I can understand conflict of Babri vs Ram Temple, as a religious issue.
However, here it is nothing but a pseudo fascism taking roots into Indian culture.
What are your suggestions to halt these types of controversies?
VHP vows to demolish Afzal Khan’s tomb at Mahabaleshwar
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) plans to tear down the controversial tomb of a 17th century Mughal general on Sunday.
Police have been deployed around the tomb near Mahabaleshwar, about 250 km from Mumbai, to prevent communal violence, which may take place as tensions rise ahead of elections for the Maharashtra state assembly next month.
Some Hindus want the tomb of Afzal Khan removed because it lies near the fort of Chhattrapati Shivaji.
“Afzal Khan is an insult to Hindus. We will climb the hill and demolish his tomb,” Vyankatesh Abdeo, a VHP leader, who pioneered the campaign said.
huh? do you even know who Afzal Khan and Shivaji were? Afzal khan represents an oppressive Muslim force over Hindus (and he was no general of Akbar, mind you), while Shivaji represents the Hindu resistance. this issue is very religious in nature.
this is a stupid and senseless plan. the VHP need to relax and do something productive with their time. if they respected Shivaji, perhaps they would accept his wishes:
Maihu_don, you want to know what is pseudo fascism?
Given reply of Nikhil25 falls into the category of pseudo fascism…..
(‘huh? do you even know who Afzal Khan and Shivaji were? Afzal khan represents an oppressive Muslim force over Hindus (and he was no general of Akbar, mind you), while Shivaji represents the Hindu resistance. this issue is very religious in nature.’)
By the way Mr Nikhil, Afzal Khan and Shivaji conflict is a part of history, whereas many Hindus feel that Babri structure was a direct attack on their religion.
If you favor to demolish Afzal Khan tomb, then why to spare India Gate, President House, Parliament and may be all New Delhi, and off course Red Fort?
Lussi, why so much anger? What Muslims have long back furnished in Pakistan, I mean have long back brought down thousands of Hindu temples at the territory of Pakistan, the same some of hindus want to do with your structures now in India. You must welcome this movement for equality.
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*Originally posted by anjjan: *
By the way Mr Nikhil, Afzal Khan and Shivaji conflict is a part of history, whereas many Hindus feel that Babri structure was a direct attack on their religion.
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both parties were directly tied to forces representing 2 religions, like it or not. the entity of "the mughals" is very "muslim". and the Maratha kingdom is very "hindu". the 2 entities had violent conflict that is undoubtedly seen as "hindu vs. muslim". do you really disagree?
[quote] If you favor to demolish Afzal Khan tomb, then why to spare India Gate, President House, Parliament and may be all New Delhi, and off course Red Fort?
.
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hmm...perhaps you should re-read my post. i don't understand you read "stupid and senseless" as "a great idea".
[quote] Originally posted by nikhil25: *
**this is a stupid and senseless plan.* the VHP need to relax and do something productive with their time.
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VHP vows to demolish Afzalkhan’s tomb in Maharashtra
BOMBAY (Reuters) - Hardline Hindus plan to tear down the controversial tomb of a 17th century Muslim general on Sunday, in a grim echo of the 1992 razing of a mosque that sparked some of India’s worst religious riots.
Thousands of police have been deployed around the tomb near Mahabaleshwar, a hill resort about 250 km from Bombay, to prevent communal violence as tensions rise ahead of elections for the Maharashtra state assembly next month.
Some Hindus want the tomb of the general, Afzalkhan, removed because it lies near the fort of the Hindu warrior king he tried to murder, Shivaji, whom many people worship like a god.
“Afzalkhan is an insult to Hindus. We will climb the hill and demolish his tomb,” Vyankatesh Abdeo, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which started the campaign, told Reuters.
The campaign organisers say they will bring 30,000 people to the site. But police have pledged to stop them damaging the tomb and to prevent any violence.
“Security is tightened to avoid any kind of a communal flare-up,” said police officer S.R. Mane. “We don’t want any trouble there.”
Muslims consider the tomb holy, and for years, several have travelled there to offer prayers and seek help. But a year ago authorities closed off the site because of the controversy.
Afzalkhan, an envoy of the Moghul ruler Aurangzeb, met Shivaji to initiate peace talks on the hillock where the tomb – and the ruins of Shivaji’s Pratapgadh fort – now lie.
The general tried to assassinate Shivaji, but the king stabbed him instead and buried Afzalkhan where he fell.
A statue of Shivaji now also stands on the hill and a right-wing Hindu political party is named after him – the Shiv Sena, or Shivaji’s army.
Organisers of the campaign against the tomb have not explained why they are moving to destroy it now after years of controversy.
But the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – an ally of the VHP and Shiv Sena – hopes to make a comeback in next month’s state elections after it was unexpectedly dumped from power in New Delhi in May.
“The tomb has been there for hundreds of years. Why has the issue been raked up now?” asked Feroze Mithiborwala, a convenor of the Muslim Youth of India.
“They are trying to build a momentum before elections. This shows that there is total bankruptcy of ideas for right-wing parties in the country.”
The renewed controversy comes as radical Hindu groups have rung alarm bells over census data released this week that appeared to show a jump of almost 33 percent in the number of Muslims between 1991 and 2001.
Radical groups have long warned that higher Muslim birth rates could eventually threaten India’s Hindu majority – more than 80 percent of the population.
But the new figures were skewed by the inclusion of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state, in the 2001 census after it was left out in 1991 because of separatist violence.
Census officials on Thursday revised the growth rate to just over 29 percent, when adjusted for Kashmir. The growth rate for Hindus was 20 percent over the same period.
India’s long and varied history has left hundreds of places across the country where Hindu and Muslim holy sites stand side by side, sometimes triggering bloody conflicts.
In 1992, Hindu hardliners defied a court order and razed a 16th-century mosque, which they said stood on the birthplace of the Hindu lord-god Ram in the northern town of Ayodhya.
That triggered India’s worst religious bloodshed since independence, killing about 3,000
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*Originally posted by anjjan: *
....here it is nothing but a pseudo fascism [when] VHP vows to demolish Afzal Khan's tomb at Mahabaleshwar
What are your suggestions to halt these types of controversies?
.......
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I admire your honesty, and your humanism Anj!.
Short answer to your question is: VHP has to tear down something. Don't you see they are out of power right now?
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*Originally posted by anjjan: *
What are your suggestions to halt these types of controversies?
.......
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The long version of my answer is: pseudo fascism thrives where people live on pseudo secularism. Bharat could have been at the top of the world if not for its false nationalism. Leaders like Savarkar, Gandhi, and Tilak brewed a strange concoction of Hinduism, nationalism, and communalism. The same bitter brew keeps on destroying minorities in Kashmir, or Sikhs in Delhi, or Muslims in Ayodhya and Gujarat.
The prime example is in your own post where you have tacitly approved Babri vs. Ram Temple, as a religious issue. Bud! It never was a religious issue. It has been all along a political issue that was used both by Congress and the Anti-Congress for one malicious purpose: Hang on to power any ways you can.
I respect your serious effort to address an important issue. I hope nothing I said was disrespecting to you.