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| SOMNATH TEMPLE |
725 AD: The Arab governor of Sindh attacked and destroyed the Somnath temple in Gujarat.
1024 AD: The rebuilt Somnath Temple is destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni.
1296 AD: Somnath Temple is once again destroyed, this time by Allauddin Khilji.
1375 AD: The temple is again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I, the Sultan of Gujarat.
1451 AD: Doom comes again as the restored temple is destroyed by Mahmud Begda, the Sultan of Gujarat.
1701 AD: Somnath temple is destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb who built a mosque on the site of the temple.
Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore rebuilt the temple in 1783 AD at a site adjacent to the ruined temple which was already converted to a mosque.
(source: wikipedia)
This is the reality of Hindu Terror. That it doesn’t exist. The Somnath Temple was destroyed six times. And six times the Hindus rebuilt it and the last time they built it, they didn’t touch the mosque which stood at the original site of the temple.
If you have been following politics and religions across the globe, you would not ask for any proof if anyone were to say that Islamic terror is not a myth, it’s a reality. Still, the moment you utter ‘Islamic terror’, the media and the intellectuals start pointing out that it is wrong to dub the entire Muslim community as jihadists. And they are right. Since 9/11, many innocent and peace-loving Muslims have been harassed across the western world in the name of safety and counter-terrorism. But it is also a fact that the hardline Islamist has propagated such hatred towards the non-believers that the moderate Muslim has simply disappeared from the scene, their feeble voice of reason and message of love and peace completely obscured by the fatwas and calls for revenge mouthed by their misguided, murderous fundamentalist brethren.
If there is any problem with any community or group – religious or political, it has to be fixed by the members of that community itself. It cannot be made right by outsiders, no matter how much they try to do so. There exists a problem with the way Islam is being practiced and presented to the World and it is for Muslims, the moderate and peace loving ones to fight the narrow-minded hardliners.
However, the message our pseudo-secular politicians want to give to the Muslim community in India is that there is nothing wrong with their community and there is a conspiracy by all others to malign their religion and deny them what is rightfully theirs. Media and intellectuals are easily befooled by this approach as it is quite attractive and often heroic when you fight against a majority population or opinion. Being David and slaying Goliath is a sexy proposition. Hindu Terror is a term coined by media, intellectuals and pseudo-secular parties of India to make the Muslims believe that they don’t need to look inwards and do any soul-searching as other religions are producing terrorists in equal measure. Politicians do this for the Muslim vote bank; media and intellectuals play ball to be called the messiah of the minorities.
If this logic were not true, how do you justify Rahul Gandhi’s statement that Hindu fundamentalists represent a bigger threat to India than Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)? And how do you justify Digvijay Singh’s statement that RSS is similar to Nazis?
While some sadhvis, sadhus and Hindu religious leaders are indeed accused of terror activities and fuelling hatred against other religious groups, how are they more dangerous to the idea of India than a certified terrorist organization that has been fomenting trouble in the country since late 1980s? Has RSS called for extermination of any religious group? It is true that Babri Masjid was brought down by Hindu kar-sevaks. But if there were any such thing as Hindu Terror, would Hindus have waited 18 years for a judgment on Ram Janambhoomi? How many years did Aurangzeb wait before building a mosque on the site of Somnath temple?
Two wrongs do not make a right and therefore the guilty should be punished whether it is Godhra riots or any of the other riots that took place across the country from 1950 to 1995 when Congress party ruled the country. If any Hindu is found guilty of terror activities, punish him but do not exaggerate the menace. It is not because of Hindus that one has to go through body scanners at airports; it’s not because of Hindus that flights are hijacked and Hindus are not to be blamed if you feel nervous about going to markets on weekends and visiting temples on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
For those who are still not convinced about the non-existence of Hindu Terror, a little bit of History is recommended. When Christianity spread in Europe, the pagan temples were destroyed. When Islamic rulers invaded India, they destroyed Hindu temples and imposed Jizya tax on non-Muslims. Forced conversions also took place. Hindus, on the other hand, were always liberal in their outlook towards other religions. That is one reason why so many religions ranging from Buddhism and Jainism to Sikhism took root and flourished in India. Even today, Hindus have no objection in visiting Churches or bowing in front of an Islamic shrine.
Hindus are also a tolerant community. During the Ram Setu controversy, DMK President Karunanidhi raised doubts on the very existence of Lord Rama. Hindus were angry but nobody called for any violence. When noted painter M F Hussain painted nudes of Hindu goddesses, Hindus were enraged and some people did vandalize his office but compare the reaction to the outrage and violence that followed when cartoons of Prophet Mohammed were published by a Danish newspaper. Look what Sagarika Ghose tweeted here when the Ayodhya Ram Janambhoomi verdict came out:
"Whether or not Lord Rama is the rightful owner or a divine encroacher is a question likely to be settled in a hurry"
The reaction of Hindus: a few tweets, a few blogs and that’s it. No violence and no hooliganism. This is the Hindu culture where tolerance is a virtue.
This is the final peace of argument that I want to place as I once again reiterate that there is no such thing as Hindu Terror. Hindus have lived in peace with other religions and that’s what they should continue to do. What they must not do is let the pseudo-secularists poison their minds with lies and malice about their own religion. As far as Hindus do not deviate from the teachings of Hinduism which are very strong on multiculturalism and respect for other’s beliefs and individuality, there is no shame in taking pride in their own religion. No matter what the biased media or political parties say.
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