The Tragic Consequence Of Half Truths In Indian Subcontinent

The political divide in ‘modern’ Indian subcontinent raging for nearly a century is not between Hindu vs Muslim, neither between India vs Pakistan, nor secularism vs communalism - rather between half-truths and truth.

From partition to Kashmir to Babari dispute to Jihad factories to Hindutva victimhood to Khalistan to Greater Khorasan (strategic depth) are but an inflection point derived over by churning many half-truths. Why – even the very recent, very live and daily telecast of protests, rage & riot in India against Citizenship Amendment Act is a testament to how easily half truths get sold out, amplified and consumed at the cost of real human lives. Citizenship Amendment Act of India was but an emblematic cure to institutional apartheid against non-Muslims in Islamic countries, tragically though, by mere word play i.e. half-truths, the cure was portrayed as poison causing deeper rift or as Ghafoora would say deeper cleavage in Indian society. For the record, CAA merely fast-tracked citizenship for persecuted minorities (non-Muslims in 3 Islamic nations namely – Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan) already in India prior to Dec 2014 without disenfranchising any citizens of India and/or barring any religion from future citizenship of India.

Why and how does it happen that despite prevalence of open media, on demand access to documents, education and literacy people opt for confusion, align with convenient lies, perpetuate half-truths and consequently cause loss of lives. Who is to blame – the seller churning lies or the buyer slash consumer of half-truths?

Ayodhya-Babari dispute should’ve been a point of poignant reflection & reconciliation but we know how it was turned into opportunity for profiteering on lies especially by ‘left-islamist’ pair by first refuting very existence of mandir, later denying the ‘original sin’ of vandalism by Muslim invaders and eventually blocking every possibility of rapprochement and societal healing. Thus, inadvertently, sowing seeds of wider acceptance of Hindutva and near incessant Hindu victimhood that we witness these days. The myopic policy and politics of ‘left-islamist’ pair have chiefly driven Hindus towards narrative of victimhood and avengement. That said, is the newfound narrative of victimhood among Hindus based on truth or another idea of past, selectively amplified for political gain?

Well, its true, Islamic invaders plundered and vandalized this region but it’s equally true, if there’s any place that offered continuous unceasing resistance while absorbing the best that Islam offered – that being, the idea of homogeneous & casteless society, it has been India. Sadly, this region has been inflicted with disease of half-truths – both in factually stating the barbarity of Islamic invasions and their underlying religious motivation, and the success of generational resistance in preserving the ancient culture. Case in point, we all know story of Rajput princess Jodha Bai’s marriage to Emperor Akbar but who knows – Raja Man Singh Kachchawa of Amer (Jaipur) took Akbar’s niece and Muslim Mughal princess Bibi Mubarak as his third wife? Such oversight on select events in history is half-truth and perpetuating these half-truths create false narratives such as “love jihad”.

Similarly, most know Mohammad Bin Tughlaq conquered much of India, from present day Sindh to as deep as Karnataka (South India) but who knew Tughlaq empire collapsed after two successive defeats, first in 1333 AD at the hands of Hindu (Himachal) Katoch Raja – who put Mohammed Bin Tughlaq’s dream of Islamic conquest of Tibet/China via Himalayas to rubble, followed by Battle of Singoli in 1336 AD, where Hammir Singh Sisodia of Mewar inflicted such brutal defeat on Tughlaq army causing its eviction from almost all of India, except holding on to Sindh & Punjab, and that too briefly. But ask any Muslim and possibly Hindus, the myth of 1000 year invasion is thrown as gospels truth. Not to mention the tearing apart of Islamic empire by Marathas, Sikhs and Jats, a good 450 years ago so much that till-to-date, there’s not been another Islamic empire or invader to challenge Hindu India (of course that includes world number one fauj aka Pakistan Army & its collection of jihadi zoo).

On one hand, Hindus take pride in subduing Muslim Afghans by likes of Raja Man Singh and Maharaja Ranjith Singh, on the other hand, they cry victimhood for invasion by Abdali, well – if you are in the business of fight-for-might, what is there to weep?

Therefore, this Hindu victimhood nonsense dissed out day night by Hindu right is mere sentimental word play to fuel division in society. And the source is not politics or religion, rather half-truths.

It is half truths that make Hindu right shift blame on Tablighi Jamaat for COVID-19 situation in India, rather than question the government of the day on why law of the land was not enforced by local police or better, why police play favourite and remain under local political pressure, instead of intervening early to prevent a fiasco or protest or riot. Social media was ablaze with Muslim boycott tweets from India but none asked for police reforms which could’ve easily prevented a simple law & order issue from becoming multi-state hide-n-seek contest between loony Jamaat & cops.

And its half-truths that leads Muslims of sub-continent to build fantasy that they somehow were victors (not victims of Islamic invasion) and therefore must whitewash crimes of Islamic rulers while pretending to walk around as Syed or Qureshi when there is genetic evidence to the contrary; numerous genome studies have revealed Muslim expansion was mostly cultural change than significant gene flow, because Y chromosomes of sub continental Muslims is genetically closer to Hindus of their geographical area. Refer: A Shared Y-chromosomal Heritage between Muslims and Hindus in India (Human Genetics 120(4):543-51)

Thus explained why there are more Syeds & Qureshis in al bakistan than entire Middle East 😐 https://t.co/mTqehiOEFm

— Jungjoo Gernail ☪ (@GernailSaheb) May 20, 2017

This takes us to the most monumental half-truth, nay outright lies of two nation theory, that led to partition of India and death of millions. Mohammed Ali Jinnah claimed at Muslim University Union, Aligarh, March 10, 1941 – “Pakistan has been there for centuries. It is there today, and it will remain till the end of the world. They are our homelands. They were taken from us and we want them back. What title have Hindus to it?” Further emphasising what constitutes Pakistan, Jinnah said “As for the Muslim, it was a duty imposed on him by Islam not to merge his identity and individuality in any alien society. Throughout the ages, Hindus had remained Hindus and Muslims had remained Muslims, and they had not merged their entities - that was the basis for Pakistan.”

Imagine the delusion, that a third-generation convert must have to pretend to be an alien among his own people merely because of change in faith. And based on this outright lie, he managed to partition his own land, become cause for millions of deaths and perpetual strife in this region.

When reality is complex, grim, harsh & unnerving - the weak settles for lie and the corrupt settles for half-truth. The only way out from this dense fog of confusion is to shed light of unadulterated truth because sun is the best disinfectant.

Shalom

Gernailsaab

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The author is part-time researcher and student of South Asian Peace and Security Studies, with deep commitment to bring about change in South Asia. And have no political, government, NGO or media affiliations. And can be reached on Twitter @GernailSaheb