On Friday, Professor
@manojkjhadu
, in his speech in Parliament, recommended my book, Allahu Akbar, as a must-read for all. I am delighted and honoured by this mention by such a respectable and conscientious parliamentarian on the floor of the House. Thank you, sir! 🙏
A Hindu monk in saffron robes can be the chief minister of an Indian state but young Muslim students can't attend school wearing hijab. How is that even fair? Hindustan mein ab hypocrisy ki koi seema nahin hai.
It breaks my heart to say that my sweet, loving father passed away last night. He was 72. Kind and gracious to a fault, he would say this to me at times to drive a sense of responsibility into me: "What will you do when I am gone?" He is gone and I really don't know what to do.
In the late 1920s and 1930s, Nazi student organisations carried out violent attacks on Jewish, socialist and communist student groups in varsities. The fascists would later claim to be victims themselves. Inquiry would reveal most of the attackers to be outsiders, thus no action.
#Thread
🧵It was Laal Singh Chaddha yesterday; it is Pathaan today; tomorrow, it will be something else. The names will change, but what will not change is the Hindu Right's appetite for boycott campaigns fuelled by hate and bigotry, lies and deception.
Today in 1958, India lost Maulana Azad, one of our tallest leaders ever, and who led the
@INCIndia
in its most trying years before freedom. Sharing this 1945 front page of Amrita Bazar Patrika that announced the release of Congress leaders held in 1942. See how important he was.
NRI social media groups are full of "history" posts that are nothing but Hindutva nonsense. These are often accompanied by this line: “No history book will tell you this.” If no history book tells you something, it is probably because it never happened.
#Thread
Yesterday, I came across a Twitter thread put out by a foot soldier of Hindutva that claims the Mughal fort in Delhi was not built by Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century but by Anangpal Tomar in the 11th century. It has over 12,600 likes and over 4,800 retweets.
Dear
@INCIndia
, it is your government in Rajasthan now. And yet, Right-wing goons managed to threaten Ajmer Literature Festival organisers and get the talk by Naseeruddin Shah cancelled. It is time to show some spine and let the fascists know that the law isn't their plaything.
I had a look at the 'Bharat: The Mother of Democracy' booklet issued during the G20 summit and was quite appalled to see the sophistry, fabrications, and outright lies contained in it. I am sorry to say but this is an assault on intelligence. Some thoughts.
#Thread
He is having the time of his life! How often do you see a national leader enjoy unbridled power with zero accountability? How many democratically elected leaders get a pliant, sycophantic press that asks no questions and a public that is too mesmerised to even think of a change?
The Sanghis have completely lost the capacity to think healthy. They are trending
#BoycottSurfExcel
. Why? Because their twisted minds are showing them "love Jihad" in the recent Holi ad featuring children. It's a beautiful ad that promotes communal harmony. But fascists hate it.
Am I the only one who has lost friends since 2014? Am I the only one who didn't realise that some people I grew up with and whom I loved with all my heart were communalists and closet fascists? Am I the only one who longs for that past when our opinions didn't make enemies?
I am listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech and was quite struck by the fact that he talked about designing policies that would give direction to India for the "next 1,000 years". He said that more than once. Does it ring a bell? Hint: It's scary.
Since Samrat Prithviraj hasn't done well at the box office, many people have started making sweeping claims that the audiences have firmly rejected right-wing hate and propaganda. They haven't. It's just a terribly-made film with no redeeming features. That's it.
Lighting my father's funeral pyre was the hardest thing I have ever done in life. The next most difficult thing was to cook his favourite items for that final symbolic meal on Day 13. His last unfulfilled wish was to eat Dominos pizza and chicken from KFC at home with his kids.
You want to know what changed between Nirbhaya in 2012 and Bilkis Bano in 2022? The answer is simple—the government at the Centre. Public morality in our country is very closely linked to what the rulers pursue or reject. And right now, the ruler has sent out a clear message.
I had said this earlier and I will say it again: Narendra Modi and the BJP are banking entirely on the bigotry of Hindus to win this election. Absolutely shameful conduct!
It is evident even to ardent BJP supporters that a farce is being enacted in the case against
@zoo_bear
. But historians will tell you that this is how the colonial state operated too. For e.g., Motilal Nehru was jailed after the Non-Cooperation Movement on a perjurer's evidence.
