Religion and Name change

No! this article is not about the transformation of Yousuf Yohana to Mohd. Yousuf. I read an article in the Hindustan times today on tensions surfacing between Hindus and Muslims at the Bhojshala shrine-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar in MP. At this site, the Hindus recite the Hanuman Chalisa on tuesdays and the Muslims offer namaz on fridays. This friday coincided with the festival of Basant Panchami and the administration in order to avoid any trouble scheduled the Hindus to celebrate the festival or offer pujas from sunrise to 12:30 PM and later from 3:30 PM to sunset allowing the muslims to offer their weekly namaz between 1 and 3 PM. While the Hindus were stopped from entering the complex between these times, tensions broke and police had to resort to lathi charge and tear gas. While matters did not escalate, it must have definitely caused anxious moments due to events from the recent past.

This event is not dissimilar to the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi debate. the Hindu Jagaran Morcha claim that there was a Saraswati temple here previously that was destroyed by Muslim rulers and a mosque built near it. Muslims regard it as a dargah of Sufi saint Kamalludin Maulah.While the events of the Babri masjid demolotition caused some events at this complex in 1992, both the sects have lived and prayed together here except for this minor incident when the issue again comes to forefront. The Asiatic Society of India claims that it is neither a temple or a mosque but a historical monument. I totally agree with this view. We have to accept it as a part of history and our culture. We know that muslim rulers came and plundered India for all the riches we had. But it is part of any civilization. We have survived as a nation. Even the British rule over India is a part of our culture and civilization. We have adapted, gotten new traits as a result of these events. It is just a matter of what we called the newcomers. Muslim rulers who came, plundered and left were called invaders. The ones who stayed and created an empire were called rulers. Whatever we call them, they are part of our history and heritage. No amount of calling for detroying a structure and rebuilding the past will change history. Changing the name of cities just because the Britishers called them that will not change the fact that we were ruled by them for 3 centuries.

My undergrad college Victoria Jubille Technical Institute was established in 1887 during the British rule. It was established as a diploma institute to satisfy the booming textile industry of the city of Bombay with only the Mechanical engineering and textile engineering department. Other departments and degree programs were added at a much later date and the entire history can be viewed here. During my final year in 1997, the Maharashtra government of BJP-Shiv Sena renamed the college as Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute keeping the same initials. This was after the town was changed to Mumbai. So having joined the Victoria Jubilee Techincal Institute, University of Bombay in 1993, I graduated with my B.E. degree from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, University of Mumbai in 1997. How ridiculous was that? Changing names just for the heck that you have the power. I guess it is accepting that also as part of our history that we once let ourselves ruled by the whims of BalaSaheb Thackrey's party. My only question is if we refer to him as an invader or a ruler or simply a maniac?