In the wake of violent protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of U.S. police, supporters of the Indian government in India are trying to create a false narrative around the history of imperialism and racism to justify their crimes.

The killing of Floyd, an African American who became the victim of systemic racism, sparked civil unrest, leading to the vandalizing and breaking of statues of slave owners.  

Taking advantage of widespread outrage over mistreatment of Blacks and Indigenous people in North America, those owing allegiance to India's right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have started drawing parallels between U.S. civil rights activists and those who razed Babri Masjid, an ancient mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.  

The BJP supporters claim that Moghal rulers built the mosque after destroying a Hindu temple built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, one of the most revered Hindu gods.

Extremists launched a movement to reclaim the disputed site during the 1980s. That culminated in a mob, instigated by the BJP leadership in the state of Uttar Pradesh, destroying the mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.  

Under the current BJP regime in New Delhi, the Indian Supreme Court issued a verdict last year supporting construction of a Ram temple on the site. On August 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the proposed temple.

This dampened spirits of grassroots-level secularists who've been asking for site to be returned to the Muslim community.

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1291019545138741248

History doesn't match extremist narrative

Now, right-wing media commentators and BJP supporters are trying to discredit them by accusing them of doublespeak.

Their prime argument is that the 1992 Babri Masjid episode was the result of “awakening among the Hindus about slavery and persecution of their forefathers by Mughals who came from outside India with imperialist designs”. If their version of history is to be believed, Islam was imposed in India through rule of the sword.

However, such claims are blatant lies and lack objectivity.  

First of all, not all Mughals were tyrants, as some made India their home and had cordial relations with Hindus. Secondly, even if we assume that they were, why should Muslims living in India today should be made to suffer?

In the garb of Ram-temple agitation, the BJP has polarized the Hindu majority against Muslims for electoral gains. It is not surprising to see how Muslims continue to be attacked with impunity sine Modi became prime minister in 2014.

It is pertinent to mention that the 2002 Gujarat Muslim massacre was an outcome of this campaign. A train carrying Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya caught fire leaving more than 50 passengers dead. Although one commission of enquiry found that it was an accident, the BJP has blamed it on Islamic fanatics.

Modi was chief minister of Gujarat back then when his supporters slaughtered innocent Muslims. 

Dalits were oppressed under Manu's laws

The point that BJP apologists in North American diaspora have conveniently overlooked is that African Americans' anger is against white privilege.

In the Indian context, Hindus are the most privileged because of their majority status. It was never the other way round.

If there are any parallels to be made, they are between the Blacks and/or Indigenous people of North America and Dalits in India.  

Hindus have been persecuting those considered "untouchables" from the Dalit community for centuries. The Dalits' case is not only stronger and well documented, it dates back long before the Moghals appeared on the scene.

Like it or not, Islam did not spread in India only due to repression of Moghals. It became popular because of its egalitarian approach that embraced Dalits, who were not even allowed to enter Hindu temples under the strict caste code.  

If the BJP really cares for correcting history, then why not begin with fixing the caste system? Why not first remove the statues of Manu, who invented such an inhuman social structure, from outside the Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur?  

What the BJP cannot deny is that their founding fathers in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)—a Hindu supremacist organization, of which the BJP is a part—glorified Adolf Hitler and rationalized the annihilation of Jews.

On what basis can it appropriate progressive movements, such as Black Lives Matter, when its own history is highly problematic and full of contradictions?  

What happened to the Babri Masjid was not an act of resistance, but an act of aggression and terrorism. It cannot be equated with the actions of oppressed groups in North America.