Aurangzebs of the state attacking hard-won freedoms

Aurangzebs of the state attacking hard-won freedoms

Here are two accounts. One is by V. Sundaram presenting the facts on Aurangzeb’s destruction of Hindu temples. The other is by Francois Gautier presenting the facts of culture (read communal) policing in Chennai which should attract appropriate legal and administrative sanctions, assuming that the rule of law is in vogue in the state.

When the fence eats away the field, who is to safeguard the crop?

The organizers of the exhibit should be complimented for awakening the nation to the faces of terror which have stalked the nation for several centuries.

A nation which forgets its past and does not draw lessons from the eveil deeds of the past rulers, the nation is likely to repeat its history.

Dhanyavaadah for the extraordinary courage and fortitude displayed by the organizers standing up to state terror mimicking the jihadi terrors -- of the past and ongoing.

kalyan


Aurangazeb and Islamic compassion-II

V SUNDARAM | Mon, 10 Mar, 2008 , 02:50 PM
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‘Aurangazeb as he was’ exhibition organized by FACT in Chennai showed two paintings about the destruction of Keshavarai Temple at Mathura carried out by Aurangazeb in Jan-Feb 1670 (See Exhibit 12 below) and how in its place a lofty Mosque was erected.
The idols, the author of Maasir-i-Alamgiri informs us, were carried to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque built by Begum Sahiba in order to be continually trodden upon, and the name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad. The painting (See Exhibit 13 below) is thus no fancy imagination of the artist but depicts what actually took place.
Exhibits 12 and 13 http://newstodaynet.com/images/stories/columns/sharpshot/2008-images/pg4-sundaram-photo-2.gif
The Muslim Invaders and Rulers of India belonged to different ages, races and parts of the globe. They spoke in different languages. But their behaviour-pattern remained and still remains consistently uniform. The very reason for such remarkable uniformity of behaviour lies in the Quran, the Hadis and the Sunnah which they quote and follow with pride. There are two aspects of the creed of Islam. One is the Doctrinal aspect as embodied in the Islamic Scriptures viz, the Holy Quran (The Revelation of Allah), the Hadis (The Revelation of the Prophet) and the Sunnah (The Way of Life as shown by the Prophet). The other is “Jihad” i.e. Islam in action. Both -these aspects are intertwined with one another and it is the Holy Quran that inspires, ordins and guides Jihad, the Islamic ‘struggle’ in the way of Allah.

The Islamic Jihad in every nook and corner of the world stands for the same – intolerance to and slaughter of non-Muslims, loot and arson of the ‘kafirs’ property and rape of their women. From the Mujaheeds of the battle of Badr to toda’s Osaama bin Laden, the spirit remains unchanged. And from the mutilation of Lt. Saurav Khalia to the Church-bomb-blast at Djakarta (25.12.2000) and New York World Trade Centre (11.9.2001) the pattern remains the same. Allah has said in the Quran “Slay the idolaters whenever you find them, and take them, confine them, and lie in weight for them in every place of ambush” (Surah 9: Ayat 5). Likewise we have in Surah 8: Ayat 39 this message: “Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme”. Apart from the religious Ordinances, Carnal gratification is another strong impetus that inspires a Mujaheed to participate in Jihad. There is assurance in Surah 78: Ayat 30 to the effect that if a Mujaheed gets killed, 72 Hauries (women of tender age with large round breasts) and 28 young boys weight to satiate his libido in Jannat (Paradise). The Holy Qural promises that “Surely for the God – fearing awaits a place of security, garden and vineyards and maidens with swelling bossoms.”

Will Durant, in his internationally acclaimed book “The Story of Civilization”, has stated: The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale for its evident moral is that Civilization is a precious good whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from outside are multiplying within.”

Swami Vivekananda presented the following picture of Islamic havoc in India as follows: “When the Muslims first came to India, there were according to their historical records, 60 crores of Hindus in India. This calculation suffers from under estimation than exaggeration; for lots of people perished through the persecution of the Muslims. But today the same Hindus have dwindled into 20 crores” (Complete Works, Volume V, PP 233).

