His Holiness Saint Afzal Khan

‘VHP vows to demolish Muslim tomb‘… screams a headline in Indian Express.

Now who would pass up such a news item?! Who would ignore the potential controversy that it suggests?!

The tomb in question is at Pratapgad near Mahabaleshwar and belongs to Afzal Khan, a General of Sultan of Bijapur, Adil Shah. This is the same Afzal Khan who came down south to take care of Shivaji who was proving to be a nuisance to Adil Shah. On his way, he destroyed temples in Hindu holy cities of Pandharpur and Tuljapur. This was done to draw an angry Shivaji out in the open and then crush his small army with the huge force that Afzal Khan had brought along. But Shivaji cunningly refrained from rushing out, knowing that his strength lay in guerilla warfare. After many failed attempts at luring Shivaji out, Afzal Khan acceded to Shivaji’s request that he come to Pratapgad where the two would meet.

At the much celebrated meeting between the two at the foot of Pratapgad, the Goliath (Afzal Khan) embraced David (Shivaji). While in the embrace, Afzal Khan drew a dagger and tried to stab Shivaji who had come prepared with an armour inside his robe. From inside his robes, Shivaji drew a dagger in one hand and tiger-claws in the other and gored the giant-sized Mughal with them till he was slain. Without their general, Sultan’s huge army panicked when Shivaji’s band of merry men descended upon them from among the hills and defeated them quite easily. Thus Shivaji earned one of his most famous victories… after which he ordered that Afzal Khan’s tomb be built where he had been killed.

This is a well-known story that is fed to little kids in any self-respecting Maharashtrian household. Everyone knows who Afzal khan was. Yet… every year thousands of Muslims travel to Pratapgad to pay a visit to the tomb of Saint Afzal Khan, which is supposed to fulfill people’s wishes.

Saint?!!! … you’ve got to be kidding me!!!

VHP’s contention was that maintaining the tomb is an insult to Hindus… which is a silly point really. Another, more valid, point being raised is the fact that from a tiny tin shed, the tomb complex has grown to cover more than 6000 feet. And this illegal construction has come up even after the trust maintaining the tomb was de-registered by the charity commissioner’s office.

While news reports show their usual alacrity in reporting instances where the Hindu ‘monsters’ seek to subjugate the ‘meek’ minorities, they do not question the facts of the matter. I do not blame only Indian Express. They’re just one of the many news sites that have used this news to attract more readers to their sites.

I would like to ask…

1. How did the tomb complex grow to over 6000 feet even though it’s on government land and the government has stopped official charity to the tomb?
2. How did the tomb belonging to a ruthless Mughal general who destroyed many Hindu temples just to lure Shivaji out, suddenly turn into a holy pilgrimage site?
3. Why was this news article not updated to reflect the latest situation which was that VHP had decided not to go ahead with the agitation after Muslim leaders promised them that they would no longer refer to Afzal Khan as a saint?
4. Why is the reporting in such cases so one-sided? I mean, why did no news site carry a reaction of Hindus other than the VHP regarding their views on elevating to saintly status that man who came south to kill a national icon and a role model?

And some foreign news agencies and sites, like scavenging vultures, have already painted this whole episode as a precursor to Gujarat or Ayodhya style riots!! Nearly all of these foreign news reports make suitable modifications to facts so that they suit themselves. The most hilarious of these ‘lies’ was the statement that Shivaji killed Afzal Khan who had come to initiate peace between the Hindus and the Mughals. :-|

Well… reporting these days is nothing more than prostitution of news and obscring of facts! … not just in India but also across the world!!