Gujarat Confidential: A bus ride
Call for Name Change
Opposing Turkey's support for Pakistan during India's recent military confrontation with the neighbouring country, Surat BJP MP Mukesh Dalal has written a letter to Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal, requesting her to change the name of Turkiwad, a locality in the walled city area of Surat, with immediate effect. Dalal, in the letter, has said that the name Turkiwad was like an 'insult' to the people of Surat. A few days ago, some people from Surat had also written a letter to the SMC commissioner with the demand for a change of name for Turkiwad.
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India Today
3 hours ago
- India Today
All efforts went in vain: Mallikarjun Kharge on Karnataka Chief Minister snub
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he was not given his due by the party high command after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly polls, when SM Krishna was chosen for the state's top post, despite joining the party four months that his hopes of rising to the top office in the state suffered a setback, Kharge said he worked tirelessly as the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader for five years, but all his efforts went in ]became the CLP leader and worked hard to bring the party to power. Eventually, our government did come to power, but SM Krishna, who had joined the party just four months earlier at the time, became the chief minister," the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said at an event in Vijayapura. "All our efforts felt like they went in vain. I had worked tirelessly for five years. He (Krishna) walked in just four months prior and became chief minister," he Congress veteran maintained that there have been many such instances, but it would not be appropriate to talk about all of them at Krishna was the 16th Chief Minister of Karnataka and assumed office in October 1999 after the Congress won 132 of 224 seats in the Assembly served as a minister in the Cabinet of SM Krishna and succeeding Congress chief ministers, until he contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and was appointed as the Union Minister for Labour and Employment. He also served as the Union Minister for Railways and Social Justice and Empowerment for nearly a year AS CONGRESS PRESIDENTKharge became the Congress president after he defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a landslide victory in emerged as the clear winner with 7,987 votes, while Tharoor managed to secure 1,072 in his favour, underlining the fact that he had strong backing from the party high command and supporters. Over 9,000 Congress delegates across India voted to choose their party chief on October his victory, Kharge became the first non-Gandhi family party chief in almost 24 his tenure as the Congress national president, the party won 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a nearly 50-seat rise as compared to the 2019 the party lost key Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Maharashtra.- EndsMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Karnataka
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First Post
10 hours ago
- First Post
Distortions, doublespeak and jizya: Whitewashing history, weaponising academia
Real academic integrity lies not in defending invaders or denying civilisational trauma, but in projecting history as it is—unflinchingly, honestly, and fairly read more In the contemporary academic climate of Bharat, there has been a fast—and easy—way to success, whether on university panels, prime-time news shows, or within elite publishing circles. And it is not through rigorous research or balanced inquiry, but through ideological conformity to a post-colonial, Left-'liberal' consensus. This consensus views Bharat's civilisational heritage with suspicion, dismisses native resistance to invaders, and negationises historical atrocities—especially those committed in the name of Islam. Ruchika Sharma, a Delhi-based self-proclaimed historian and YouTuber, has recently emerged as the most visible face opposing the NCERT's 'revision' of history textbooks. Much like Audrey Truschke on the global stage—who tried to rehabilitate Aurangzeb as a misunderstood ruler—Sharma has gained sudden national prominence by dismissing historical Islamic violence, trivialising religiously motivated atrocities like jizya, and drawing false moral equivalences between native Hindu dynasties and foreign Islamic invaders. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Manufacturing Outrage The trigger for Sharma's recent media storm was her vocal opposition to the NCERT's revisions, particularly its explanation of jizya—a tax historically imposed on non-Muslims under Islamic rule. Sharma seemed outraged by the idea that jizya was used to pressure Hindus into conversion, branding the claim a 'baseless myth'. She even announced plans to file a Right to Information (RTI) request to challenge the educational content. Her stance is remarkable—not because it is new and ground-breaking, but because it's fictitious and fabricated. The Quran itself, in Surah At-Tawbah (9:29), mandates: 'Fight those who do not believe in Allah… until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.' This verse is not obscure; it is widely cited by classical Islamic jurists—including Imam Malik, Abu Hanifa, and Al-Shafi'i—as the foundational directive for the imposition of jizya. Importantly, the condition that the payer must feel 'subdued' was not metaphorical. In theology, jizya only lapses on death or on acceptance of Islam. Seized by the Collar Medieval Muslim scholars such as Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, Mulla Ahmad, and Shah Waliullah left little room for ambiguity. Sirhindi wrote: 'The real purpose of levying the jizya is to humiliate the non-Muslims… to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well or live in grandeur… and thus remain terrified and trembling.' Western scholars echoed the same. NP Aghnides, an authority on Islamic finance, wrote in Muhammadan Theories of Finance: '…the main object in levying the (jizya) tax is the subjection of the infidels to humiliation… the Zimmi is seized by the collar and vigorously shaken and pulled about in order to show him his degradation.