated how Mahmud admired the temples but omitted the fact that they were destroyed by him (Ibid., Pp. 155-156).  Thus a determined destroyer of Hindu temples was transformed into an ardent admirer of Hindu architecture!  This portrayal of Mahmud remained unchanged in his Discovery of India which was published in 1946 (1982 Reprint, p. 235).

In days to come, Professor Habib’s thesis that lust for plunder and not the Islamic theology of iconoclasm occasioned the destruction of Hindu temples, became the party line for Marxist historians who, in due course, came to control all institutions concerned with researching, writing and teaching of Indian history.  This was extended to cover all acts of Muslim iconoclasm in medieval Indian history.  It became a crime against secularism and national integration even to mention Islam or its theology in this context.  Any historian who dared cite facts recorded by medieval Muslim historians was denounced as a “Hindu communalist.” Three Marxist professors wrote a book attacking Dr. R.C. Majumdar in particular, simply because the great historian was not prepared to sacrifice truth at the altar of Communist politics.  The book was printed by a Communist publishing house and prescribed for graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian universities.

What was more, the Marxist professors discovered a political motive as well.  Hindu temples were seen as centres of political conspiracies which Muslim sultans were forced to suppress.  And if the temples got destroyed in the process, no blame could be laid at the door of the sultans who were working hard in the interest of public order and peace.  In a letter published in the Times of India on October 21, 1985, twelve Marxist professors rallied in defence of Aurangzeb who had destroyed the Keshavdeva temple at Mathura and raised an Idgah in its place.  “The Dera Keshava Rai temple,” they wrote, “was built by Raja Bir Singh Bundela in the reign of Jahangir.  This large temple soon became extremely popular and acquired considerable wealth.  Aurangzeb had this temple destroyed, took its wealth as booty and built an Idgah on the site.  His action might have been politically motivated as well, for at the time when the temple was destroyed he faced problems with the Bundelas as well as Jat rebellion in the Mathura region.”

The climax was reached when the same Marxist professors started explaining away Islamic iconoclasm in terms of what they described as Hindu destruction of Buddhist and Jain places of worship.  They have never been able to cite more than half-a-dozen cases of doubtful veracity.  A few passages in Sanskrit literature coupled with speculations about some archaeological sites have sufficed for floating the story, sold ad nauseam in the popular press, that Hindus destroyed Buddhist and Jain temples on a large scale.  Half-a-dozen have become thousands and then hundreds of thousands in the frenzied imagination suffering from a deep-seated anti-Hindu animus.  Lately, they have added to the list the destruction of “animist shrines” from pre-Hindu India, whatever that means.  And these “facts” have been presented with a large dose of suppressio veri suggestio falsi.  A few instances will illustrate the point.

A very late Buddhist book from Sri Lanka accuses Pushyamitra Sunga, a second century B.C. king, of offering prizes to those who brought to him heads of Buddhist monks.  This single reference has sufficed for presenting Pushyamitra as the harbinger of a “Brahmanical reaction” which “culminated in the age of the Guptas.” The fact that the famous Buddhist stupas and monasteries at Bharhut and Sanchi were built and thrived under the very nose of Pushyamitra is never mentioned.  Nor is the fact that the Gupta kings and queens built and endowed many Buddhist monasteries at Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Sarnath among many other places.

A Pandyan king of Madura is reported to have been a persecutor of Jains.  This is mentioned in a book of the Saiva faith to which he belonged.  But the source also says that before becoming a convert to Saivism, the king was a devout Jain and had persecuted the Saivites.  This part of the story is never mentioned by the Marxist professors while they bewail the persecution of Jains.

According to the Rajatarirgini of Kalhana, King Harsha of Kashmir plundered Hindu and Buddhist temples in his lust for the gold and silver which went into the making of idols.  This fact is played up by the Marxist professors with great fanfare.  But they never mention Kalhan’s comment that in doing what he did Harsha “acted like a Turushka (Muslim)” and was “prompted by the Turushkas in his employ.”

This placing of Hindu kings on par with Muslim invaders in the context of iconoclasm suffers from serious shortcomings.  Firstly, it lacks all sense of proportion when it tries to explain away the destruction of hundreds of thousands of Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain temples by Islamic invaders in terms of the doubtful destruction of a few Buddhist and Jain shrines by Hindu kings.  Secondly, it has yet to produce evidence that Hindus ever had a theology of iconoclasm which made this practice a permanent part of Hinduism.  Isolated acts by a few fanatics whom no Hindu historian or pandit has ever admired, cannot explain away a full-fledged theology which inspired Islamic iconoclasm.  Lastly, it speaks rather poorly of Marxist ethics which seems to say that one wrong can be explained away in terms of another.¹

Coming to the economic and political motives for the destruction of Hindu temples, it does not need an extraordinary imagination to see that the Marxist thesis is contrived and farfetched, if not downright ridiculous.  It does not explain even a fraction of the facts relating to the destruction of Hindu temples as known from literary and archaeological sources.  Even if we grant that Hindu temples in India continued to be rich and centres of political unrest for more than a thousand years, it defies understanding why they alone were singled out for plunder and destruction.  There was no dearth of Muslim places of worship which were far richer and greater centres of conspiracy.  The desecration of Hindu idols and raising of mosques on temple sites is impossible to explain in terms of any economic or political motive whatsoever.  Small wonder that the Marxist thesis ends by inventing facts instead of explaining them.

Professor Habib cannot be accused of ignorance about the theology or history of Islam.  The most that can be said in his defence is that he was trying to salvage Islam by sacrificing Mahmud of Ghaznin who had become the greatest symbol of Islamic intolerance in the Indian context.  One wonders whether he anticipated the consequences of extending his logic to subsequent sultans of medieval India.  The result has been disastrous for Islam.  In the process, it has been reduced to a convenient cover for plunder and brigandage.  The heroes of Islam in India have been converted into bandits and vandals.

It is amazing that apologists of Islam in India have plumped for Professor Habib’s thesis as elaborated by succeeding Marxist scribes.  They would have rendered service to Islam if they had continued admitting honestly that iconoclasm has been an integral part of the theology of Islam.  Their predecessors in medieval India made no bones about such an admission.  Nor do the scholars of Islam outside India, particularly in Pakistan.

