Quite often our political leaders bite more than what they can chew and unnecessarily land in trouble to their own ignominy and of the party they are affiliated to. The BJP MLA Sangeet Som from Uttar Pradesh made a blatant statement, as a backlash to the controversy surrounding the exclusion of the historical Taj Mahal from the UP’s tourism promotion booklet, questioning the identify of Taj Mahal in Indian heritage and even went to the extent of rewriting Indian history obliterating Mogul rulers from it. His contention was that the very Moghul ruler who built the Taj Mahal had planned to annihilate the Hindus.

Some BJP stalwarts including Yogi Adityanath have toned down their earlier outbursts and have conceded that the monumental Taj Mahal, reckoned as one of the Seven Wonders of the World would remain an integral part of Indian heritage. Nonetheless the saffron brigade will continue to vent out their ire on foreign invasion on Indian soil repeatedly. For instance the BJP has said that the Moghul rule in India was barbaric and a period of incomparable intolerance.

I would go to the extent of saying that whenever any foreign invasion has taken place in India or on any other country in this world, there has always been an effort to impose the will of the intruder on the inhabitants. We must realize that at least the Moghuls came with the intention of ruling the country and whatever may be our misconception on them they built a number of monuments of world recognition, which have been places of tourist importance inviting visitors from the world over to marvel at them. Compare this with the other Muslim rulers who had invaded India with the sole purpose of looting the country!

As far as the scourge of intolerance is concerned, it cannot be denied that one of the primary objectives of the invaders from the European countries like the Portuguese or the British had been to impose their religion. 

So it would be fruitless to keep digging down in history and bury ourselves with the painful memories. At least those were the ancient times but what do we do now as modern enlightened citizens? Do the ruthless acts of the gorakshaks conform to the civilized times of democracy?