Apart from some unfortunate incidents like demolition of Babari Masjid a few years back and killings of thousands of people of Muslims and Hindus in the wake of partition of the country as well as some serious Hindu-Muslim riots in independent India in past years and also before that some destruction of religious places by Muslim rulers in the medieval period, communal harmony has remained by and large an important factor in the country amid tremendous diversity in India! Only because of that, we are holding our country together in secularism and giving equal respect to all communities.
I must begin with a quote of the eminent scholar and former judge of the Supreme court Markandey Katju, before deliberating more facts on the secular fabric of India. Justice Katju has said, " Since there is so much diversity in India the only policy which will work is the policy of secularism and giving equal respect to all communities. Otherwise India will break up into a hundred pieces since there is so much diversity." Justice Katju has made this remark while delivering his speech to non-residents Indians in California in June 2011.
We must remember about our modern India. In Katju's opinion, two people -Emperor Akbar and and former prime ministerPundit Jawahar Lal Nehru can be said the creators of present day modern India..
Emperor Akbar has no parallel in the world as ruler of honesty and integrity. In the 16th century Akbar had proclaimed the doctrine of Suleh-ekul, which means "universal tolerance of all religion." At that time there were upheavals in Europe. Exuropeans were massacring each other in the name of religion, Catholics massacring Protestants, Proteststants massacring Catholics and both massacring Jews. Similarly In India, religious passions were inflamed after partition in 1947 and people of both Hindu and Muslim communities behaved like animals. Both of them were butchering each other. Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic state. We can imagine tremendous pressure on the then prime minister Pundit Jawaghar Lal Nehru at that time to declare India as Hindu state! But Pundit Nehru kept cool and declared that India will not be a Hindu state but will be secular state and provided such Constitution to India! Katju has further commented, " For this reason, we are relatively more stability as compared to our neighbouring countries.
More over, initially Muslim invaders including Mahmud Ghazani, had demolished a lot of temples including Somanath temple. But their descendants, who were Muslim rulers in different parts of India, did not disturb the secular equilibrium of India. In many cases, historically We find that they used to give grants for upkeep and maintenance of temples. They celebrated Holi and Diwali festivals together. One example, Babar was an invader but Akbar was not invader; he was born in India and was very much an Indian. These descendants of the invaders, ruled India,, having population of 80 to 90 percent Hindus. If they continued in demolishing temples, there would have been turmoil and in their interest, they fostered communal harmony; they gave grants to temples, they celebrated Hindu festivals. another example" Nabab of Awadh used to organise Ramlila and celebrate Holi and Diwali. Tipu Sultan used to give annual grants to 156 temples, his prime minister was a Hindu called Purnaiya and his commander-in-chief was a Hindu, called Krishna Rao. Tipu Sultan sent 30 respectful letters with grants to the Shankaracharya of Sringeri."
Surprisingly British had always played games to divide Muslim and Hindu- In history of that time, you will find mention of communal tinges in the society between Hindu and Muslim but will not find communal harmony, spread by Muslim rulers in the form of "land grants for building Hindu temples, celebrated and organised Hindu festivals etc".
Our history books, influenced by Britishers, have depicted many nasty stories of communal disharmony! One instance is about a book written by Professor of Sanskrit in Calcutta university Harprasad Shastri, in which, 'it was mentioned that Tipu sultan told 3000 Brahimins to covert to Islam or otherwise they would be killed and those 3000 Brahmins committed suicide rather become Muslims. On reading this, Professor of History in Allahabad university Prof Pandey said that when he asked Prof Shastri about the source of such write up, Prof Shastri replied that that the source of information was the Mysore Gazetteer. again Prof Pandey wrote to Prof of history in the Mysore University Srikant-Prof Srikant wrote back to Prof Pandey that this was totally false-there is no such mention in the Mysore Gazetteer; rather correct version was just reverse namely the Tipu Sultan used to give annual grants to 156 temples, he used to send grants to the Shankracharya Of Sringeri."