What we need most in this country is an inter-religious dialogue in which all religions are honest and frank about their drawbacks and limitations.  Such a dialogue is impossible if we hide or supress or invent facts and offer dishonest interpretations.  Mahatma Gandhi had said that Islam was born only yesterday and is still in the process of interpretation.  Hiding facts and floating fictions is hardly the way for promoting that process.

Indian Express, April 16, 1989

Footnotes:

¹ It is intriguing that the Marxist professors never mention the destruction of Buddhist and Jain establishments in Transoxiana, Sinkiang, Seistan and India which on the eve of the Islamic invasion included present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.  Every historian and archaeologist of that period knows that the vast Buddhist and Jain establishments at Bukhara, Samarkand, Khotan, Balkh, Bamian, Begram, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Takshasila, Mirpur-Khas, Nagar-Parkar, Sringar, Sialkot, Agroha, Mathura, Hastinapur, Kanauj, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Sarnath, Nalanda, Vikramsila, Vaishali, Rajgir, Odantpuri, Bharhut, Paharpur, Jagaddala, Jajnagar, Nagarjunikonda, Amaravati, Kanchi, Dwarasamudra, Bharuch Valabhi, Palitana, Girnar, Patan, Jalor, Chandrawati, Bhinmal, Didwana, Nagaur, Osian, Bairat, Gwalior and Mandu were destroyed by the swordsmen of Islam. Smaller establishments of these faiths, which met the same fate, add up to several hundred.

New Government in West Bengal: Coming Days of Muslims’ Savagery and Hindus’ Slavery

By FFI Contributing Editor Dr Radhasyam Brahmachari

The Assembly Poll 2011: 

West Bengal Map

As soon as the results of the recently held Assembly Election were out, the long 34-year-old Leftists’ rule in the State of West Bengal came to an end. A coalition of Leftist parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPIM, came to power in July, 1977, by defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress (INC), which is now being led by Ms Sonia Gandhi, the widow of the late Prime Minister Rajib Gandhi. West Bengal is governed through a parliamentary system of representative democracy, a feature the state shares with other Indian states. Universal suffrage is granted to residents. The legislature, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, consists of 294 elected members and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker that are elected by the members.

In the recent years, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), led by Miss Mamata Banerjee, has emerged as the main rival of the Left Front (LF). In the previous Election, held in May, 2006, the LF could win 233 seats, while the AITMC, INC and others could win 30, 24 and 6 seats respectively. But this year, the picture has been totally upside down – the LF could retain only 62 seats while the AITC and INC coalition and others won 227 and 5 seats respectively.

In the 2006 Assembly Election, the LF bagged 50.18% of votes while TMC and INC could acquire 42.05%. But public sympathy for the LF began to decline from this time and, as a result the LF got 43.30% and TMC+INC alliance got 45.96% of votes. There is no doubt that the West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election, defeating the Indian National Congress. And though the Left Front, led by CPIM, governed the state for the subsequent three decades, it won the 2006 Assembly Election by various unconstitutional means due to erosion of public sympathy.

The role played by Muslim votes:

 

 It has been mentioned in earlier articles that the Leftists around the world are found to be very sympathetic to Muslims and this trend is also present in Indian politics. Before independence, there was only one Communist party, namely the Communist Party of India (CPI). In the wake of independence, the CPI supported the Muslims’ demand of dividing the country and creation of a separate home land for the Muslims called Pakistan. The Communist leaders, including Jyoti Basu, the most prominent Communist leader of Bengal, held joint meetings, sharing the same dias, with the leaders of the Muslim League and raised slogans like – “India will obtain freedom only when the demand for Pakistan is met.”

It is needless to say that the Indian National Congress (INC), then under leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was the most prominent player in the field of the politics of Muslim appeasement. It started appeasing the Muslims prior to M K Gandhi’s return from South Africa and Gandhi, after his return from South Africa in 1915, adopted the said politics in a big way by supporting the Khilaphet Movement.

It should be mentioned here that Gandhi never fought for India’s freedom. In fact, Gandhi was brought from South Africa to India by the British to sabotage India’s freedom movement. On the contrary, his intention was to prolong British rule in this country and to hoodwink the Hindus, he used to say that he was fighting for Swaraj. But his concept Swaraj was entirely mystical and vague, and according to him, termination of British rule was not at all necessary to establish Swaraj and Swaraj could function well even under the British rule. But Hindu-Muslim amity was the main precondition of Swaraj.
But his idea of Hindu-Muslim amity was extremely biased and prejudiced – Hindus were supposed to make every sacrifice and silently endure all the oppressions and crimes of the Muslims for the sake of this unity. He held the view that, Hindus should die but never should kill a Muslim. Many used to consider him a more devout Muslim than even Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Such were the basics of politics of Muslim appeasement by INC.

However, after independence, INC could have managed to obtain entire Muslim votes in its favour up to the 6^th Assembly Election held in 1971. At that time, food crisis emerged as the most acute problem in West Bengal, which the Congress governments miserably failed to control. So, both Hindus and the Muslims opted for change and voted the LF, under the leadership of CPIM, and thus the LF came into power in 1977 Assembly Election. Up to the 14^th Assembly Election, held in 2006, the Communists succeeded to remain in power with the help of the Muslims’ block votes.

The violent incident in Nandigram:

Map of Nandigram

The Nandigram controversy started when the government of West Bengal decided that the Salim Group of Indonesia would set up a chemical hub under the Special Economic Zone or SEZ policy at Nandigram, a rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur. Nandigram is a fertile agricultural area on the western side of the River Hooghly and the West Bengal government planned to expropriate 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land for a setting up of the said SEZ to be developed. The farmers vehemently opposed to give away their land and on 14 March 2007, by the orders of the Left Front government, more than 4,000 heavily armed police stormed the Nandigram area with the aim of stamping out the protests. The police opened fire and 14 people were killed and over 100 injured in police firing.
In fact, the administration was directed to break the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee‘s (Committee to Oppose Uprooting from Lands) (BUPC) resistance at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least 3,000 policemen along with armed cadre of the Marxist ruling party was launched on 14 March 2007. However, prior information of the impending action had leaked out to the BUPC who amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000 villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, as said above, at least 14 people were killed.

The Nandigram area is inhabited by both Hindus and Muslims and many of the victims of police firing were Muslims. A local Muslim leader Siddiqullah agitated and organized the Muslims against the police excesses and the Muslims lost sympathy for the LF government. On the other hand, Miss Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot and sided with the farmers and the development went favourable for AITC, the party of Miss Banerjee. The incident of Nandigram is crucial turning point in West Bengal politics and helped the Muslims turn away from the Communists and become supporters of AITC.