A government of India handle tweeted about Arundhati Roy's Booker-winning title and the entire Hindu Right erupted in rage, forcing the handle to delete the tweet. Due to their own intellectual poverty, the Hindu Right can't celebrate Booker winners and Nobel laureates. So sad!
Loved what all three said! But loved this line by the second Punditji: "Kewal Hindu 80% hai toh khatre mein hai? Kewal yeh BJP ka propaganda hai...kewal unmaad phaila kar ke chunav jeetna chahte hai."
The third Punditji delivered the killer: "Satta se mukt hone wale hai." 🤣
India's Muslims have faced immeasurable hate and humiliation in their own country of late. And yet, they have kept their chin up and continued being kind and caring. This Eid, I only have my heart to give you. Aap mere hain aur main aap ka hoon. Eid Mubarak aap sab ko!
In which Barrister
@asadowaisi
eloquently, gracefully, but firmly, answers a disgraceful question by the BJP spokesperson and repeated by the anchor. She should have objected to the demeaning question and reprimanded the spokie. But then, reality TV actors aren't journalists.
On Holi, this Muslim family in Gurgaon was bathed in blood by a mob that told them to "go to Pakistan". Their house had the Tricolour flying on top! See this blood curdling video, world. I'm feeling suffocated with anger, shame, frustration, guilt, all of it. We are losing India.
It is bad enough that the iconic Mughal Garden in New Delhi has been renamed as 'Amrit Udyan'. But why are well-meaning people responding to it with the Shakespearean riposte of 'what's in a name'? This is a communal move that needs to be called out strongly, not normalised.
I was reading the petition against Dr Audrey Truschke and was quite taken aback by the infantile claims made in it. But one particular claim caught my attention — that she has "whitewashed Hindu genocide" by Emperor Aurangzeb in which 4.6 million Hindus were killed. 4.6 million!
I had tweeted this over 2 years ago and doing so again—the front page of Amrita Bazar Patrika dated June 16, 1945. Just see how important Maulana Azad was to the nation and to the Freedom Struggle. My blood boils when I see fascists insult his memory and try to erode his legacy.
Hamara Bajaj moment on French soil. Taking delivery of French-made fighter jets equipped with cutting edge technology and still using nimboos to ward off evil spirits and coconuts to make it holy. Thank god we are alive to see such interesting things.
#Rafale
Journalists like Ravish Kumar have been telling you for years that 'Godi Media' is making criminals out of your children. You never took him seriously. Look what you've got now: a generation of Hindu extremists growing up in your homes and utilising tech skills to spread hate.
Today is the birthday of our great emperor, Shahenshah Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. On this day, we have been told that the Yogi Adityanath government is renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. Hindu communalism is spreading like cancer. It will destroy our India. Am deeply worried.
Don't know how old she is but I am worried about her health. She is saying that she won't accept Citizenship Amendment Act. Others are trying to calm her down. "Granny, please calm down," someone can be heard saying. People from all ages and backgrounds are protesting in Assam.
Islamophobia has consumed my generation beyond redemption. Even festivals have become occasions to hate the 'other'. I fear the present may be lost. But those who truly love this country must do something so that our next generation can grow up without hating their own people.
When I was growing up in the 1990s, scrapbooks/slam books were in vogue. My entire class had them. I remember my old classmates writing 'The three Khans' in the 'Favourite actor' category. Those spewing hate against
@iamsrk
today need to check their scrapbooks and feel ashamed.
Looks like Hindus now have an international monopoly on feeling intimidated by Muslims. Even in India, where Hindus have a brute majority of 80%, there are many who talk about Hindus being in danger. This beats logic, but then irrationality is the core of Hindu nationalism. Sigh!
My closest friend in Canada, who is a PhD scholar at
@UBC
and a Muslim woman who wears the hijab, had an incident on campus today. A random Indian student appeared disgusted by her presence and said "rubbish people" to her face and walked away. She was too stunned to react!
Prime Minister Imran Khan took questions from Indian journalists at a press conference. Many Indians often ridicule Pakistan for not doing enough for democracy to flourish there. But the joke is now on Indians. Narendra Modi has not held a single presser since becoming PM.
