Hindutva Campaign Against Akbar, Whose Rich, Libertarian Legacy Is ‘Detested’ in Pakistan https://janataweekly.org/hindutva-campaign-against-akbar-whose-rich-libertarian-legacy-is-detested-in-pakistan/ Binoj Nair November 20, 2022 https://www.counterview.net/2022/11/hindutva-campaign-against-akbar-whose.html 2/11/2022
Back in 2017, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while trying to portray the Battle of Haldighati as a Hindu-Muslim war, was ignorant of the fact that Akbar wasn’t even involved in the battle, and that it was the Hindu, Raja Man Singh, his trusted general who thwarted Pratap on the battle field to keep the pride of the Mughal Empire. On the other side, one of the commanders of Pratap’s army was the Pathan general Hakim Khan Suri, who laid down his life fighting for the Hindu king.
Akbar quite persuasively broke away from the conservative clutches of the Islamic clergy to widen his mental horizons beyond the limits of his religion. One of his ambitious and encompassing moves was the promulgation of a new faith framework, the ‘Din-i-Ilahi’ (The Divine Faith), where he pulled in ideas from all the major religions including the polytheistic Hinduism, in a bid to foster a ‘catch-all’ secular empire and reduce communal tensions.
The progressive and all-encompassing policies of Akbar are detested heavily in the neighbouring Pakistan for understandable reasons. While they have invoked the more orthodox legacies of Babar, the Ghazni and the Ghori in their missile programmes, they have purposefully downplayed Akbar’s significance over the years and have hit the delete key on his rich and libertarian legacy.
The Hindu-Muslim discord has hit such an alarming peak that, all evidences factored in, it can be safely concluded that Akbar’s Mughal India was way more secular and tolerant than Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
Emperor Akbar : The Forgotten Mughal https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/emperor-akbar-the-forgotten-mughal/ by Binoj Nair — 28/10/2022