Dr Punyani minced no word to denounce communalism and terrorism of all hue and colour and added that it needs to be known that Mahmod Ghazni got demolished a mosque in Multan while fighting a Muslim king before proceeding to Somnath. His mission was not at the spread of Islam as is being propogated, but had an eye on wealth worth Rs 150 crore kept there. Five out of 13 of his commanders were Hindus who comprise 30 per cent of his army.

Similarly, it is a fact that Shivaji terrorised the Hindu traders of Surat for three long years compelling the latter to seek the refuge of Aurangzeb. The much-maligned last great Mughal Emperor had 34 per cent Hindus in his bureaucracy. The most trusted lieutenant of Mughal general Afzal Khan was a Hindu while the spy on whom Shivaji had maximum faith was a Muslim.

While Akbar’s general Man Singh led an expedition against Rana Pratap the most trusted general of the latter was a Muslim.

Delivering a talk organized by Temple of Understanding he recalled how Lal Krishan Advani spearheaded a movement for political gain, which led to the demolition of Babri Masjid. In fact the whole dispute was the creation of the British who indulged in communal historiography. The seed of distrust between Hindus and Muslims was sown by a British translator of Babarnama, who in the footnote at the place where the mosque at Ayodhya was referred, deliberately wrote that it is the masjid were Ram was born. Before that there is no reference of the birth of Ram at that place. There was absolutely no reason to mention that in the footnote.

Dr Punyani cited examples from ancient history of number of instances in which Hindu kings would indulge in widespread destruction of temples after defeating the enemies because wealth used to be stored in them.

He was all praise for Mahatma Gandhi, who once said that he was proud of being a Hindu and would lay down his life to defend it. But Gandhiji never talked of taking life for the sake of religion. In contrast was the sttitude of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who had nothing to do with Hindu religion yet mastered the art of spreading hatred.

He said while in India Mahmud Ghazni and Aurangzeb are considered tyrannical kings, who destroyed Hindu temples, in Pakistan they are hailed just the opposite.

Dr Punyani said Swami Vivekanand had written that Islam never spread with the help of sword, but it spread because of the prevailing caste system among Hindus. That is why the weak and downtrodden among them converted to Islam.

Punyani summed up his speech with a call to youths to fight against communalism and terrorism.

M T Khan, retired registrar, Patna High Court, conducted the programme, which was presided over by Sachchidanand Sinha, former director of the A N Sinha Institute. Retired IAS officers I C Kumar and Uma Shankar Prasad Thakur, Nawab Hasaa and Ismail Hasnain Naqvi also spoke on the occasion. Urdu writer Shaukat Hayat delivered vote of thanks.

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