Muslim Regimes, throughout the world have an unparallel record of terrorism and torture, murder and mayhem described in gory details by contemporary Muslim chroniclers themselves. Subjecting all non-Muslims to horrendous atrocities, plundering their wealth, abducting their women and destroying their places for worship—these munificent deeds have been considered sacred duties of every Muslim in Islamic theology and practice. Such acts of violence, inhuman torture and barbarism, have been inspired by the Quran itself which says” “Allah revealed His Will to the Angels saying ‘I shall be with you, give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, main them in every limb. “(Surah 8: Ayat 12)

Aurangazeb drew his inspiration for the destruction of Hindu Temples from the Quran. Sita Ram Goel in his authoritative work ‘Hindu Temples, What Happened to Them’ has given detailed epigraphic evidence regarding the destruction of Keshavarai Temple by Aurangazeb in Mathura. He cites from the Persian inscription reproduced and translated into English by F.S. Growse in his Mathura: A District Memoir (3rd Edition of 1883). Growse was District Collector of Mathura in 1883. Here is the epigraphic evidence:

“In the reign of Shah Alamgir Muhuddin Walmillah, the King of the World, Aurangazeb, who is adorned with justice, the lustre of Islam shone forth to the glory of God: for Abd-un-Nabi Khan built this beautiful Mosque. The second Holy Temple caused the idols to go down in worship. Truth came and error vanished.” This is how they described how a Mosque was erected at the same site where Keshavari Temple stood and which was demolished on Aurangazeb’s orders in Jan-Feb 1670.

In his path-breaking book HINDU MASJIDS’, Shri Prafull Goradia, a profound scholar and Former BJP Member of Parliament has fully documented the destruction of Hindu Temples by Muslim Rulers from 700 AD to the end of the 18th century. Aurangazeb comes out as a cruel, wicked and barbarous destroyer of Hindu Temples. I will be giving details from this book in these articles in serial form:

To quote the words of Prafull Goradia from his introduction: “Hindu Masjids personify the deep chasm, or the sharp conflict between the Hindu Ethos and Muslim Zoolatry. The conflict must be resolved. Why are we anxious? For the simple reason that without resolution, India cannot acquire the spirit of collective honour. And without national pride, the country cannot leap forward. Individual citizens may flourish or shine, as they do even now, whether at home or overseas. But the collective performance of the country disappoints.”
It is the bounden duty of all responsible citizens and historians to let the people of India know about the brutal and actual facts about their collective past. If an endeavour directed towards this nobel end can be viewed as a criminal act which tends to disturb or derange communal peace and harmony, then all that I can say is that such an attitude only smacks of a black-mailing form of terrorism. All true scholars and patriotic Indians should derive their inspiration from these words: “Without courage there can be no truth and without truth, there can be no other virtue”.
http://newstodaynet.com/printer.php?id=5738

(An article by Francois Gautier which was published in the centre page of New Indian Express, 10-3-08)

Freedom gagged
by francois gautier

ON the March 7,2008, in Lalit Kala Academi, Chennai, Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Murali, took off the wall an exquisite miniature painting, which showed the destruc­tion of the Somnath temple (which has been razed six times) and threw it on the ground, shattering it. Then his men started removing all the paint­ings from the wall, further damaging many of them. On that day, the morale and the reputation of the Tamil Nadu police must have sunk to a new low: of bowing down to their master's wishes and those of a few fanatics, of forsaking moral decency and all the qualities that a police offi­cer should embody.

The previous day the Nawab of Arcot visited the exhibition and lashed out at FACT volunteers accusing them of "misrepresenting facts." He was particularly enraged by two miniatures — the first depicted Aurangzeb's army destroying the Somnath temple and the second showed the destruction of the Kesava Rai temple in Mathura. We are told that he has direct access to the CM's office and that orders to the police to clamp down on exhibition came down from there. Otherwise, Mr Murali would not have dared to go so far, so brazenly.

Soon, the nawab sent a group of goons, allegedly from TMMK (Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) and MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) to pick up arguments with the volun­teers, most of them elderly women from decent family backgrounds.
They came back again on 7th after­noon when I was there, screaming on, top of their voices in Tamil and in English that this exhibition was absolutely false and that unless it was closed immediately they would come back in force the next day (Fri­day) to break it down. I tried to rea­son with them, that these were all doc­uments from Government archives, that I could explain everything to them, that we could even debate on TV, but they shouted even louder and got more threatening. When all these arguments were going on the police did not bother to come up. (The hall is on the first floor.)

