6 million Jews perished in the genocide orchestrated by the Nazis between 1941 and 1945. Since then, the whole world acknowledges the sufferings of the Jews and supports their fight against religious extremism that still threatens their existence in Israel and elsewhere. The current generation of Jews who probably never experienced the sort of oppression that their ancestors faced also are fully aware of the pains that their community has suffered, and the threats that they continue to face. And this is possible because the Jews have documented the sufferings, and call out their sufferings exactly as they happened. Every year, Israel comes to a standstill to remember the holocaust victims on May 1st. Today there are numerous Holocaust museums and literature books across the world to remind the world of an ideology that the Jews need to safeguard themselves against. The community will not fail its future generations.
On the contrary, Hindus in India have completely disavowed their history. Since the Islamic invasions of India in the 11th century, the said number of Hindus that have been persecuted in religious pogroms exceed at least 80 million1 and could be as high as 400 million2. Such is the sorry state of account keeping within the Hindu community that it’s arguable to conclude on the right ballpark number for the Hindus that perished in their fight to preserve their civilizational identity against the Islamic expansionism. Some examples of the Hindu genocide can be quoted from the accounts of Islamic rulers themselves. Translation of Taimur’s own account by Elliott and Dowson, quote Taimur mentioning to his noblemen that “My object in the invasion of Hindustan is to lead an expedition against the infidels that, according to the law of Mohammed (upon whom and his family be the blessing and peace of God!), we may convert the people of that country to the true faith and purify the land itself from infidelity and polytheism, and that we may overthrow their temples and idols and become conquerors and crusaders before God.”, and the account further mentions that “I ordered my troops to attack all four sides at once, to force their way into the defiles, and to kill the men, imprison the women and children, and plunder and lay waste their property. I directed towers of the skulls of those obstinate unbelievers to be built on the mountain.3” Around 100,000 Hindus were killed by Taimur in Delhi, and he made a pyramid of their skulls. Taimur’s account is one of the many that highlight the persecution of Hindus by the invaders. Similar to Taimur’s tyranny, around 100,000 Hindus in Mewat were persecuted by Ghiyas ud-din Balban in the 13th century, around 500,000 around Vijayanagara were persecuted by Bahamani Sultanate in the 14th century, and many other forgotten genocides by the pan-Islamists that still do not find a mention in our school history books.
The magnitude of the demographic change of the land over centuries can be sensed from the fact that by the time India got independence from the British in 1947, the ideology of pan-Islamism had eliminated enough Hindus and had forcibly converted so many others during their occupation that they could easily breakaway one-third of the ancient land India, alternatively still known as Bharat by the indigenous Hindus. The lack of accountability and disinformation around the Hindu genocides in previous centuries ensured that even in the 20th century, the pan-Islamists continued their atrocities under one pretext or other. Often, the Khilafat movement of 1919 is presented as some sort of freedom struggle against the British, while in reality, it was just a pan-Islamist movement in support of the Islamic caliphate in Turkey. One of the biggest protagonists of the Khilafat movement, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was later made the first education minister of independent India. The Hindus seemingly accepted this as they could not see the continuity of pan-Islamism from the 11th century to the Khilafat movement. In an alternate world, any protagonist of a pan-Islamist movement occupying a top leadership role in a Hindu majority state would have sent alarm bells ringing.
Arguably, it can be said that the Hindus could never secure the power to write the history from their perspective, highlighting the multiple genocides that their ancestors faced. But, when in 1947, an independent India did give her a chance to give the honor back to the indigenous population that had been humiliated for over 800 years, it let go of that opportunity in favor of a Nehruvian worldview. Such a worldview believed that remembering old wounds would foment newer tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Hence, the Marxist historians such as Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib who took over the school history books presented a carefully crafted narrative rather than a true account of history.
Today the history books in schools eulogize Mughal rulers for their administration while underplaying religious supremacism which was the foundation of the empire, that led to numerous Hindu genocides. While the eulogies of the Mughal rulers run across multiple chapters in textbooks, the victories and struggles of the Hindu warriors such as Maharana Pratap, Lalitaditya, Krishnadevraya, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Chola kingdom, and Ahoms, etc. have been significantly underplayed or altogether omitted. The goal is to present the tyrants as benevolent rulers who did well for the Hindus and instill a belief among Hindus that modern-day India is possible only because of the foundation led by the Islamic rulers. The whitewashing of the religious supremacism of the Muslim invaders, instead sadly ends up justifying the Hindu genocides, and emboldens the section of the society that still believes in the idea of religious supremacy.
On the surface, it is a novel idea to ignore the past wounds which could flare up tensions between the communities today. But, it’s preposterous to believe that current day Muslims will be persecuted for what their ancestors did centuries ago if we acknowledge the true history. But unless the society doesn’t accept the genocide of Hindus by the Islamist invaders, it will mean that they are continuing to justify those atrocities. The outcome of acknowledging the truth should be to ensure that no section of the society subscribes to the supremacist beliefs of the medieval era. Instead, the apologists such as the Habibs and Thapars have ended up mainstreaming religious supremacy under the garb of religious sensitivities. The result has been many more genocides of Hindus in the 20th century, be it the ethnic cleansing of the Hindu minority in Kashmir, or the genocide of over 2 million Hindus in East Pakistan in 1971 by the army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. For the persecuted Hindus, the theme has been consistent for centuries, but the presentation has made sure that each genocide is presented as an outcome of a localized conflict, and not as a continuation of the historic theme of Islamist supremacy.
An honest acceptance of the past will not only secure the future generation of Hindus but will also truly help India achieve national integration on the foundation of truth. Jews secured the future of their generations by ensuring that Nazism will have no place in the civilized world. Will Hindus ensure the accountability for their Holocaust? If not, then it is rightly said, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
1 Growth of Muslim Population in India, Dr. K.S LAL
2 http://arunshourie.bharatvani.org/articles/19930131.htm
3 The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Volume 5, Chapter9, https://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/Jackson5/chapter09.html
The Nodes 