How Delhi’s heart mocks Secular ideals in India

Bodhan was a Hindu Saint.  A renunciate.  He lived in the kingdom of Sikander Lodhi.  In his great Secular moment, the renunciate said –

Interestingly, Sikander Lodhi’s mother, Bibi Ambha was the daughter of a Hindu goldsmith of Sirhind.  Sikander Lodhi’s father had come from Persia and settled in Multan.

Arguably the most significant park in New Delhi is named after Sikander Lodhi.  Utter insensitivity apart, this is a complete mockery of any real Secular idea.  And, that is all you need to know about the pretensions that Indian Secularism is beset with.

Right next to the Lodhi Gardens, and covering the most significant real estate in Delhi we have a triangle formed by three roads which are very interestingly named.  Aurangzeb Road, Safdarjung Road and Prithviraj Road.

was a nobody during the decline of the Mughal dynasty in mid-1700s.  He was a Faujdar in that kingdom.  This area happens to have a tomb of this loser nobody in the worst days of arguably the worst rule for India.  A time which heralded the British rule in India due to lack of any administration.

is criss-crossed by an Aurangzeb Lane.  So, this guy gets a double gift.  Who was Aurangzeb?  Aurangzeb was a fanatic barbarian, who not only tortured and killed the 9th Sikh Guru – Guru Tegh Bahadur in Delhi, but fought the last Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh and killed his wife and kids apart from his close associates.  This vicious barbarian had also killed his elder brother Dara Shikoh, arguably one of the most Spiritual soul in the entire Mughal dynasty!   The complete absence of such Spiritual luminaries as Dara Shikoh, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh in representing the main milestones in Lutyens Delhi and double honor for a fanatic barbarian whose only dream was to convert India into an Islamic country in his lifetime is more than simply a coincidence.

is named after a Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan, a Hindu king who allegedly defeated Mohammad Ghori 16 times and set free only to be killed by him the 17th time.  In Hindu lore, Prithviraj Chauhan represents a king who inadvertently became the conduit of barbaric and fanatic Islamic rule for over 700 years in India.  If at all, in the Hindu psyche Prithviraj represents the defeatist link who had a pseudo sense of morality that triumphed over practicalities.

The triangle in the heart of India’s capital Delhi represents how the Cultural heart has sided with the Losers and Barbarians in this culture and losers who ushered in the invaders.  Those who were great and revered  – like Dara Shikoh or Sikh Gurus or Dharmic Monks and Great Beings, say Buddha or Krishna or Vivekananda – have been completely absent.

More importantly, why would a country name the most important milestones in its capital after Invaders and foreigners who came with ulterior motives?  Isn’t commemorating history about telling the truth and instilling a sense of pride – not false but that based on facts – and emphasizing that which is indeed empowering about one’s history?  If that is so, then what has been the reason to use names of invaders and barbarians like Aurangzeb, Lodhi and Safdarjung to name the most important milestones in the heart of the capital?  Was this dictated by some warped sense of pseudo secularism on part of the first generation of “leaders” in Indian Government?

The implicit and the obvious hypocrisy of the “Secular” Indian elite is difficult to miss.  Such decisions to name milestones aren’t – or at least shouldn’t – be taken lightly.  And even if they were taken lightly, the decision maker would have had a remarkable sense of masochist self hate for Indian ethos to put barbarians like Aurangzeb and Lodhi on such a pedestal.  An act as absurd and demeaning as naming the central road in Tel Aviv after Adolf Hitler.  The imbecility is that stark!