Justice Katju further spoke in his lecture, " It is time we rewrite our history books and show that in fact upto 1857 there was no communal problem at all in India. A composite culture had been developing in India. Hindus used to participate in Eid and Muharram celebrations and Muslims used to participate in Holi , Diwali etc festivals. There were some difference no doubt, but they were becoming narrower."
He further said, " In 1857, the great mutiny took place. Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After suppressing mutiny it was decided by the British rulers that that the only way to control country was to divide and rule. In other words, Hindu and Muslims must be made to fight each other. Communal riots started in 1857. English collector would secretly call Hindu pundits and give him money to speak against Muslims and similarly he would secretly call the Maulvi and give him some Maulvi to speak against Hindu. A racket was started in this way and and this resulted ultimately into partition in 1947."
After we achieved part independence, there were many Hindu-Muslim riots were reported and it started from Ranchi and Jamshedpur in joint Bihar. There after, many more were reported in the country, killings of thousands of people exact figure of killings in Hindu-Muslim riots since independence have been carried out in the Outlook India recently. Worse communal carnage was reported in Gujarat and the chief minster oif Gujarat Narendra Modi was allegedly main conspirators in eliminating Muslims from Gujarat. Many killings of Muslims in riots were reported from Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Bhai Modi. Demolition of Babari Masjid in Ayodhaya by Hinduvata forces, particularly Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Lal Knrishna Advani has become another blot on the secular fabric of India!
Justice Katju has cautioned Indians and said, " India is passing through transitional phase from feudal agriculture society to to an modern industrial society. In my opinion the duty of all patriotic people is to help in shortening this transition period, in reducing this pain.....there is going to be turmoil in this period since the vested interest of old feudal order will not give up their vested interests without a fierce struggle-------we must combat caste ism, communal ism and superstitions in order to get over the transition period faster and with less pain."
Sources:BOOKS: History in the Service of Imperialism,; Mysore Gazetteer; Speech of Prof B N Pandey in Upper House of Parliament in 1977;Articles on website kgfindia.com like Kalidas Ghalib Academy for Mutual U;understandings,Great Injustice to Urdu in India, Sanskrit as a Language of Science; An article in The Frontline fortnightly based on the speech delivered by Justice Markandey Katju to non-resident Indians in California in June 2011.
I must begin with a quote of the eminent scholar and former judge of the Supreme court Markandey Katju, before deliberating more facts on the secular fabric of India. Justice Katju has said, " Since there is so much diversity in India the only policy which will work is the policy of secularism and giving equal respect to all communities. Otherwise India will break up into a hundred pieces since there is so much diversity." Justice Katju has made this remark while delivering his speech to non-residents Indians in California in June 2011.
We must remember about our modern India. In Katju's opinion, two people -Emperor Akbar and and former prime ministerPundit Jawahar Lal Nehru can be said the creators of present day modern India..
Emperor Akbar has no parallel in the world as ruler of honesty and integrity. In the 16th century Akbar had proclaimed the doctrine of Suleh-ekul, which means "universal tolerance of all religion." At that time there were upheavals in Europe. Exuropeans were massacring each other in the name of religion, Catholics massacring Protestants, Proteststants massacring Catholics and both massacring Jews. Similarly In India, religious passions were inflamed after partition in 1947 and people of both Hindu and Muslim communities behaved like animals. Both of them were butchering each other. Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic state. We can imagine tremendous pressure on the then prime minister Pundit Jawaghar Lal Nehru at that time to declare India as Hindu state! But Pundit Nehru kept cool and declared that India will not be a Hindu state but will be secular state and provided such Constitution to India! Katju has further commented, " For this reason, we are relatively more stability as compared to our neighbouring countries.
