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In the dynastic succession of alien invaders to the medieval Delhi sultanate, the Lodis added a new dimension to the villainy of the Sayyids. Bahlol was the founder of the sadist Lodi sultans of Delhi who continued the tradition of perpetrating horrid cruelties in the name of Islam.
There are many communalists and political hypocrites who do not wish the 20th century Muslims well. And there are some well- meaning but misguided patriots who believe in glossing over and even glorifying the torture and tyranny of the 1000-year-long Muslim misrule in India. A lot of confused and wishful thinking constitutes the tangle of their dogmas.
To such people we should first like to define what is history. History is a factually and chronologically accurate account of a country's past. As such, it has no scope for motivated myths or communal and political dilusion. History is regarded as a subject of primary importance in school curricula all the world over precisely so that humanity may progress by avoiding the faults of previous generations. This very important aim is defeated if history is sought to be debased by communally and politically motivated myths.
To those who would still want to adulterate history we would like to ask if there is any limit to such falsification. If a particular community would like the names of Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh to be completely deleted from Indian history, will the historians oblige? And what is the guarantee that that would be their very last demand? And if history is sullied in this manner, it no longer remains history. Communalists and political hypocrites should, therefore, not to be allowed to manhandle history. History is truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, while communalism and politics constitute nothing but falsehood. History, therefore, needs to be protected first and foremost from these two kinds of people.
A true story of how a historian exposed and debunked such attempts has come our way. We are told that a former Maharashtra State Education Minister once convened a conference of eminent educationalists and delivered to them a political homily on the need to write history in a manner conducive to communal harmony - whatever that may mean. Most of the invitees were professors and teachers from Government-aided schools or other institutions. With fawning gestures and forged smiles they all nodded agreement with the Minister's profound words of secular wisdom.
Author : Shri Purushottam Nagesh Oak
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