Why Aurangzeb was first: Fascists are imitating Nazis

History is being given a saffron tinge by communal forces that have obliterated the distinction between history and mythology. The renaming of Aurangzeb Road is one such ominous development.

Why Aurangzeb Road was chosen over other Mughal or Muslim rulers is because Aurangzeb was an obvious choice to start with. He imposed the Jaziyah (a tax imposed on non-Muslims living in a state under Muslim rule), followed a policy of discrimination against other religions and is also responsible for the destruction of many temples during his tenure as a ruler (although, if you asked the Dalits, they would say that every ruler was an oppressor).

I believe that the act is not the best way to honour the legacy of former president APJ Abdul Kalam. What is being done is renaming an old road, part of a city's heritage and creating a controversy. Instead, a new institution or area should have been created to commemorate him.

What reflects through such an act is an attempt to increase the communal temper of the citizens of this nation by systematically erasing the history of a place. However, no history can be erased just like that. One can build mythologies, however, history is based on facts (there may be various interpretation of facts, but fascist forces are inventing facts, closely imitating the Nazis). Even in the case of Aurangzeb, whatever one may chose to think of the ruler, facts state that he patronised many Hindu temples and gave grants to maintain the temple lands.

The success of this campaign of renaming roads or cities (attempts to change Lucknow to Lakshmanpuri or Allahabad to Prayag), or even altering history in school textbooks, depends on the reception it gets from the citizens of the country. We need to see how loyal we are to the nation and its principles, and how committed we are to the idea of secularism.

(As told to Ursila Ali)