If I heard it right (as I was leaving), someone at an Indian festival today announced over the mic before a musical performance that "Amir Khusro came to India to explore Indian music". Amir Khusro was born in India and died in India. He was an Indian, not a foreign traveller.
These days any effort to point out Subhas Chandra Bose’s dealings with the fascists is being met with reactions like “don't forget he was secular and against the communalists”, “he presented an alternative vision of free India”, “don’t play politics over a national icon”, etc.
I just want to make a tiny point. Gandhian tactics of satyagraha worked because the British had some sort of a moral compass. These wouldn't have worked if the opponents were the Nazis. Well-meaning people who say that we need to engage with the saffron fascists must know this.
Jo lada thha sipahiyon ki tarah
Bharat mein aisa baadshah na huwa
Rooh tou ho gayi thhi tann se juda
Haath talwar se juda na huwa
Heartfelt tribute to Sher-i Mysore Hazrat Tipu Sultan Fath 'Ali Khan on his martyrdom anniversary. I hope to visit his tomb one day.
#TipuSultan
Professor Irfan Habib and Professor Romila Thapar, both nonagenarians, are still active scholars making very important scholarly interventions in an age of Hindutva myth-making. Hindutva authors, who want them out of India, can't match their scholarship with empty rhetoric.
When I hear seemingly educated people demand a Ram Mandir, I pinch myself to check if I am awake or having a nightmare. In the 21st century, a country that pretends to be on the verge of becoming a superpower, has nothing but a Ram Temple to ask from the government?
#RamTemple
In the 1930s, Nazis were lecturing the world at international forums on press freedom and how the German press was better than the British or American press. This, they claimed, was because the German press had "service to the people" (dienst am volke) as its sole purpose.
So Faizabad, the erstwhile capital of the great Nawabs of Avadh, has been renamed as 'Sri Ayodhya'. Does Uttar Pradesh have a functioning government or did the people elect a comedy circus to provide some sick entertainment? Absolutely shameful! 👎
#Faizabad
#SriAyodhya
#Ayodhya
Last year, numerous TV news channels had conducted debates on a portrait of Jinnah at Aligarh Muslim University. These were endless debates stretching for days. The issue was kept alive. How many of those channels debated the shooting of the Gandhi's effigy by Hindu Mahasabha?
Jo lada tha sipahiyon ki tarah
aisa Bharat mein badshah na huwa
rooh toh ho gayi thi tann se juda
haath talwar se juda na huwa
Remembering Sher-i Mysore Tipu Sultan who fell in battle on May 4, 1799, while defending his capital.
Indian TV journalism has adapted very well to the demands of "new India". Union ministers are now invited to show off their skills with the skipping rope instead of answering tough questions, and star anchors do push-ups on stage and do river aarti wearing saffron dhotis. Jai Ho!
Those of you who have lost a parent due to Covid or any other reason recently, how are you coping with the loss? I am not doing well on that front. Please share what you are going through with me if you like. My DMs are open. Maybe I will find some strength from you.
Looking at the posters of
#Prithviraj
, I am guessing that it will follow the Raso story in which Prithviraj Chauhan, blinded by the Ghurid Sultan Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam, fires a shabd-bhedi baan (arrow) and kills the sultan. Important to remember that it's a fictional tale.
May 1 was supposed to be the beginning of a new professional journey for me. Instead, it became the day I cremated my father. My world has been turned upside down, but life has to go on. So, I have moved on from
@timesofindia
after over a decade and found a new home in
@htTweets
.
Ever since three US academics levelled plagiarism allegations against a biographer of Hindutva’s grand papa Vinayak Savarkar, the Hindu Right has erupted in wild rage. Actually, it's quite interesting to see what they are saying.
#TanhajiTheUnsungWarrior
has left me speechless. I had no idea that in the 17th century, rural folk in the Maratha Rajya used to say 'Jai Shri Ram'. That Udaybhan Singh Rathore ate roasted crocodile meat. That Muslims in the Maratha army wore skullcaps in battle.
