The atmosphere in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh remains charged as the district of the most populous state is struck by Islamist violence, stone pelting, and arson. Local municipal employees said that 5 tractor-trolleys full of bricks and stones have been found near the disputed structure which the Muslim side calls ‘Jama Masjid’ and the Hindu devotees have contested its legality pointing out that it was illegally built over Harihar temple. So far four rioters have died, while 20 are reported to be injured after an Islamist mob launched an attack on the administration officials who were enforcing a court order to survey the disputed structure in Sambhal. After the order, an administrative team reached for the survey on Saturday (November 23, 2024) evening. The mosque committee was also duly informed about this. It was decided that due to it being nighttime, the survey would be done the next morning in the light of day.
Under the survey, the disputed structure was not to be tampered with, and only photography and videography was to be done. The report of this survey is to be presented in the court on November 29. However, as soon as the survey began, Islamist mobs started pelting stones at the police, and many vehicles were burnt.
It is believed that Sambhal will be the birthplace of the tenth and last incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Bhagwan Kalki. Now the situation of Sambhal city is that 78% of the population there is Muslim. Demography is becoming a big reason for violence in India, not in one but many areas.
So far, an FIR has been filed against 2500 people including Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal Ziaur Rahman Barq and Nawab Suhail Iqbal, son of Nawab Iqbal Mahmood, again of the Samajwadi party. Schools and the internet have been shut down in the city. A few groups of miscreants were there, so the violence is also being linked to the infighting among Muslims. The reason for this is that despite the population of 1.5 lakh Muslims in Kundarki of Sambhal district, the Hindu candidate of BJP won by 1.44 lakh votes. It is being said that Ramveer Thakur garnered the support of local Rajput Muslims, who are at odds with the local Turk Muslims. Turk Muslims are those whose ancestors came with the Islamic invaders. Although in the region, more Rajputs have converted to Islam. There is also an old dispute between the Sheikh and Pathan communities in Sambhal. Other than the ground clashes, the local MP is a Turk and he has been having a battle for supremacy with the local MLA.
The legal proceedings of the Sambhal disputed structure case are going on in the civil court. An ‘Advocate Commission’ was also formed for the survey. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain is leading the charge on behalf of the Hindu petitioners. The case is similar to the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi case where the claim of the Hindu side was validated after a long court battle. Similarly, when a survey was done in Gyanvapi in Kashi, many Hindu symbols including a Shivling were found, it was also quite clearly visible how a temple has been converted into a mosque. Similarly, a so-called mosque by the name of ‘Shahi Idgah Mosque’ was built at Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi site in Mathura.
The History of Islamic invasions at the Hindu holy site, Sambhal
To understand this entire episode, we have to understand the history of Sambhal when Islamic marauders sat their sight on this holy Hindu site. Between 1489 and 1517, Sambhal was the capital of Sikandar Khan Lodi of the Delhi Sultanate. He was the son of Bahlol Khan Lodi, the founder of the Afghan Lodi Sultanate. The Lodi’s were Sunni Muslims. To understand the history of Sambhal, we have to understand the geography of Rohilkhand. Bareilly, Moradabad, Badaun, and Rampur districts fall under this region. The Sambhal district falls under Moradabad division. In July 2012, Sambhal was separated from Moradabad. In ancient times, it used to be a part of the Panchal Empire. Bareilly is an ancient city that used to be the capital of the Ahirs of Northern Panchal.
In 1266, Ghiyasuddin Balban attacked Sambhal. After this, he attacked Amroha. There he ordered his army to massacre Hindus. Similarly, in 1365, Firoz Tughlaq attacked Rohilkhand. He left after appointing Malik Khitab as the governor there. In 1403, Sultan Ibrahim of Jaunpur attacked Sambhal, appointed a ruler there, and left. Four years later, Muhammad Tughlaq drove out Ibrahim’s people from the region. In 1473, Sultan Hussain of Jaunpur once again established his rule in Sambhal for a few days.
Scottish historian William Wilson Hunter writes in Volume 6 of ‘The Imperial Gazetteer of India’ that in 1498, Sikandar Lodi made Sambhal his capital and ruled from there for 4 years. In this way, this area again remained under the throne of the Sultans of Delhi. During this time, Sambhal and its surrounding areas were the seat of the Delhi court. Sikandar Lodi’s mother was a Hindu, so to please the Ulemas, he adopted all the characteristics of orthodox Sunni Islam, even giving the death sentence to a Brahmin on the charge of blasphemy.
William Wilson Hunter writes that Ahya Maran rebelled in Sambhal and defeated the army sent by Sultan Adil Shah. After this, Katheria king Mitrasen attacked, but he had to face defeat. Because of the local Katheria Rajputs, this area was also called Kather. The war between Ahya and Raja took place in Kundarki. The same Kundarki, where BJP’s victory is still in discussion. During the Mughal period, Humayun appointed Ali Quli Khan as the governor of Sambhal. In 1566, during Akbar’s reign, Mirzas the descendants of Timur, rebelled and imprisoned the Mughal officials in the fort of Sambhal. However, after the arrival of Hussain Khan, they fled to Amroha.
Shahjahan appointed Rustam Khan as the governor here in his time. Shahjahan named this place Moradabad after his son. Murad Shah was later killed by Alamgir. Alamgir aka Aurangzeb. With the weakening of the power of the Mughals, the Katherias rebelled again and the Islamic invaders turned towards Kannauj from here. In 1735, Muhammad Shah again captured the region and appointed his officers. Later, by 1744, Rohilkhand came under the control of the Nawab of Awadh and then finally fell under the control of the British in 1801.
Attempts to hide the true history of Sambhal
Now let us tell you how Sambhal used to be a holy place for Hindus, even though today one-third of the population in the district is Muslim and the demography has been completely altered. Abul Fazal, the court writer of the Mughals, had written about a Hari temple in Sambhal and it is believed that Kalki, the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu will take place there. In the book ‘Rays and Ways of Indian Culture’, DP Dubey writes that now there is a “mosque” in the same place. DP Dubey has been a professor of ancient history, culture, and archaeology at Allahabad University. He writes that in ancient times the name of this area used to be ‘Shambhupallika’.
Babur demolished many temples in Sambhal, Harihar temple was one of them. In the petition filed by Vishnu Shankar Jain, it is also mentioned that Babur came here in 1529 and demolished the temple. Annette Susannah Beveridge has translated the Turkish ‘Baburnama’ into English, on page number 687 it is mentioned that on the orders of Babur, the temple here was demolished and converted into a mosque. All this underlines the religious importance of Sambhal to the Hindu community. Here Babur’s name has been added to it through a fake inscription. During the reporting of ASI, many Muslims have also accepted this.
Babur’s name is also wrongly mentioned here. Babur’s name is written as ‘Shah Jamjah Muhammad Babur’, whereas Babur’s real name was ‘Shah Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur’. This ASI report also mentions how the dome of this temple was built by Prithviraj Chauhan. The stones and bricks of the Hindu temple were removed, which gave away even the slightest indication that it used to be a temple, with Hindu symbols. At the same time, the bricks used to give it the form of a mosque were small and mud solution was used for this. In this way, the Muslim part added later can be easily identified. When it used to be a temple, it had only one door – in the east. To convert it into a mosque, two doors were added in the north and south.
After the First War of Independence of 1857, Muslims completely established their control here. A case was also filed in the court regarding this disputed structure, but the Muslim side won by using the fake inscription mentioned above. Now this is the reason why the survey is being opposed, as facts are the best disinfestant and the Islamist miscreants are averse to truth seeing the end of the tunnel.