Police atrocities at Nandigram

This development was amply reflected in the parliamentary election in 2009, where the LF could secure 43.30% of votes while the AITC could bag 45.95% of votes. So, the AITC + INC could win 25 seats, while the LF could win 15 seats, out of 42 seats.
 
How Mamata succeeded to woo the Muslim Voters:

Protest by the farmers of Nandigram

In fact, the state of West Bengal is the hot bed of the politics of Muslim appeasement and three players, namely the INC, LF and AITC are in fierce competition to woo the Muslim voters and capture their votes. In its tenure, the LF inspired the Bangladeshi Muslims to infiltrate into West Bengal and as soon as an illegal infiltrator crossed the border, the CPIM cadres rushed to provide a shelter and food for him, assisted him, to get a ration card and to get his name entered into voters’ list, and thus to turn the illegal immigrant into a citizen of India through the back door. They also have a long list of facilities for the Muslims to earn their support and turn them into voters for the Left Front.

For last ten years or so, particularly after the Nandigram incident, Mamata Banerjee started to offer more lucrative promises for the Muslims. Reservation of government jobs is the most important allurement. Mamata is also Railway Minister under the Central UPA Government, led by INC and this has put her into an advantageous position. She has promised that she will provide railway jobs for 500,000 Muslims. Before the current 2011 Assembbly Election, she has promised the Muslims with 15% jobs of the WB government, if she wins election and forms the government. 

Police atrocities at Nandigram

 
To win over the Muslims, Mamata, from quite a long ago, is using Muslim dress code, whenever she visits a Muslim dominated locality. She publicly offers prayers like Muslims, in Muslim attire. She supported the Muslims for deporting the Bangladeshi authoress Taslima Nasreen from India, to please the Muslims. She even did not hesitate to sack one senior leader of her own party as he protesting the attempt of the Muslims to renovate an old and unused mosque in a predominantly Hindu dominated locality, by ignoring the sentiment of the local Hindus and using muscle power, in Kolkata.

 In a previous article Destiny of the Hindus of West Bengal [1], this author has shown how the Muslim population in West Bengal is rising sharply. Particularly the districts bordering the Bangladesh are turning fast into Muslim dominated due exodus of Bangladeshi infiltrators. In many localities, in these districts, Muslims have succeeded to create mini Pakistans by increasing their numbers. In such pockets, Muslims have already begun jihad against the Hindus. They are looting Hindu properties, setting their houses on fire, drive away their domestic animals, abducting and raping Hindu women and so on. Their intension is to drive the Hindus out of the locality by intimidation and torture and grab their riches, fertile lands and other properties.

 

The Muslim savagery at Deganga: 

Mamata in Muslim attire offering prayer like a Muslim

Deganga is a place in the district of North 24 Parganas and to the east of district town Barasat, which has been turned into a mini Pakistan by unchecked influx of Bangladeshi Muslims. In fact, the entire district is fast turning into Muslim dominated due to the exodus of Muslims from nearby Bangladesh. On September 6, 7 and 8, 2010, looting and burning of Hindu shops by the Muslims went on in the market places of Deganga and in nearby villages of Kartikpur, Khejuridanga and Beliaghata, scattered over an area of nearly 50 sq km. But the police remained silent onlookers and failed to protect Hindu properties amounting to nearly 30 million rupees. More than 70% of the affected Hindus in the area had once come from the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during partition in 1947. (to read more, read Islamic Barbarism in Deganga [2]) Muslim mob also desecrated and razed Hindu temples; and broke Hindu idols at many places of the locality. Hindu idol of Goddess Kali broken by the Muslims at DegangaThe trouble began on the basis of choice of a plot of land by the Hindus to celebrate Durgapuja. Chattalpalli is a village under the police station Deganga. It is mostly populated by the Hindu refugees from the district of Chattagram, Bangladesh. Chattal Samiti is a Hindu organization that has been organizing Durgapuja celebration every year from past 40 years. As the usual according to this tradition, the Chattal Samiti also started celebrating the Durga Puja festival and erecting a temporary pandal on the spot of land where they usually celebrate the festival. According to the records, the land was once owned by Rani Rashmoni, a very well known Zamindar of Calcutta. By the side of the spot, there lies a Muslim burial ground, but the land is disputed.On September 6, at about 5 pm, just after the iftar, more than 2000 Muslim goons simultaneously attacked the Hindu shops at the market places at Deganga, Kartikpur, Khejuridanga and other markets with swords, knives, bombs, grenades, acid-bulbs and firearms. Haji Nurul Islam, the MP from Basirhat (won the 2009 Parliament election with Trinamul Congress ticket) came to the spot along with the local Trinamul leader Ms Ratna Raychaudhuri. But they did nothing to stop atrocities by the Muslims. Miss Mamata is famous for her rushing to the spot where people are distressed. But she, in this case, prefered not to visit Deganga and keep mum for fear of losing Muslim support. This indicates what Mamata in such situation would do in future.

Hindu idol of Goddess Kali broken by the Muslims at Deganga

When the Hindus started preparation for the Durga Puja celebration, local Muslims, just to create an obstruction, dug up the road running in between the Puja spot and the burial ground. They also started to erect a wall so that no vehicle or men could reach the Puja spot. They also started to erect a wall so that no vehicle or men could reach the Puja spot. At first, the Hindus met the Muslim community leaders to make them understand that if they do not stop to erecting the wall, it would be impossible for them to celebrate the Puja. But all these requests fell on deaf ears. Later on, Haji Nurul Islam, the MP from Basirhat (won the 2009 Parliament election with Trinamul Congress ticket) came to the spot along with the local Trinamul leader Ms Ratna Raychaudhuri. But they did nothing. The Hindus, finding no other way, turned down the brick wall raised by the Muslims.

Conclusion:

From the above discussions it becomes evident that Miss Mamata Banerjee is going to be the next Chief Minister of West Bengal and the coming days of her tenure are going to be extremely unsafe for the Hindus of the state. Mamata’s policy of Muslim appeasement would embolden the Muslims, particularly in the Muslim dominated localities, to intensify their jihad against the Hindus and Mamata and her government would do nothing to protect the oppressed Hindus or to redress their agony. It would not be surprising if tens or hundreds of Deganga like incident takes place in West Bengal. So, there is no doubt that, very bad days are imminent for the Hindus of West Bengal.

