"NEGATIONISM IN INDIA -
CONCEALING THE RECORD OF ISLAM"
http://www.voi.org/voi/books/negaind/
The author:
Koenraad Elst (Leuven, 1959) grew up in the Catholic
community in Belgium. He was active for some years in
what is known as the New Age movement, before studying
at the famed Catholic University of Leuven (KUL). He
graduated in Chinese Studies, Indo-Iranian Studies and
Philosophy. He took courses in Indian philosophy at the
Benares Hindu University (BHU) and interviewed many
Indian leaders and thinkers during his stay in India
between 1988 and 1992. He has published in Dutch about
language policy issues, contemporary politics, history of
science and Oriental Philosophies; in English about the
Ayodhya Issue, and about the General Religio-political
Situation in India.
"Negationism usually means the denial of the Nazi
genocide of the Jews and Gypsies in World War 2. Less
well-known is that India has its own brand of negationism.
A section of the Indian intelligentsia is still trying to erase
>from the Hindus' memory the history of their persecution by
the swordsmen of Islam. The number of victims of this
persecution surpasses that of the Nazi crimes. The Islamic
campaign to wipe out Paganism could not be equally
thorough, but it has continued for centuries without any
moral doubts arising in the minds of the persecutors and
their chroniclers. The Islamic reports on the massacres of
Hindus, destruction of Hindu temples, the abduction of
Hindu women and forced conversions, invariably express
great glee and pride. They leave no doubt that the
destruction of Paganism by every means, was considered
the God-ordained duty of the Moslem community. Yet,
today many Indian historians, journalists and politicians,
deny that there ever was a Hindu-Moslem conflict. They
shamelessly rewrite history and conjure up centuries of
Hindu-Moslem amity; now a growing section of the public
in India and the West only knows their negationist version
of history. It is not a pleasant task to rudely shake people
out of their delusions, especially if these have been wilfully
created; but this essay does just that.
"This essay was started as an expanded translation of a
Dutch-language book review of Sitaram Goel's Hindu
Temples: What Happened To Them, which could not be
published in its original form due to pro-Islamic pressure;
and of an article on Islamic negationism published in the
Septemeber 1992 issue of the Flemish monthly Nucleus."
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C. J. S. Wallia, Ph.D.
Publisher, IndiaStar: A Literary-Art Magazine
http://www.indiastar.com
Phone and Fax: (510) 848-8200
P.O. Box 5582, Berkeley, CA 94705, U.S.A.
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