How India’s Mughal history is being rewritten by the Modi government

The right-wing Indian government has been attempting to rewrite the country’s Islamic past, replacing hard facts with murky fiction, to promote its Hindutva agenda. Their favourite whipping boys are the Mughals, and there is a steady plan to erase their existence from Indian history. In their place, Hindu rulers, freedom fighters and generally anyone who could be a potential public hero, are being glorified. This is all part of the grand plan to stoke nationalistic fervour and communal tensions, to divert attention from the issues facing the country. Among the many “foreign” dynasties that ruled over India, the Mughals were the most influential and lasted the longest, from 1526-1761. Akbar is still considered one of India’s greatest rulers, also an upholder of liberal and secular values, and Mughal art and architecture is much beloved among both Indian and foreign tourists. More importantly, the Mughals ruled as settlers, enriching the land for over 250 years, and not as invaders or colonists, as is being claimed now. The airbrushing of history starts with name changes. Most recently, Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, one of the most populous, politically influential and communally charged Indian states, ordered the under-construction Mughal Museum in Agra to be named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji was a 17th century Hindu king from the Deccan Plateau, who is venerated by the political right for establishing Hindu rule by defeating the Mughals. This move is ironic given that Agra was founded by a Muslim ruler, Sikandar Lodhi, and was at its peak during the Mughal regime. The museum is also near the Taj Mahal, one of the greatest architectural achievements of a Mughal ruler, and is meant to showcase the art and culture of this dynasty. However, Adityanath has asked: “How can Mughals be our heroes?” adding that attaching a Maratha ruler’s name to a Mughal museum “will invoke a feeling of nationalism and self-esteem”. Interestingly, the Taj Mahal, built by a heartbroken emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, has been a site of contention in the last few years. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician’s claim that it was built on the site of a Hindu temple known as Tejo Mahalaya, dedicated to the god Shiva, gained widespread approval among those espousing the Hindutva cause. The official Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet does not mention the Taj Mahal, after the chief minister decided that Mughal-era monuments were not reflective of Indian culture. This is yet another example of the BJP government’s push towards a Hindu nation. In 2018, over 150 years after it came into existence, the central railway junction of Mughalsarai was renamed Deendayal Upadhyaya, after a right-wing ideologue and politician from the region whose murdered body was found at the station decades ago. Even as critics of the current regime called out the move as an attempt to “tinker with history”, supporters hailed it as a “victory for Hindus”. Later that same year, the city of Allahabad, birthplace of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and a Hindu pilgrimage centre close to the holy city of Varanasi, was renamed Prayagraj. The name Allahabad was given by Mughal emperor Akbar, and the city served as a cultural and political hub for the Mughals, and later the British. In other instances, the government continues to keep Mughal history out of the public mind. In some states, even the mention of Mughal and Muslim rulers has been removed from school history textbooks. Tipu Sultan, an 18th century ruler of the south Indian kingdom of Mysore, celebrated as a great administrator and brave resister of British colonial forces, has been labelled a fanatic and erased from local textbooks. Rewriting history by changing names is not new to India; in the last few decades, several cities have returned to their pre-British names, purportedly to shake off the shackles of colonialism and reignite nationalistic pride. Bombay became Mumbai, Madras reverted to Chennai, and so on. However, this recent programme of name changes is set in the context of unquestioned communal violence by Hindutva supporters – from several murders of Muslims suspected of slaughtering (holy) cows for beef, to the bloody pogrom in New Delhi earlier this year, and the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Registry of Citizens introduced late last year with the purpose of further segregating Muslims. The Hindutva ideology chalked up another major win when the 16th century Babri Masjid, demolished by frenzied mobs in 1992, was finally obliterated a couple of months ago by a ground consecration ceremony to build a temple on the site, a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All this points to a clear agenda to disempower the minority Muslim community by erasing their contribution to India’s multi-faith past, and isolating them as outsiders. All it takes is for two generations of India’s youth to grow up with this biased version of history, for it to become immutable fact. India’s unique heritage of syncretism is under threat. And that is certainly cause for worry. Charukesi Ramadurai is an Indian freelance journalist writing on culture and current affairs

How India’s Mughal history is being rewritten by the Modi government

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} From renaming places to editing school history textbooks, India’s Muslim Mughal past is being erased as Modi’s government pushes a Hindutva agenda

From renaming places to editing school history textbooks, India’s Muslim Mughal past is being erased as Modi’s government pushes a Hindutva agenda