Negationism usually means the denial of the Nazi genocide of the Jews
and Gypsies in World War 2. Less well-known is that India has its own
brand of negationism. A section of the Indian intelligentsia is still
trying to erase from the Hindus' memory the history of their
persecution by the swordsmen of Islam. The number of victims of this
persecution surpasses that of the Nazi crimes. The Islamic campaign to
wipe out Paganism could not be equally thorough, but it has continued
for centuries without any moral doubts arising in the minds of the
persecutors and their chroniclers. The Islamic reports on the
massacres of Hindus, destruction of Hindu temples, the abduction of
Hindu women and forced conversions, invariably express great glee and
pride. They leave no doubt that the destruction of Paganism by every
means, was considered the God-ordained duty of the Moslem
community. Yet, today many Indian historians, journalists and
politicians, deny that there ever was a Hindu-Moslem conflict. They
shamelessly rewrite history and conjure up
centuries of Hindu-Moslem
amity; now a growing section of the public in India and the West only
knows their negationist version of history. It is not a pleasant task
to rudely shake people out of their delusions, especially if these
have been wilfully created; but this essay does just that.
This essay was started as an expanded translation of a
Dutch-language book review of Sitaram Goel's Hindu Temples: What
Happened To Them, which could not be published in its original form
due to pro-Islamic pressure; and of an article on Islamic negationism
published in the Septemeber 1992 issue of the Flemish monthly
Nucleus.
The author:
Koenraad Elst (Leuven, 1959) grew up in the Catholic community in
Belgium. He was active for some years in what is known as the New Age
movement, before studying at the famed Catholic University of Leuven
(KUL). He graduated in Chinese Studies, Indo-Iranian Studies and
Philosophy. He took courses in Indian philosophy at the Benares Hindu
University (BHU) and interviewed many Indian leaders and thinkers
during his stay in India between 1988 and 1992. He has published in
Dutch about language policy issues, contemporary politics, history of
science and Oriental Philosophies; in English about the Ayodhya Issue,
and about the General Religio-political Situation in India.
[]
[]
[]