*****************

References:
[1] http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/op-ed/destiny-of-the-hindus-of-west-bengal/
[2] http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/persecution-by-islam/islamic-barbarism-at-deganga-west-bengal/

The Rule of Trinamul Congress would speed up Islamization of West Bengal

 By FFI Contributing Editor Dr Radhasyam Brahmachari  

The end of Communist rule in West Bengal:

At last, through the landslide victory of the Trinamul Congress in the recently held assembly election, the people of West Bengal (WB) said goodbye to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its allies, resulting into the end of past 34-year-old rule of the Left Front (LF) in state. Regarding her landslide victory, the TIME magazine (May 30, 2011) writes, “The world’s longest serving democratically elected Communist Party was defeated in local elections in West Bengal, a state whose population, at 91 million, is larger than that of Germany. Critics say 34 years of Communist rule led to the decline of what was once India’s manufacturing heart.” It is really a  fact that the economy, education, health, creation of job etc suffered a palpable decline during the past 34 years o Communist rule.

More importantly, the victory of the Trinamul Congress in recent assembly poll is indeed a big event, but for the Hindus of the state, it is both inspiring and depressing. It is inspiring because this has terminated the Communist-dictatorial, or more pointedly Stalinist-style of administration in the state. It is depressing because the unbridled Muslim appeasement by Mamata and her party, that will follow, would raise the Muslims the first grade citizens while Hindus will be reduced to zimmi status.

At the same time, being encouraged by the government, Muslims will intensify their jihad against the Hindus and start driving out the Hindus from the mini Pakistans, or pockets of Muslim dominated areas. The Chief Minister Mamata and her party would turn a blind eye to all such Muslim atrocities on the Hindus. As the ultimate result, West Bengal will be a Muslim dominated state and the Hindus will be the victims of ethnic cleansing in the Muslim dominated pockets or mini-Pakistans, as it is happening in Bangladesh. At such a state, the Hindus will have three options before them – Firstly, convert to Islam for safety and security; secondly to leave the state and go to another state as refugees; or thirdly, to commit suicide by drowning them in the Bay of Bengal.

In a previous article New Government in West Bengal: Coming Days of Muslims’ Savagery and Hindus’ Slavery, [1] it has been pointed out that the state of West Bengal has emerged as the hot bed of Muslim appeasement. The Muslim population in the state is now being estimated to be nearly 27%, but many believe that the real figure is much higher, even higher than 30%, and the real figure could be ascertained only when the 2011 census data is available. This high Muslim population has rendered the Muslims’ block vote extremely crucial and it is not possible for any political party to win election and form government without Muslim vote.

Previously the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Left Front (LF), a coalition of the Left parties, were the main aspirants to win over the Muslims and won election with their votes. But the rise of the Trinamul Congress, a breakaway faction of INC, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, has replaced INC in WB politics. Up to mid 1970s, INC succeeded to acquire Muslim votes in its favour. But thereafter, the Leftists could successfully woo them with the promise of more lucrative benefits. As a result, Muslims abandoned the INC and turned towards the LF or the CPIM, the major player of LF. The development culminated into a landslide victory for the LF in 1977 assembly election. 

Mamata joined the Central NDA ministry, led by BJP, in 1999 as the railway minister and later on she joined the existing UPA ministry, led by INC, also as the railway minister, in May 2009. But her ambition was to become the chief minister of WB, by defeating the CPIM. She could comprehend that her ambition would remain unfulfilled unless she could bring the Muslim vote bank into her favour. So, she started to handle the Muslim community very craftily and ultimately succeeded to turn their sympathy to her party by many lucrative promises, including implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, scholarships and free train journey for the Muslim students, job reservation for Muslims and, as a consequence, she could win the 2011 election with a landslide victory and total rout the Communists. One may also add the anti-establishment factor that inspired the voters to vote in her favour.

Mamata taking oath as 11th and first woman chief minister of WB

 Meanwhile, the episode of forceful acquisition of farmland by the CPIM government took place at Singur and Nandigram and, particularly, the police firing and killing of innocent farmers at Nandigram made the people of the state, both Hindus and Muslims, turn away from the LF government. To these developments, one may add the corruption of the CPIM leaders and cadres that made the people hostile to the government. But the government did not pay any heed to the severe erosion common support for the government.
So, Sk Sadar Nayeem, in his article Muslims dump the Left in Bengal (The Statesman,18 May 2011) writes, “The Assembly election result of 2011 mirror the disgruntlement of the people in general and Muslims in particular against a 34 year-old dispensation which could no longer delude the people. The CPI-M leadership had acted like an ostrich all the while, ignoring the implications of the resounding victory of the Trinamul Congress in the panchayat poll of 2008 and in the Lok Sabha election of 2009. The writing was on the wall ~ Muslims, who once made up the CPI-M’s most dependable vote bank ~ had turned away from it.” [2]

The reader may recall that, after the present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, under the leadership of the Indian National Congress Party, came into power in Delhi, the Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh appointed a high level committee on March 9, 2005, under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Rajinder Sachar, for preparation of a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India. The committee, commonly called the Sachar Committee, was comprised of seven members including four Muslims. [3]

The committee prepared a 403-page report that was tabled in Parliament on 30 November 2006. The report suggested many economic benefits for the Muslims  It is the first of its kind in India and suggested adoption of suitable mechanisms to ensure equity and equality of opportunity to Muslims in residential, work and educational spheres. P. Chidambaram, the then Finance Minister of the UPA government launched a program for funding the Muslims under the name of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC). But the CPIM government of WB has not shown any interest to implement the recommendations of the said Sachar Committee Report.

So, Sk Sadar Nayeem writes, “After the announcement of the results of the 2011 Assembly election, maverick CPI-M leader Mr Abdur Rezzak Mollah, who is among the very few Left Front leaders to have survived the rout, told this writer that had the state government heeded the recommendations of the Rajendra Sachar Committee and announced job reservation for Muslims in the state forthwith, the community would not have deserted the CPI-M like it did. Mr Mollah’s assessment of the situation is based on reality. For the last couple of years, a rapid slide in the CPI-M’s Muslim support base had been apparent. But the party leadership did not take any structured step to stem the tide.” 