More over, initially Muslim invaders including Mahmud Ghazani, had demolished a lot of temples including Somanath temple. But their descendants, who were Muslim rulers in different parts of India, did not disturb the secular equilibrium of India. In many cases, historically We find that they used to give grants for upkeep and maintenance of temples. They celebrated Holi and Diwali festivals together. One example, Babar was an invader but Akbar was not invader; he was born in India and was very much an Indian. These descendants of the invaders, ruled India,, having population of 80 to 90 percent Hindus. If they continued in demolishing temples, there would have been turmoil and in their interest, they fostered communal harmony; they gave grants to temples, they celebrated Hindu festivals. another example" Nabab of Awadh used to organise Ramlila and celebrate Holi and Diwali. Tipu Sultan used to give annual grants to 156 temples, his prime minister was a Hindu called Purnaiya and his commander-in-chief was a Hindu, called Krishna Rao. Tipu Sultan sent 30 respectful letters with grants to the Shankaracharya of Sringeri."
Surprisingly British had always played games to divide Muslim and Hindu- In history of that time, you will find mention of communal tinges in the society between Hindu and Muslim but will not find communal harmony, spread by Muslim rulers in the form of "land grants for building Hindu temples, celebrated and organised Hindu festivals etc".
Our history books, influenced by Britishers, have depicted many nasty stories of communal disharmony! One instance is about a book written by Professor of Sanskrit in Calcutta university Harprasad Shastri, in which, 'it was mentioned that Tipu sultan told 3000 Brahimins to covert to Islam or otherwise they would be killed and those 3000 Brahmins committed suicide rather become Muslims. On reading this, Professor of History in Allahabad university Prof Pandey said that when he asked Prof Shastri about the source of such write up, Prof Shastri replied that that the source of information was the Mysore Gazetteer. again Prof Pandey wrote to Prof of history in the Mysore University Srikant-Prof Srikant wrote back to Prof Pandey that this was totally false-there is no such mention in the Mysore Gazetteer; rather correct version was just reverse namely the Tipu Sultan used to give annual grants to 156 temples, he used to send grants to the Shankracharya Of Sringeri."
Justice Katju further spoke in his lecture, " It is time we rewrite our history books and show that in fact upto 1857 there was no communal problem at all in India. A composite culture had been developing in India. Hindus used to participate in Eid and Muharram celebrations and Muslims used to participate in Holi , Diwali etc festivals. There were some difference no doubt, but they were becoming narrower."
He further said, " In 1857, the great mutiny took place. Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After suppressing mutiny it was decided by the British rulers that that the only way to control country was to divide and rule. In other words, Hindu and Muslims must be made to fight each other. Communal riots started in 1857. English collector would secretly call Hindu pundits and give him money to speak against Muslims and similarly he would secretly call the Maulvi and give him some Maulvi to speak against Hindu. A racket was started in this way and and this resulted ultimately into partition in 1947."
After we achieved part independence, there were many Hindu-Muslim riots were reported and it started from Ranchi and Jamshedpur in joint Bihar. There after, many more were reported in the country, killings of thousands of people exact figure of killings in Hindu-Muslim riots since independence have been carried out in the Outlook India recently. Worse communal carnage was reported in Gujarat and the chief minster oif Gujarat Narendra Modi was allegedly main conspirators in eliminating Muslims from Gujarat. Many killings of Muslims in riots were reported from Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Bhai Modi. Demolition of Babari Masjid in Ayodhaya by Hinduvata forces, particularly Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Lal Knrishna Advani has become another blot on the secular fabric of India!
Justice Katju has cautioned Indians and said, " India is passing through transitional phase from feudal agriculture society to to an modern industrial society. In my opinion the duty of all patriotic people is to help in shortening this transition period, in reducing this pain.....there is going to be turmoil in this period since the vested interest of old feudal order will not give up their vested interests without a fierce struggle-------we must combat caste ism, communal ism and superstitions in order to get over the transition period faster and with less pain."
Sources:BOOKS: History in the Service of Imperialism,; Mysore Gazetteer; Speech of Prof B N Pandey in Upper House of Parliament in 1977;Articles on website kgfindia.com like Kalidas Ghalib Academy for Mutual U;understandings,Great Injustice to Urdu in India, Sanskrit as a Language of Science; An article in The Frontline fortnightly based on the speech delivered by Justice Markandey Katju to non-resident Indians in California in June 2011.
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