Then the goons closeted themselves with Mr Murali, two other offi­cers and Mr Palaniappan, the secre­tary of the LKA, in his office and when I barged in, Mr Murali told me he was closing down the exhibition. I decided to rush to the Commissioner's office in Egmore to plead for a stay order. But meanwhile Mr Murali swung into action: he terrorised the harmless ladies calling them "stooges of a white dog," threw two paintings on the ground and ordered his police­men to remove the rest. Then he arrested four volunteers (Mrs. Saraswathi, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, Mrs. Malathi and Mr. B.R. Haran) and took them to the Thousand Lights police station. There ACP termed Mr. Fran­cois as a "Foreign Terrorist" and threatened to book the volunteers "for helping and assisting him to incite communal violence in the oth­erwise peaceful Tamil Nadu."

What was all the noise about? Lalit Kala Academi was showing an exhibi­tion: "Aurangzeb as he was accord­ing to his own records." This is an artistic exhibition on Aurangzeb, the great Mughal emperor using his own records and firmans (edicts), many of which are still preserved in Indian museums, such as the Bikaner archives.
Aurangzeb was truly a pious Muslim, copying the Koran himself, stitching Muslim skullcaps and enforcing strict laws, according to his own documents, which we were careful to show. How come Aurangzeb is such a hero with the Nawab of Arcot and his henchmen? Forget what he did to Hindus: re-imposing the humiliating jiziya tax, forbidding them from riding horses, elephants or palanquins and order­ing all temples destroyed (Among them the Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujarat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya), he was also a monster to his own family, having his father poi­soned, his two brothers killed, and imprisoning his own son.
This exhibition was sponsored by FACT, which I created in 2003, when I received at the hands of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha the Natchiketa Award of Excellence in Journalism. With the Prize money, my Indian wife Namrita and myself mounted an exhibition on the plight of the Kashmir! Pandits, four hundred thousand of them having become refugees in their own country.

This exhibition travelled around India and then in the world and was shown in Capitol Hill, Washington, in July 2005, leading to a bipartisan resolution on the Human Rights of the Kashmir! Pandits in the US Con­gress. Another exhibition on the per­secution of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists in Bangladesh was inau­gurated in Mumbai on November 18, 2006. We have also a huge show on Shivaji 'a Hero for Modern, India' in Mumbai on March 12 in Ravindra Natya Mandir.

A lot of historical research and artistic efforts have gone into the mak­ing of this exhibition. It is also an effort to help a dying craft, of the painters of Rajasthan, that of minia­ture painting. Each original painting, which portrays a historically documented incident in the times of Aurangzeb, has been done in the orig­inal Mughal style and is signed and dated. Professor V. S. Bhatnagar of the Rajasthan University, Jaipur, has con­tributed the historical research part.

We are hiring a lawyer to file a case on FACT's behalf on five counts:

1) Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Murali, took two of the paintings, which showed the destruc­tion of the Somnath temple and threw them on the ground. I hear six more paintings have been damaged and we have no news of the exhibition as it has been sealed. It costs 8 lakhs to do (all original miniature paintings not counting my time).

2) We paid LalitKalaAcademi a lot of money and they cancelled the show.

3) The police took in a police van three innocent ladies to the police station after 6 p.m. which is illegal.

4) The police totally sided with the goons, closeting themselves in the manager's office for one hour.

5) Mr Murali threatened the ladies repeatedly that they were 'terrorists.'

6} Lastly, we will file a case against Lalit Kala Academi for damage to our paintings, infringement upon our freedom of expression and we will demand that they reopen the exhibi­tion in their premises so that the people of Chennai may have the opportunity to make their own judg­ment about it.

This exhibition is not about raking up the past or "creating communal disharmony," it is about Indian chil­dren, Hindus and Muslims alike knowing their own past and making sure it does not happen again. For Aurangzeb's shadow and legacy is still very much present in India.

It was there in Kashmir when all the Hindus were forced by terror to leave their homeland; it is there when Indian Muslims help plant bombs in Mumbai trains, Varanasi, or Delhi; it was there in Chennai when a few Muslim rowdies hold at ransom an entire state and its political apparatus. This is why we had that exhibition.

Francois Gautier is political correspondent in South Asia for “LaFigaro” for eight years. He is now the editor in chief of Paris-based Le revue de l’Inde (lesbelleslettre.com)
http://newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=m&Title=Main+Article&