Off-centre | The Delhi Files-3: India’s unresolved civilisational conflict

Last month I wrote about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overture to the Sikhs. In a grand event on 21 April to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, Modi contrasted the saint with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who had ordered his execution. “India has never posed a threat to any country or society. Even today we think about the welfare of the whole world,” Modi had reminded his audience. Around the same time, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, basking in the afterglow of the phenomenal success of The Kashmir Files, announced that he had commenced work on the “The Delhi Files”. It was widely speculated that in his next round of truth-telling, Agnihotri would expose who was behind the pogrom of the Sikhs in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984. Almost as a provocatory retaliation, some would say, if not political faux pas, “repeat offender,” Akbaruddin Owaisi, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Telangana MLA, offered floral tributes and chadar on the mazar or grave of Aurangzeb in Khuldabad. Reacting to this “reverential visit,” former BJP Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said, “Listen to me, Owaisi, even a dog will not pee on the identity of Aurangzeb…” Aurangzeb, it need not be added, is hated in Maharashtra for torturing Sambhaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son, in addition to countless other alleged and recorded crimes against Hindus and humanity. In stark contrast, Junaid Azim Mattu, the Mayor of Srinagar, tweeted on 15 May, “May Allah (SWT)’s mercy and blessings be upon Hafiz-e-Quran, Shahenshah Hazrat Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb (R.A.) and his grave.” Just as one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, it would seem that one man’s dreaded tyrant is another man’s saint. But this is not a matter of differing men, as Raveena Tandon suggested in another tweet upholding freedom of worship in India. These differences indicate the fault lines of a deeper civilisation tussle. The nation must decide who tried to destroy and who save it.

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Also Read **Gyanvapi mosque: Shivling found on third-day of videography survey, Varanasi court orders sealing of premises** **Explained: After Gyanvapi, why right-wing activists are seeking permission to pray at Tipu Sultan-era mosque in Karnataka** **Varanasi: Tensions high as videography inside Gyanvapi mosque begins today; management warns of protests** **Kashi-Gyanvapi dispute case: Next friend of Lord Vishweshwar says temple was destroyed but its 'religious character didn't change'**

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Defending his brother’s obeisance at the Mughal emperor’s grave, his elder brother and AIMIM Member of Lok Sabha, Asaduddin Owaisi said, “All these are ASI-protected monuments and ASI comes under the government administration body, so you ask them about these monuments.” Really? If so, why should a religious offering be made at an Archaeological Society of India monument? What is more, why should certain ASI monuments be completely in charge of religious groups, who not only maintain them, but also derive sizeable incomes from them? Even the Taj Mahal has traditional khadims, grave guardians, collecting tributes. With Shivalingas found in the Gyanvapi mosque on the site of a temple destroyed by Aurangzeb and the Allahabad High Court refusing permission to open 20 locked chambers in the basement of the Taj Mahal, the same questions are being asked again: “Who’s afraid of the truth? Whom will it hurt?” The answer should be obvious. There is something rotten in the cover-up of the violent conquest and destruction of Indian civilisation by Muslim invaders. And the truth only hurts the so-called secularists who are collectively guilty for the denialism and obfuscation of our history. Both the announcement of “The Delhi Files” and the possible re-opening of the doors of the Gyanvapi mosque to Hindu worshippers underscore the unhealing wounds in India’s fractured psyche and divided body politic. What The Kashmir Files has done is blown the lid off such attempts to deny Hindu and Sikh genocides, not only in the distant past, but those continuing right to our day. How many more closed files must be opened before we face the facts of how a civilization was attacked and almost obliterated? Even as this column gets published, reports have come in of the slaying of two Sikhs in broad daylight in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, formerly the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The Khyber Pass is where the invading armies entered India crossing the Hindukush or “Hindu-killer” (which is the literal meaning of Hindukush) mountains. The fault lines of our civilisation are all too tender, making us vulnerable to communal violence and unresolved conflicts. Not only across our borders or in Kashmir, but in the Indian heartland, even in the national capital itself, whether in Seelampur-Jaffrabad or Jahangirpuri. This is the time, with Modi@20, India@75, to move ahead by building a new covenant between the feuding factions of our nation. The concluding part of the ‘Delhi Files Series’ follows shortly. The author is a professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.