 

Promises made by Mamata to Muslims:  A report “Mamata woos minorities with railway job promise”, appeared on May 15, 2010, in The Times of India, the most widely circulated daily of India, says, “Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee went all out with the minority card while wooing Hindi/Urdu speaking voters in Rajabazar.” (Rajabazar is a highly Muslim dominated slum area in middle Kolkata) “Urdu will be the second language if we come to power in Bengal. Minorities will be given preference in railway jobs”, promised the railway minister, pointing out that anybody can now opt for Urdu as a language in Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) examinations.

“I have just one ministry to serve you. CPM ruled the state for 34 years but always neglected Urdu. I will keep my promise”, she said. Presenting the six Trinamool candidates in the area, Mamata said that the Left Front government had done nothing for the people of Rajabazar. “not even a water pumping station nor a proper drainage system. People are living here in a hell”, the Trinamool chief said.” She also said that the CPM backed goons are desperately trying to create unrest in Rajabazar and other minority dominated areas before the civic election and she alleged that no CPM leader came to Rajabazar when the Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya and she only came here and met the residents on the Samsul Huda Road to express her solidarity with the minorities. From the utterances by Mamata as given above, it is not difficult for the reader to grasp what kinds promises Mamata committed to the Muslims and how she succeeded to win the Muslim voters.

According to another report appeared on November 16, in Swastika, a Kolkata based Bengali weekly, Mamata promised 500,000 government jobs for the Muslims. It should be mentioned here that, reservation of government jobs on the basis of religion goes directly against the secular constitution of India. On July 4, 2009, the Andhra Pradesh (another Indian state on the eastern coast) government okayed  job reservation for the Muslims. In fact, the State cabinet decided to give four per cent reservation to 15 Muslim groups by listing them in the `E-category’ of the backward classes. The reservation will be given from this academic year and an ordinance will be issued in this regard. The creamy layer will be excluded from the quota.

The matter was then brought to the Andhra Pradesh High Court and on February 1, 2010, a a seven-member Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Mr A R Dave of the High Court quashed the four per cent reservations to Muslims in educational institutions and jobs on the ground that it was unsustainable and unconstitutional. Five judges out of seven were against the legislation passed by the AP Assembly. Immediately, chief minister Mr K Rosaiah in the secretariat was briefed about the court order.

Incidentally, this development came on the very day the West Bengal government announced 10 per cent job reservations to Muslims. West Bengal has followed the Andhra model of extending reservations by terming the Muslim communities as backward classes.

How Mamata is expected to deal with Muslims:

It has been mentioned in the earlier article that Mamata is famous for visiting places where people are oppressed but she is reluctant to visit such spots where Hindus are oppressed by the Muslims. In this context, the incident of Deganga has also been discussed where the Hindus were victims of Islamic jihad by the Muslims – At least 500 Hindu shops were looted and burnt, Hindu temples were desecrated, Hindu idols vandalized and so on. The carnage continued for 3 days spread over 50 square miles. But Mamata could not find time, even after the carnage is over, to visit Deganga to express her solidarity with the oppressed Hindus of Deganga. So, it is not difficult to understand that if in future a Deganga type incident recurs at anywhere in the state, Mamata and her party will not take any step to save the Hindus or visit the place.

Another incident may be narrated in this connection. There is a small dilapidated building in Burrabazar area of Kolkata. It was once owned by a Muslims before 1947. Presently there is no Muslim house in the locality. About 20 years back some Muslims came and requested local Hindus that they want to offer Namaz there every Friday. Hindus granted their appeal. Not only that, local Hindu businessmen helped them to remodeling it as a Mosque providing them stone and marble as donation. Only 10-12 Muslims used to come there every Friday and offer Namaz. There was no disturbance, no problem. In fact Hindus protect the so called Mosque throughout the time. Despite the fact that land and space is extremely costly in this area as Burrabazar is business capital of entire Eastern India that religious place of Muslims was never encroached by the local businessmen.

But, the Muslims had an eye on it. Since last one year Muslims tried to make illegal construction on the roof of the building. Naturally local residents gave objection because it would block the windows of the neighboring households. One of the adjacent building is of Sri Ashok Jha, who was the then President of Trinamool Congress of Burrabazar District. He too raised against the illegal construction. But, Muslims continued their effort.  Hence Ashok Jha prayed to Judicial Court and got injunction upon the illegal construction. Court also ordered the Police to Impose section 144 of Cr PC that rendered any gathering in the area illegal.

Defying all these Court Orders, Muslims again put a tin shed over the roof of the building. Despite complaining, Police took no action. By this time the local people formed a forum called Rabindra Sarani Muhalla Committee under the leadership of Ashok Jha.. This committee collected mass signature and campaigned against this illegal construction because the local Hindus became apprehensive about the sinister design of the Muslims to expand their area of influence and domination throughout the area.

On 6th January, the members of Rabindra Sarani Muhalla Committee under the leadership of Ashok Jha removed the tin shed cover of the building. Muslims made a hue and cry and spread a rumor that the Mosque has been destroyed by Hindus. On the Same day afternoon, TMC MLA Dinesh Bajaj visited the spot and told the Muslims to go ahead with the construction and assured them that he would protect them.

In this situation Ashok Jha with his followers started fast unto death from 7th January morning against the unlawful activities of the Muslims. 8th January was Friday. Tension was palpable in the area. Police posting was there. At 12 noon, about 300 Muslims came by trucks and cars (on 08.01.2010). There was no space inside the building to accommodate  such a huge crowd. They assembled on the road Rabindra Sarani. Mohalla committee members appealed to the police to disperse them as Sec.144 was already imposed there.

But police took no action. Muslims formed cues, blocked the road and offered Namaz. By this time about 2000 Hindus also gathered there. They did not create any obstruction to the Namaz. But, they too started Bhajan and Arati on the road. Hindu women took part in it in large number. When the Namaz was completed, then Police started action flexing its muscle. Police mercilessly lathicharged the Hindus, dispersed them and forcibly arrested Ashok Jha with his wife and 25 Muhalla Committee members.

However, getting stiff resistance from Hindu populace and Ashok Jha, Muslims sought help from the infamous Imam Barkati of Tipu Sultan Masjid, Kolkata. Barkati informed to Mamata Banerjee and complained against Ashok Jha. Mamata Banerjee is ever ready and more than eager to please Muslims. So she ordered Jha to stop the agitation. Jha tried to explain the actual situation and local sentiment. But Mamata is already convinced what to do. She sacked Ashok Jha instantly from the post of District President of TMC and conveyed the decision by TMC MLA Dinesh Bajaj. [4] This single incident is more than enough to comprehend how Mamata will deal with the Hindus and Muslims. 