What an unfortunate tragedy is unfolding before us! A channel like
@aajtak
allows BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra to tell an AIMIM man to shut up or else he would rename some mosque after Lord Vishnu. This is blatantly communal! Why is this poison being allowed to spread? Shameful!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today adopted and used the term "Urban Maoists" that was so far used only by Right-wing trolls to slam critics of the government. It ill behoves the Indian Prime Minister to talk like an ordinary troll. It not only lowers his stature but also of India
Amid this manufactured controversy about the origin of the Taj Mahal, it is important to know that all this talk about the 17th-century mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal being originally a Hindu temple is a wet dream of the Hindu Right. A wild fantasy created only in the 20th century.
I am amazed to see many people here making the ahistorical claim that Shivaji is the father of the Indian Navy. No, he is not. If you are really looking for a father of our navy, then it has to be the East India Company. It was EIC's Marine that eventually became the Indian Navy.
The Hindu Right often peddles the falsehood that Indian history textbooks only talk about the Mughals but don't teach about the Mauryas, the Guptas, the Cholas, and others. Is it our fault that the Hindutvavadis slept through their history classes in school?
#History
#Mughals
Many good people on Twitter have shared with me their stories of grief and also tried to comfort me. But there is a disturbing trend: the tendency to blame everything on karma, destiny, fate, god. Death in a pandemic isn't natural. It wasn't our destiny to lose our loved ones.
This massive collapse of the Hindu mind will remain a defining feature of the Modi years along with communal hatred, WhatsApp fakery and misinformation, institutional collapse and backsliding of democracy. The media will get a large share of the blame because it propagated the
The icing on the cake is the Indian Prime Minister's temple run. From Ayodhya to Guruvayur, he doesn't miss any opportunity to lead a camera crew to a temple. It says something about the health of Indian democracy where the PM behaves more like a divinely-ordained Hindu emperor.
India's Vice President peddling WhatsApp balderdash created by the Hindutva School of Historical Forgery. Sir, the reason why history books don't tell you about 'Gurjari Rampyari Chauhan' defeating Amir Temur Gurkan with her 40,000 women warriors is because it NEVER happened.
16 वर्ष की शिवदेवी तोमर ने मेरठ के पास 17 अंग्रेजों को मौत के घाट उतार दिया
वंचित समुदाय से आने वाली वीरांगना महावीरी देवी अपनी 22 साथियों के साथ अंग्रेजों लड़ती हुई शहीद हुईं
रामप्यारी गुर्जर ने 40 हजार की सेना बना कर तैमूर से लोहा लिया
पर हमारे इतिहास में इनका नाम नहीं मिलता
#Thread
🧵If WhatsApp forwards and Facebook nonsense produced by the Hindutva School of Historical Forgery weren't enough, now we have an industrial scale production of YouTube videos by neem hakeems masquerading as historians. It is like an epidemic of misinformation!
I have questions for Hindus. I don't need any public answers; I just hope that people will try to find the answers in their hearts. Do you think those abusing Muslims are bringing honour and dignity to your faith? Do you hope to get love by giving out hate? Are you still human?
If you want to open "mohabbat ki dukaan", it is time to open the first outlet in the violence-affected areas of Haryana. Muslims are hurt and feeling betrayed. Show them your loyalty. Give out the message. Don't fear labels. Just stand with them. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.
It's been a month of my father's passing today, but our pain hasn't reduced even a bit. We bid him goodbye with a few worldly things — the shirt he wanted to wear before being taken to the ICU (but couldn't), and a rose from the plant he had grown for his daughter-in-law.
My goodness! General Rawat is a major, major embarrassment! A woman officer will complain that jawans peep into her hut while she changes clothes and therefore women cannot be given combat roles, says the chief of Indian Army. My ears are red reading this.
It isn’t original. There are YouTube videos and other right-wing websites made between 2014 and now that make the same claim and cite the same “evidence”. I traced the source of all these claims and found it to be the guru maharaj of Hindutva School of Historical Forgery—PN Oak.
Hello people! I know your minds are occupied by the possible election outcome. But in case there is space for something else too, may I request you to see what I've been up to? This is the inside cover of my forthcoming book—my first. I seek your blessings and good wishes.
It's absolutely shameful that TV news channels are putting out these kind of communally loaded headlines. What does "Rahul ka Muslim prem" mean? Are you saying that love for Muslims is bad? Is it a crime to love Muslims? Is it a crime to love your own countrymen? Shame on you!
