UK : In 1618 a child by the name of Muhi al-Din Muhammad was born to the Emperor Shah Jahan the son of Emperor Jahangir who formed part of the Mughal House. The child was later in his life referred to as Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir who became the most feared and formidable leader of India belonging to the Timurid Dynasty. Emperor Aurangzeb ruled for forty-nine years over a population of 150 million people. I am not going to outline the piety of Emperor Aurangzeb as that is well documented in history that he was a very pious and fair person. This article will provide a different point of view to the recent political movement in India that looks to remove the identity and history surrounding the legacy of Emperor Aurangzeb from its history books.
History is an important part of understanding of past world events, as it provides a set of facts from a point of view from one or more individuals or parties. It is concerning when the world has lived with one set of facts about the accomplishments and achievements of a great ruler as Emperor Aurangzeb for hundreds of years, and now the Hindu nationalists having failed to win the academic argument surrounding the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb and failed to gather support academically, they have resorted to bullying and oppression by openly calling for the removal of Emperor Aurangzeb’s identity from Indian history. This is a difficult task as benefits India enjoys today was a direct result of Emperor Aurangzeb’s policies and laws during his forty-nine years reign as Emperor not to mention that Muslims ruled India for six centuries, and after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, the British soon after colonised India.
Emperor Aurangzeb was a devout Sunni Muslim whose contribution under his reign in India exists today in areas of education, monuments, art, mausoleum, law, policies, construction, territory, and riches. Certain Hindu political leaders in India have called for and succeeded in achieving some public support to remove the identity of Emperor Aurangzeb and his legacy. Let us examine the argument from some of the Hindus openly calling for the removal. In April 2022, Prime Minister Modi told an audience that “Aurangzeb severed many heads but could not shake our faith.” This comment led to the rallying of Hindu nationalist who resurrected a dead Indian Emperor with the view that the sentiment and emotion would hopefully spread and leak into the Hindu community resulting in rising tensions with the Muslim community in India. If this comment was really true then how has it resulted in there being more Hindus than Muslims in India if Emperor Aurangzeb was a tyrant and severing heads? Unless this was not true but it was a cleverly laid plan with a view that any defence of Emperor Aurangzeb from the Muslims in India will lead to further tensions rising resulting in further violence, with the dream of a Hindu Empire free from all other religions and secularist groups, except Hinduism.
Hindu nationalists wish to destroy the legacy of Emperor Aurangzeb and find any achievement of the dead Emperor as repulsive. Let us take an example. Under Emperor Aurangzeb’s rulership, Emperor Aurangzeb had expanded the empire to the greatest extent which is enjoyed today by India. If the desecration of Emperor Aurangzeb’s achievements and legacy is to be achieved, then is it not rightful that the land amassed under this reign be removed from the Indian territory. I believe the fundamentalist Hindus would object to that which then would become clear that the views harboured by the fundamentalist Hindus are politically and religiously motivated rather than looking to correct the wrongs of the past such as the removal of statutes of slave owners in the West. It is quite clear that the motivation behind the destruction of Emperor Aurangzeb’s achievements is for a greater plan that will lead to justifying the destruction of law-abiding Muslim homes, their way of life and beliefs. History is a great teacher and the fundamentalists Hindus in India need to be reminded that those that look to ethnically cleanse religious groups or harbour ambitions that outweigh their worth and strength have always failed.
Emperor Aurangzeb accomplishments to name a few were as follows: he had amassed an empire that covered what is modern India today. Throughout Indian history there were several kingdoms and territory, but Emperor Aurangzeb was able to bring entire India under a single banner for the first time in human history. He had created an economy that contained 25% of the world’s wealth. His economy was ten times greater than that of France. He was in constant war to defend Indian territory from outside forces and internal threats. He passed laws and policies to protect and maintain the shrines of worship. He invested heavily in military equipment and personnel. He maintained relationships with neighbouring nations. Emperor Aurangzeb’s achievements are profited by the Indian leadership even today and for Prime Minister Modi to light a fuse to raise unsubstantiated religious sentiment with the view that trouble can occur which will lead the Indian leadership to enact laws which may restrict religious movement and practice in the name of protecting civil liberties and human rights. This idea has been plagiarised from some nations in the West which some fundamentalists Hindus failed to see that those certain Western nations failed in their plans to control and restrict religious beliefs.
Emperor Aurangzeb was the most successful Emperor in the history of India. Even today, with all the modern technology at the Indian government disposal, they have not been able to reach the economic and military standard of Emperor Aurangzeb. It appears that the Indian government and its fundamentalists supporters have accepted their failure to reach the heights of Emperor Aurangzeb so they have decided that it would allow them to sleep better at night if Emperor Aurangzeb’s legacy and name is removed from the history books. Although the Indian government may achieve the eradication of Emperor Aurangzeb identity and legacy, but there are those Hindus that are honest, fair and they will not accept a ‘big chunk’ of their history to be replaced with blank pages which will dilute their other rather accepted arguments of the colonial abuses of Indians under the British rule. Emperor Aurangzeb has achieved his achievements, and accomplished what he was set out to accomplish. It is rather premature for the Indian government to accept and action the removal of history from their past with a view that they can condition the public to believe that Emperor Aurangzeb was a tyrant on very thin evidence and that he is to be reviled but truth is his achievements creating the modern India which all Indians enjoy today. It seems that only after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb the British was able to colonise India. It seems he was feared by the enemies of India at that time and his presence protected the whole of India. I shall leave you with some words of wisdom: to create societal change does not always mean it is beneficial change, rather at times it means the person seeking the change, only he may be upset with order of things, and his upset will bring chaos to others who believe in his message but no to the lengths he is able to go to achieve his version of reality. Emperor Aurangzeb last words were ‘Azma fasad baq!’ which is said to mean ‘After me, the chaos’, and those words are true even today for India.
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