Other attempts of Mamata to please Muslims:

It has been mentioned earlier that Mamata joined the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ministry in 1999 as the railway minister. In Indian politics, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is known as a political party of the Hindus. As soon as Mamata could that she is earning displeasure of the Muslims through her joining the NDA ministry, she immediately decided to relinquish her post as the railway minister, to please the Muslims. In this regard a report Mamata: We are no more NDA appeared on September 7, 2007, in The Times of India, says, “With an eye firmly on a mid-term election , Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee has for all purposes stepped out of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). “We are not in NDA, we are now trying to stand on our own feet”, she announced on Thursday at a programme organized for madrasa students in the city. In an all out effort to woo minority support, she explained that her party was forced to go along with NDA because it was not possible for trinamul “to sit with CPM”. Beside, there was also the matter of her personal respect for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”

It is now well known that Muslim women are most oppressed by Islam and, for past 2 decades, the courageous Bangladeshi authoress is fighting to free the Muslim women from the most vicious patriarchal torture machine called Islam. Naturally, she became the victim of extremely right and fanatic mullas of Bangladesh, who considered her writings blasphemous and, as the ultimate result, she had to leave Bangladesh and live in exile in foreign countries.

In 2007, she came to India and expressed her desire to stay in India permanently and in response to her appeal, the Indian government offered her extended visa. This enraged the fanatic mullahs of India imam Barkati of the Tipusultan Mosque in Kolkata declared an award of Rs 500,000 for the assassinator of Taslima. As a woman, Mamata should have stood by Taslima and fight for her staying in Kolkata. But blinded by the politics of Muslim appeasement and the lust for becoming the chief minister of West Bengal, she supported the demand of the Muslim fanatics for deporting Taslima from India.
According to a report appeared in the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika on September 7, 2007, said that the Trinamul Party chief supported the demand of the Muslims to deport the disputed Bangladeshi authoress Taslima Nasrin for her so called anti-Islamic writings. “There is hardly any difference between your views and that of mine”, she said to the Muslim clerics and community leaders. She also said, “We are not against freedom of speech and freedom of expression. But if someone starts cheep business with religion and hurts one’s religious sentiments, we oppose such a move.” Mamata was speaking to a Muslim gathering, invited as the chief guest of a function, organized by the West Bengal Students’ Union, held at the Mahajati Sadan on yesterday.  

The danger of job reservation for Muslims:

In the wake of partition of India in 1947, Dr V R Ambedkar warned the then Congress that “There is no end of appeasement” and the Muslim will not remain content by getting Pakistan. On the contrary, they will keep on raising demand for illegal and unlawful concessions one after another, until they could grab the entire India. That caution of Dr Ambedkar is now coming to be true – Muslims are demanding Kashmir, demanding Assam and demanding West Bengal.

Today, if the government yields to their demand for reservation of government jobs, tomorrow they will demand reservation in the armed forces. But does a Muslim soldier in the army of a non-Muslim country trustworthy? Are the Muslims living in India, really Indians? The answer is a big NO. Muslims who live in India are, in the truest sense, resident non-Indians because they are not loyal to India. They are loyal firstly to Allah, secondly to Allah’s reveled book Koran and Allah’ messenger Muhammad and thirdly to the sacred land of Arabia. And the sacred places of Mecca and Medina. So, it cannot decisively said whether the Muslim soldiers in Indian army, in the event of invasion of India by a foreign Islamic (say for instance Pakistan) will fight against the aggressor Muslim army or revolt against the Indian army and join the invading Muslim army.

In this context, Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate poet and philosopher, once observed, “A very important factor which is making it almost impossible for Hindu-Muslim unity to become an accomplished fact is that the Muslim cannot confine their patriotism to any one country. I had frankly asked the Muslims whether in the event of any Mohammedan power invading India, would they (Muslims) stand side by side with their Hindu neighbors to defend their common land or join the invaders. I was not satisfied with the reply I have obtained from them….. Even such a man as Mr. Mohammed Ali (one of the famous Ali brothers, the leaders of the Khilafat Movement) has declared that under no circumstances is it permissible for any Mohammedan, whatever be his country (of origin), to stand against any Mohammedan”. 

We may cite another example to make the point clear. Pakistan declared its all out war against the independent state of Kashmir on October 22, 1947. Brigadier Rajinder Singh was the then Chief of Kashmiri army. Lt Colonel Narain Sing was the commander of the battalion that was waiting at Mujafarabad. There were nearly 50% Dogra Hindus and 50% Muslims in that battalion. When Narain Singh ordered his battalion to advance and attack the Pakistani army, the Muslim soldiers revolted, killed their commander and joined the Pakistani army. While only 3 days ago, Narain Singh told the King that he considered the Muslims in his force were more trustworthy that the Hindus.

Another fact may also be mentioned in this context. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, being a staunch secular, appointed many Muslims officers in his army called Azad Hind Fause. When his army was dissolved, those Muslim officers went to Pakistan and joined the Pakistani army. All these incidents confirm the great proverb – “a leopard cannot change its spots”. But the stupid Indian leaders, who don’t know even abc of Islam and Muslim psyche, are fanning the fire that could, one day, torch their homes.

 

Mamata walking from Raj Bhavan to Writers’ Building with supporters on 20th May

Conclusion: 

 
On 20^th May, the swearing in ceremony of Mamata as the 11^th chief minister of WB was held at the Raj Bhavan (the official residence of the Governor of WB). After the ceremony was over, Mamata decided to go to the Writers’ Building, the chief secretariat of the government WB, a stretch of nearly 200 metres, on foot. Hundreds of thousands of jubilant Hindu supporters accompanied her. But these Hindus do not know what kind of terrible days their leader is going to offer in near future because they are not aware of the incidents that took place at Deganga last year and how their leader responded to those incidents. 

Loot, arson, beating, killing, torching of Hindu shops, houses and temples, sexual assault of Hindu women continued at a stretch for four days, from 6 to 9 September, but their beloved leader could not find time to visit the place and console the oppressed Hindus. Most importantly, all these attacks were planned and perpetrated under the guidance of the local MP Haji Nurul Islam, who won the 2009 Parliamentary election as a Trinamul Congress candidate. According to the Hindu victims, when the Muslims were looting and torching Hindu shops, buildings and temples, they were shouting “Haji Nurul Islam zindabad (or long live Haji Nurul Islam). It should be mentioned here that Hindus constitute 30% of the local population and the rest 70% are Muslims.