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Mirat-i-Ahmadi, a history of Gujarat written by Ali Mohammed Khan, an imperial dewan at Ahmedabad, clearly explains how jizya should be collected: 'The collector of jizya should collect it from a zimmi in this manner: A zimmi should himself come to pay it. He should come on foot. The collector should sit while the zimmi should stand. The collector should place his hand over the hand of the zimmi saying, 'I take jizya, oh! Zimmi.' It should not be accepted when sent indirectly through his deputy…' Rulers like Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Aurangzeb openly used jizya to coerce conversions. In Fatuhat-i-Firoz Shahi, for instance, Tughlaq recounts: 'I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the Prophet… Every day Hindus presented themselves and were exonerated from the jizya upon converting.' Similarly, European traveller Niccolao Manucci observed of Aurangzeb: 'Many Hindus who were unable to pay jizya turned Muhammadan to obtain relief from the insults of the collectors… Aurangzeb rejoices.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Still, Dr Sharma sees nothing religious or discriminatory about jizya. Inventing False Equivalences The Leftist defence of jizya isn't an aberration. It's part of a larger pattern—a tendency to defend Islamist violence and vandalism, or, when indefensible, to dilute it through strained comparisons with Hindu rulers. This explains why some Leftist historians have made a career out of inventing the idea of an intolerant Hindu king—one who would destroy not only rival temples but also Buddhist viharas—based on dubious records and selective interpretation. Yes, Hindu kings went to war, and yes, violence was committed. But such acts were primarily political, directed against rival powers—not against entire religious communities as a matter of religious doctrine. By contrast, Islamic invaders and rulers—from Muhammad bin Qasim onwards—targeted Hindu religious institutions systematically and ideologically. Temple destruction was not a collateral consequence of war; it was often its central goal, sanctioned by theology and justified by the Islamic concept of kufr. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Sharma's narrative fits neatly into the dominant woke-Leftist framework that dominates humanities and social sciences departments across Bharat and the West, including in the capitalist United States. This worldview rests on four pillars: Downplaying Islamic imperialism; exaggerating caste-based, gender-based oppression within Hinduism; framing Bharat's civilisational resurgence as majoritarianism; and, treating any historical correction as 'saffronisation'. In this paradigm, those who defend Akbar, dismiss Hindu grievances, or mock textbook revisions are instantly celebrated as 'moderate voices of reason'. Meanwhile, those who point to inconvenient truths—like the religious basis of jizya or the genocide at Chittorgarh—are labelled 'communal', 'majoritarian', or 'unacademic'. Conclusion History is not mythology. It is not a tool to validate fashionable Leftist-wokeist ideologies, serve electoral agendas, or push secular façades. Nor should it be weaponised to shame an entire civilisation into silence. Ruchika Sharma has every right to file RTIs. But it is astonishing that she remains unaware of the overwhelming evidence already available—in the Quran, in Fatawa-i-Alamgiri, in the writings of Sirhindi, and in the policies of Aurangzeb and Firoz Tughlaq. Perhaps she is too blinded by ideology to see the truth. (This is not surprising given her adulation for Wendy Doniger and her book, The Hindu—a book so perversely biased that if a Hindu had written The Muslim with a similar tone, it would be instantly branded Islamophobic.) Or, perhaps she simply doesn't know the truth—which then raises serious questions about her credentials as a 'historian'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Whatever the case, the time has come to free history from the suffocating hangover of the Leftist-wokeist cocktail. Real academic integrity lies not in defending invaders or denying civilisational trauma, but in projecting history as it is—unflinchingly, honestly, and fairly. Only then can one build a genuinely inclusive and truthful national narrative. The writer is the author of the book, 'Eminent Distorians: Twists and Truths in Bharat's History', published early this year by BluOne Ink publications. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Hans India
12 hours ago
- Hans India
CM Stalin hails Uddhav Thackeray's stand on federalism, extends birthday wishes
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Sunday extended warm birthday greetings to former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, lauding his firm stance against Hindi imposition and his unwavering commitment to protecting Maharashtra's linguistic and cultural identity. In a message posted on social media, CM Stalin praised Thackeray for his efforts in defending the federal structure of the country and standing up for the rights of regional languages. He described Thackeray's advocacy as a source of inspiration for the Marathi people in preserving their language and identity. "Birthday greetings to ShivSena-UBT President, Thiru. Uddhav Thackeray. Your bold resistance to Hindi imposition and your firm stand to uphold Maharashtra's identity have united the Marathi people in standing up for their language. Wishing you strength as you continue to defend federalism and linguistic dignity," CM Stalin posted on social media platform X , tagging both @ShivSenaUBT_ and @OfficeofUT. The birthday wish also underlined the broader message of unity among regional parties and leaders who oppose the centralisation of power and the perceived imposition of Hindi over native languages. Chief Minister Stalin, who has consistently championed the two-language policy in Tamil Nadu, has previously voiced strong opposition to the three-language formula proposed under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which includes the promotion of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states. Thackeray, known for his vocal stand on protecting Maharashtra's Marathi identity, has aligned with similar federal voices in Indian politics that push back against what they describe as a homogenisation of linguistic and cultural identities. The public exchange of support between CM Stalin and Thackeray signals continued cooperation among regional parties committed to federalism, state rights, and linguistic pluralism - issues that are expected to remain politically significant in the run-up to the 2026 state elections and beyond.