The Prime Minister that India needs. Jacinda Ardern is my hero! No, actually, she's the hero of everyone who cares for humanity. In contrast, even though 8 Indians have been killed, the Indian PM hasn't uttered a word on it beyond sending a protocol-oriented letter to the NZ PM.
Jacinda Ardern's actions of empathy have personally touched the relatives of those who died in the Christchurch massacre.
Even before she said a word, her decision to cover her hair showed families she respected them and wanted to ease their pain:
My Ertugrul commitment is pretty serious now. Eyvallah has become part of my daily lingo. The other day I was making an omelette and had to chop onions and chillies. It was messy. I shouted Haydar Allah and chopped. "Tumhara kuch nahin ho sakta" – Mrs Sharma's verdict.
A panel has sought public opinion on its plan to remove "un-historical facts and distortions about our national heroes" from the history syllabi. Firstly, it is the job of trained historians, not the general public. Secondly, public sentiment-driven 'history' is just propaganda
When I wrote earlier this year that the Hitler cult is big and only growing in India (), I was attacked by fascists who claimed I was maligning the Modi govt. Now, in Mr Modi's home state, a new Class XII textbook glorifies Hitler.
Hey all you lovely people out there, I have happy tidings to share. My first book, Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today's India, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It is my labour of love and I seek your blessings and support.
It's been 20 days since my father, Surendra Kumar Sharma, passed. But at home, we still haven't been able to cope with the loss. Covid took him in just five days, a healthy and active man. It feels so unreal — he was in our midst just days ago! Our happiness is gone with him.
It's almost 2 AM and I am struggling to find sleep. Grief kills sleep, but I am also agitated, thinking about that poor Muslim bangle-seller who was attacked by a Hindu mob in Madhya Pradesh. Indian society is in a free fall, and rock bottom, as a term, no longer exists for us.
Hindu fascists hailed the move against
#TripleTalaq
but are now rallying against the
#Sabarimala
verdict. They were so concerned about Muslim women but are against Hindu women now. Shows TT was just a tool for their regressive politics. The communal thugs stand exposed. Shame!
#Thread
When we hear BJP leader Diya Kumari's claim about the Taj Mahal standing on her family's ancestral land, we must ask how the Kachhwahas came to be in possession of that plot of premium real estate. Who was Mirza Raja Jai Singh? A top-ranking Mughal mansabdar.
It is a tiring and fruitless exercise to fact-check RW "history" because it is deliberate political propaganda. But I just hope that some people who are genuinely curious about the past but who are confused with so much misinformation around will find this thread useful.
Lok Sabha adjourned sine die, it's mission accomplished for the BJP. The no-confidence motion was not admitted on the grounds that there is no order in the House. Yet the finance bill was passed amid the same din but within 30 minutes without any debate. Figure out what it means.
Muslims were praying. And that triggered the Hindus to agitate, shouting Jai Shree Ram.
These are not some RW "activists". But students from a coaching institute. They'll go on to become Doctors and Engineers. An entire generation of bigots in the making.
By giving credence to wild fantasies of the Hindu Right about ancient Indians' scientific prowess, Indian universities run the risk of becoming sites that promote unreason and celebrate mediocrity. Tracing modern knowledge back to the vedas is laughable, to say the least.
Such claims come from a position of insecurity. Confident and secure people don’t need to cook up stories, brag or demean others. This is just Hindus-knew-everything version 2.0. Aldous Huxley observed this back in the 1920s! But why is a so-called "decolonial" govt doing it?
This document opens with PM Modi’s statement in which he says that the country has “the distinction of being named as ‘Mother of Democracy’”. Who named it so? The current regime. Nobody else calls India the “mother of democracy”. If at all there is one, then it is ancient Greece.
#Manikarnika
is an appalling, ghastly, and a catastrophe of a movie. It is a murder of history! I just cannot believe that one could make such an obscenely bad movie in this day and age when information is so easily available. This movie will easily sit among the worst ever made.
Why do Indian TV news channels invite diehard ruling party supporters — who defend the indefensible to the point of shamelessness — and introduce them to the viewers as "political analysts"?
Remember how a Union minister couldn't appreciate Abhijit Banerjee's Nobel win, saying that he was "Left-leaning" and that the people of India had rejected his ideology? It says something about the regime, doesn't it? They only have intellectual pygmies whom they show as giants.