“Kisne kaha hai toot gaya khanjar-e-firang?
Seene mein zakhm-e-nau bhi hai daagh-e-kuhan ke saath”.
What I am going to say in this Address was really the job of Professors of History in JNU, AMU, BHU and other Universities and Institutes in India. I was basically a man of the legal world (20 years a lawyer and 20 years a judge), and explaining history to the Indian people was not my job. But since the Professors of History, who were enjoying high salaries and perks, were not doing their job I had to do it instead.
While pursuing my legal career I also studied deeply history, philosophy, economics, literature (of many countries), sociology etc. And I learnt that much of what our Professors in Indian Universities and Institutes knew and taught was humbug, and their heads crammed with bookish, sterile and useless knowledge, which I call gobar (cow dung), which they passed on to their equally stupid students. In this connection see my article ‘Indian liberals and their illiberal ignorance’ on the portal DailyO.in.
For instance there are many Professors of Economics in Delhi School of Economics, JNU, Delhi University, etc. flaunting Ph.D. degrees from Harvard, Yale and the London School of Economics. But if they are asked how the problem of unemployment can be solved not one can give the correct answer (which I have attempted to do in my Eighth Address–Glimpses of Reunified India).
Similarly, I had to explain to the Indian people (which was really the job of these Professors) about what is India (see my article ‘What is India?’ online and on my blog Satyam Bruyat), Philosophy (see my blogs ‘Guru Purnima’, ‘Indian Philosophy’, ‘Nyaya or Vedanta’ etc., and my article ‘Indian intellectuals’ on my fb page), Sanskrit (see my article ‘Sanskrit as a language of Science’ online and on my blog Satyam Bruyat), Urdu (see my article ‘What is Urdu’ online and on my blog), etc.
The problem of communalism is also something which our History Professors should have investigated deeply and explained to the Indian people, but they have not. So I had to do their job.
Why did our history professors not make the discoveries which I made, (which was really their job, not mine) e.g.
(1) India is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America, which explains its tremendous diversity (see my article ‘What is India’ online and on my blog Satyam Bruyat).
(2) Communalism arose after 1857
I have explained in my articles ‘The Truth about Pakistan’ and ‘The Truth about Partition’ (see online and on my blog) that there was no communalism in India before 1857. Hindus and Muslims lived together in harmony, with Hindus taking part in Eid and Moharram, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali. This state of affairs continued till the Great Mutiny broke out in India in 1857. In this Mutiny, Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After suppressing it, the British decided that the only way to control India was divide and rule (see my articles referred to above, and also BN Pande’s ‘History in the service of Imperialism’ online). Details about how this divide and rule policy was implemented are given in those pieces, and hence I am not repeating them here. All communal riots and clashes started after 1857. The communal virus was injected into our society and body politic by the British and their agents systematically year after year, and decade after decade (see my article ‘Truth about Pakistan’ online) resulting in the greatest tragedy of India in its 5000 year old known history–the Partition of 1947.
(3) Though the Muslim invaders destroyed many Hindu temples (e.g. destruction of the Somnath temple by Mahmud Ghaznavi), the descendants of these Muslim invaders who became local rulers, far from destroying Hindu temples gave hundreds of grants to them (see my article ‘Tipu Jayanti Celebrations’ published on 10.11.2015 on my blog Satyam Bruyat). These Muslim rulers, e.g. the Mughals, Nawabs of Avadh, Murshidabad, Arcot etc., Tipu Sultan and others had 80-90% of their subjects who were Hindus. They knew that if they broke temples there would be revolts and disturbances which no ruler wants. Hence in their own interest they fostered and promoted harmonious relations between all communities, e.g. Nawabs of Avadh used to organise Ramlilas and celebrate Holi and Diwali, the Nawab of Arcot donated land for the temple tank of the famous Kapaleeshwar temple in Chennai, Tipu Sultan used to give annual grants to 156 Hindu temples, and gave grants to the Shankaracharya of Shringeri (see BN Pande’s ‘History in the service of Imperialism’ online) etc. About Aurangzeb there is a controversy (see my blog on him in my blog Satyam Bruyat) and more research is required.
Now the invasions by Muslim invaders have been mentioned in our history books. But the period of rule by the descendants of the invaders, in which communal harmony was fostered by the local Muslim rulers (which is of ten times longer duration than the invasions) has been deliberately suppressed from our history books by the British historians and their Indian disciples, obviously since that would go against the wicked British policy of divide and rule.
It is therefore obvious that communalism is not an intrinsic feature of our country but was an artificial creation, first by the British, and after 1947 by certain vested interests.
It is true that many people in India and Pakistan today are communal. However, this is not something intrinsic but is an artificial creation. Propaganda is something so powerful that it can temporarily make people blind to the truth. For instance, the Nazi propaganda that Jews are evil people made almost the whole German nation go mad, resulting in the horrors of the Holocaust, though Germans are mostly excellent people, highly cultured and good natured.
Similarly, it was the nefarious divide and rule policy, injected into our body politic for decades, and the bogus two nation theory, hammered into our heads by the British rulers and their agents like Gandhi and Jinnah, which created hatred between Hindus and Muslims. It did not exist before 1857 when Hindus and Muslims lived amicably. Even today a certain political party thrives on Hindu communalism, and projects constructing Ram Mandir and cow protection as real issues, when the real issues facing India (including Pakistan and Bangladesh) are poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, farmers distress, lack of proper healthcare and good education, etc.
When we talk of Indian reunification, many people say that it is impossible to reunite India in view of the hatred between Hindus and Muslims. They do not realise that this hatred was artificially created by the British, and continued even after 1947 by some vested interests. It is not natural or inherent. And the proof of this is that when Indians go to Pakistan they are overwhelmed by the love, affection and hospitality they receive, and the same happens when Pakistanis come to India.
India was divided and Pakistan created as an Islamic state so that hatred between Hindus and Muslims continues. So communalism will continue to plague our society until reunification of India under a secular modern minded government which while upholding religious freedom does not tolerate religious extremism or bigotry, and crushes it with an iron hand.