On May 17th the Home
Minister, Rajnath Singh, created sort of a mini hysteria among the established
historians. In three tweets he forced many journalists and publications to come
up with counter arguments. What the Home Ministers had said in his three tweets
was –
“Maharana Pratap became an icon
for freedom fighters because his name evoked a strong feeling of love and
sacrifice for motherland”.
“Our text books have not been
able to fully recognise Maharana Pratap's contribution and significance in
India's history”.
“If Akbar can be called 'Akbar
the Great' for his contribution then why can't Maharana Pratap be recognised as
'Maharana Pratap the Great”.
He tweeted after he inaugurated a
statue of Maharana Pratap in Pratapgarh Rajasthan.
The first piece tells us that the
textbooks we read are withholding information, which can technically mean they
are lying. The article informs us that all the stories we hear or read about
the Rajput valour and might is a lie. On the contrary the Rajputs failed
miserably in battles for centuries. The Rajputs were in fact inept at
discipline, technical & technological prowess and tactical acumen.
This reasoning is stupid at best.
The rules of war in India were different from that of the nomads who had none. In
India wars were fought in open spaces and civilian causalities were rare. The
only large scale loss of life documented is that during the war of Kalinga. The
impact of the widespread destruction was so profound on Ashok that he devoted
rest of his life spreading Buddhism and drafting laws to protect environment
and people.
The logic given by Girish shahane
would in fact justify the swift advance of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and
Iraq and blame the loss of territory, life and history on the missing skills of
Iraqi and Syrian forces. The tactical acumen Girish talks about was horrendous
and in today’s time and age would qualify the Ghaznis, Ghouris, Khiljis and
Baburs to be tried at the international Court of Justice for crimes against
humanity. The acts that followed the wars, by the “eminent” personalities
mentioned by Girish, were mass killings of civilians, destruction of places of
worship, rape of women, taking slaves and sending tribute to the Ottoman
Caliph. These are exactly the acts that followed the fall of Mosul, Palmyra,
Anbar, etc. at the hands of the IS.
What the Home Minister said and
what the likes of Scroll made it into is bizarre. The three tweets had nothing,
which in any way would qualify as an attack on Akbar or the larger set of
Muslim rulers. But the Left leaning and some self-proclaimed centrist
journalists concocted stories. Played it out to imply the statement was an
attack on “secularism” and an attempt to “rewrite history”.
But interesting thing is that
publications like Scroll often carry biased and under researched articles that
can be termed misleading. Take this for example
Shoaib Daniyal concocts another conspiracy on how the Bengali calendar is a
fusion of Hijri and Hindu calendar. Only he forgets that there is no such thing
as a Hindu calendar. The Bengali calendar or Bangabda as it is called is a solar
calendar unlike Hijri, which is lunar. The Hijri has no mechanism to adjust for
the loss of eleven days every year or to ensure the link between months and
seasons, making it useless for a community dependent on agriculture. The
article ends with a note relishing how the calendar has become an integral part
of agriculture and Hindu religion.
Another lie. None of the Bengali festivals are celebrated (apart from
the New Year) according to Bangabda. They are all celebrated according to
Vikram era.
The likes of Scroll who often
blame the others for rewriting history are in fact experts in the trade. Be it
the half-truths of the “eminent” rulers or outright lies like the story of
Bangabda, Scroll has perfected the art of misleading.