In reality, the poll victory of Trinamul Congress is the victory of the Muslims and this victory will embolden the Muslims by hundred times and the life and property of the Hindus, who live in Muslim majority areas, would be totally unsafe. Muslims will organize any kind of oppression and torture on them as and when they like and Mamata and her government will turn blind eye to such oppression and terror to please the Muslims. In fact, the aggregate of all these developments would lead to an advancement of Islamization of the state of West Bengal. To conclude, it may be said that the victory of Mamata and her Trinamul Congress Party would remain as a milestone in the history of Islamization of West Bengal.
                                                                                   ************** 

References:
[1] http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/persecution-by-islam/new-government-in-west-bengal-coming-days-of-muslims%E2%80%99-savagery-and-hindus%E2%80%99-slavery/
[2] http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=370006&catid=39
[3] http://www.faithfreedom.org/op-ed/sachar-committee-report-uncovered-backwardness-of-india%E2%80%99s-muslims-part-1/
[4] Hindu Samhati’s International Communication Team. www.hindusamhati.org

The Tip of An Iceberg ( An article on Destruction of Hindu Temples by Muslim Invaders)

Sita Ram Goel

The mention made by Maulana Abdul Hai (Indian Express, February 5) of Hindu temples turned into mosques, is only the tip of an iceberg, The iceberg itself lies submerged in the writings of medieval Muslim historians, accounts of foreign travellers and the reports of the Archaeological Survey of India. A hue and cry has been raised in the name of secularism and national integration whenever the iceberg has chanced to surface, inspite of hectic efforts to keep it suppressed.  Marxist politicians masquerading as historians have been the major contributors to this conspiracy of silence.

Muslim politicians and scholars in present-day India resent any reference whatsoever to the destruction of Hindu temples in medieval times.  They react as if it is a canard being spread by those they stigmatise as Hindu communalists.  There was, however, a time, not so long ago, when their predecessors viewed the same performance as an act of piety and proclaimed it with considerable pride in inscriptions and literary compositions.  Hindus of medieval India hardly wrote any history of what happened to their places of worship at the hands of Islamic iconoclasts.  Whatever evidence the “Hindu communalists” cite in this context comes entirely from Islamic sources, epigraphic and literary.

Epigraphic Evidence

There are many mosques all over India which are known to local tradition and the Archaeological Survey of India as built on the site of and, quite frequently, from the materials of, demolished Hindu temples.  Most of them carry inscriptions invoking Allah and the Prophet, quoting the Quran and giving details of when, how and by whom they were constructed.  The inscriptions have been deciphered and connected to their historical context by learned Muslim epigraphists.  They have been published by the, Archaeological Survey of India in its Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement, an annual which appeared first in 1907-08 as Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica.  The following few inscriptions have been selected in order to show that (1) destruction of Hindu temples continued throughout the period of Muslim domination; (2) it covered all parts of India-east, west, north and south; and (3) all Muslim dynasties, imperial and provincial, participated in the “pious performance.”

1. Quwwat al-Islam Masjid, Qutb Minar, Delhi: “This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in the year 587 by the Amir… the slave of the Sultan, may Allalh strengthen his helpers.  The materials of 27 idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals had been spent were used in the (construction of) the mosque…” (1909-10, Pp 3-4).  The Amir was Qutbud-Din Aibak, slave of Muizzud-Din Muhammad Ghori. The year 587 H. corresponds to 1192 A.D. “Delhiwal” was a high-denomination coin current at that time in Delhi.

2. Masjid at Manvi in the Raichur District of Karnataka: “Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Parvardigar, a mosque has been converted out of a temple as a sign of religion in the reign of… the Sultan who is the asylum of Faith … Firuz Shah Bahmani who is the cause of exuberant spring in the garden of religion” (1962, Pp. 56-57).  The inscription mentions the year 1406-07 A.D. as the time of construction.

3. Jami Masjid at Malan, Palanpur Taluka, Banaskantha District of Gujarat: “The Jami Masjid was built… by Khan-I-Azam Ulugh Khan... who suppressed the wretched infidels.  He eradicated the idolatrous houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols… with the edge of the sword, and made ready this edifice… He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer” (1963, Pp. 26-29).  The date of construction is mentioned as 1462 A.D. in the reign of Mahmud Shah I (Begada) of Gujarat.

4. Hammam Darwaza Masjid at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh: “Thanks that by the guidance of the Everlasting and the Living (Allah), this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer.  As a reward for that, the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise” (1969, p. 375).  Its chronogram yields the year 1567 A.D. in the reign of Akbar, the Great Mughal.  A local historian, Fasihud-Din, tells us that the temple had been built earlier by Diwan Lachhman Das, an official of the Mughal government.

5. Jami Masjid at Ghoda in the Poona District of Maharashtra: “O Allah! 0 Muhammad! O Ali!  When Mir Muhammad Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own hand.  He demolished thirty-three idol temples (and) by divine grace laid the foundation of a building in this abode of perdition” (1933-34, p.24). The inscription is dated 1586 A.D. when the Poona region was ruled by the Nizam Shahi sultans of Ahmadnagar.

6. Gachinala Masjid at Cumbum in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh: “He is Allah, may he be glorified… During the august rule of… Muhammad Shah, there was a well-established idol-house in Kuhmum… Muhammad Salih who prospers in the rectitude of the affairs of Faith… razed to the ground, the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion.  He constructed on its site a suitable mosque, towering above the buildings of all” (1959-60, Pp. 64-66).  The date of construction is mentioned as 1729-30 A.D. in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah.

Though sites of demolished Hindu temples were mostly used for building mosques and idgahs, temple materials were often used in other Muslim monuments as well.  Archaeologists have discovered such materials, architectural as well as sculptural, in quite a few forts, palaces, maqbaras, sufi khanqahs, madrasas, etc.  In Srinagar, Kashmir, temple materials can be seen in long stretches of the stone embankments on both sides of the Jhelum.  Two inscriptions on the walls of the Gopi Talav, a stepped well at Surat, tell us that the well was constructed by Haidar Quli, the Mughal governor of Gujarat, in 1718 A.D. in the reign of Farrukh Siyar.  One of them says, “its bricks were taken from an idol temple.” The other informs us that “Haider Quli Khan, during whose period tyranny has become extinct, laid waste several idol temples in order to make this strong building firm…” (1933-34, Pp. 37-44).

Literary Evidence

Literary evidence of Islamic iconoclasm vis-a-vis Hindu places of worship is far more extensive.  It covers a longer span of time, from the fifth decade of the 7th century to the closing years of the eighteenth.  It also embraces a larger space, from Transoxiana in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, and from Afghanistan in the west to Assam in the east.  Marxist “historians” and Muslim apologists would have us believe that medieval Muslim annalists were indulging in poetic exaggerations in order to please their pious patrons.  Archaeological explorations in modern times have, however, provided physical proofs of literary descriptions.  The vast cradle of Hindu culture is literally littered with ruins of temples and monasteries belonging to all sects of Sanatana Dharma - Buddhist, Jain, Saiva, Shakta, Vaishnava and the rest.

Almost all medieval Muslim historians credit their heroes with desecration of Hindu idols and/or destruction of Hindu temples.  The picture that emerges has the following components, depending upon whether the iconoclast was in a hurry on account of Hindu resistance or did his work at leisure after a decisive victory:

1. The idols were mutilated or smashed or burnt or melted down if they were made of precious metals.

2. Sculptures in relief on walls and pillars were disfigured or scraped away or torn down.

3. Idols of stone and inferior metals or their pieces were taken away, sometimes by cartloads, to be thrown down before the main mosque in (a) the metropolis of the ruling Muslim sultan and (b) the holy cities of Islam, particularly Mecca, Medina and Baghdad.

4. There were instances of idols being turned into lavatory seats or handed over to butchers to be used as weights while selling meat.

5. Brahmin priests and other holy men in and around the temple were molested or murdered.

6. Sacred vessels and scriptures used in worship were defiled and scattered or burnt.

7. Temples were damaged or despoiled or demolished or burnt down or converted into mosques with some structural alterations or entire mosques were raised on the same sites mostly with temple materials.

8. Cows were slaughtered on the temple sites so that Hindus could not use them again.

The literary sources, like epigraphic, provide evidence of the elation which Muslims felt while witnessing or narrating these “pious deeds.” A few citations from Amir Khusru will illustrate the point. The instances cited relate to the doings of Jalalud-Din Firuz Khalji, Alaud-Din Khalji and the letter’s military commanders. Khusru served as a court-poet of sex successive sultans at Delhi and wrote a masnavi in praise of each.  He was the dearest disciple of Shaikh Nizamud-Din Awliya and has come to be honoured as some sort of a sufi himself.  In our own times, he is being hailed is the father of a composite Hindu-Muslim culture and the pioneer of secularism.  Dr. R. C. Majumdar, whom the Marxists malign as a “communalist historian” names him as a “liberal Muslim”.

1. Jhain: “Next morning he (Jalalud-Din) went again to the temples and ordered their destruction… While the soldiers sought every opportunity of plundering, the Shah was engaged in burning the temples and destroying the idols.  There were two bronze idols of Brahma, each of which weighed more than a thousand mans.  These were broken into pieces and the fragments were distributed among the officers, with orders to throw them down at the gates of the Masjid on their return (to Delhi)” (Miftah-ul-Futuh).

2. Devagiri: “He (Alaud-Din) destroyed the temples of the idolaters and erected pulpits and arches for mosques” (Ibid.).

3. Somanath: “They made the temple prostrate itself towards the Kaaba.  You may say that the temple first offered its prayers and then had a bath (i.e. the temple was made to topple and fall into the sea)… He (Ulugh Khan) destroyed all the idols and temples, but sent one idol, the biggest of all idols, to the court of his Godlike Majesty and on that account in that ancient stronghold of idolatry, the summons to prayers was proclaimed so loudly that they heard it in Misr (Egypt) and Madain (Iraq)” (Tarikh-i-Alai).

4. Delhi: “He (Alaud-Din) ordered the circumference of the new minar to be made double of the old one (Qutb Minar)… The stones were dug out from the hills and the temples of the infidels were demolished to furnish a supply” (Ibid.).

5. Ranthambhor: “This strong fort was taken by the slaughter of the stinking Rai.  Jhain was also captured, an iron fort, an ancient abode of idolatry, and a new city of the people of the faith arose.  The temple of Bahir (Bhairava) Deo and temples of other gods, were all razed to the ground” (Ibid.).

6. Brahmastpuri (Chidambaram): “Here he (Malik Kafur) heard that in Bramastpuri there was a golden idol… He then determined on razing the temple to the ground… It was the holy place of the Hindus which the Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care, and the heads of brahmans and idolaters danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents.  The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo, which had been established a long time at the place and on which the women of the infidels rubbed their vaginas for (sexual) satisfaction, these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break.  The Musulmans destroyed in the lings and Deo Narain fell down, and other gods who had fixed their seats there raised feet and jumped so high that at one leap they reached the fort of Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand on” (Ibid).

7. Madura: “They found the city empty for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had left two or three hundred elephants in the temple of Jagnar (Jagannatha).  The elephants were captured and the temple burnt” (Ibid.).

8. Fatan: (Pattan): “There was another rai in these parts …a Brahmin named Pandya Guru… his capital was Fatan, where there was a temple with an idol in it laden with jewels.  The rai fled when the army of the Sultan arrived at Fatan… They then struck the idol with an iron hatchet, and opened its head.  Although it was the very Qibla of the accursed infidels, it kissed the earth and filled the holy treasury” (Ashiqa).

9. Ma’bar: (Parts of South India): “On the right hand and on the left hand the army has conquered from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus, in which Satanism has prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished.  All these impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultan’s destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first holy expedition to Deogir, so that the flames of the light of the Law (of Islam) illumine all these unholy countries, and places for the criers of prayers are exalted on high, and prayers are read in mosques.  Allah be praised!” (Tarikh-i-Alai).

The story of how Islamic invaders sought to destroy the very foundations of Hindu society and culture is long and extremely painful.  It would certainly be better for everybody to forget the past, but for the prescriptions of Islamic theology which remain intact and make it obligatory for believers to destroy idols and idol temples.

Indian Express, February 19, 1989

Courtesy : http://www.voi.org/books/htemples1/ch2.htm