Abdul Khaleque, said on Tuesday that Mughal rulers gave the shape to India and named it Hindustan
- Abdul Khaleque called back to the Battle of Saraighat, saying it was a battle between India ruled by Mughals and Assam, which was a separate nation at that time.
- He said that he is proud of the Mughals for shaping and naming India, but does not identify as Mughal, nor their descendant.
Assam Congress MP Abdul Khaleque called back to the Battle of Saraighat in which the Ahoms delivered a crushing defeat to the Mughals, saying it was a battle between India ruled by Mughals and Assam, which was a separate nation at that time.
Congress Member of Parliament, Abdul Khaleque, said on Tuesday that Mughal rulers gave the shape to India and named it Hindustan. In an interview,, the Lok Sabha MP from Assam’s Barpeta said that, “India was divided into smaller princely states, and was then given the shape of Hindustan. Therefore I am proud of the Mughals, but am not a Mughal, nor their descendant. They gave the shape of our country, the name Hindustan, so I’m proud of them”.
When asked more about the 1671 Battle of Saraighat in which the Ahoms won against the Mughals, Abdul Khaleque said that, “Assam was not attacked by Mughals from an individual capacity. Back then, the Mughals were ruling India and had attacked Assam. Our Ahom Army repeatedly proved victorious over them.”
“Remember that, Assam was a separate state at that time and India seemed to be a different nation. The conflict was between India and Assam and now, Assam is an integral part of India and the situation is therefore different. There are now ten Assembly segments under my Lok Sabha constituency. Seven of them were in Ahom kingdom and the remaining in a different kingdom,” the Congress leader said.
According to the website of the Assam government, the Battle of Saraighat was a naval battle between Mughals and the Ahom army. The Mughals had larger boats in comparison to the small ones used by the Ahoms. “The Ahoms spanned river Brahmaputra with an improvised bridge of boats and restored a combined front and rear attack. The entry of Lachit Borphukan transformed the morale of the Ahom soldiers and led to a decisive victory,” the website said.
Congress MP from Assam Abdul Khaleque on Tuesday said he is proud of the Mughals because they gave us the shape of ‘Hindustan’. Khaleque said that “The perception of Hindustan was made clear by the Mughals. There used to be small states in Bharat but the Mughals shaped them together as Hindustan. So I am proud of them. But I am not a successor of the Mughal dynasty. It is true that the Mughals had attacked Assam (Ahom kingdom) but that was not done individually. At that time Mughals were ruling over Hindustan.”
The Barpeta MP said the Ahom army had defeated the Mughals. At that time he said it was a conflict between India and Assam. “But today, Assam is an integral part of India. The situation is different now,” he said.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Khaleque said that, “It is BJP’s propaganda to spread hatred. They say they will rewrite history which means they want to change history.” Asked about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) concept of Akhand Bharat, the Congress MP said that: “I also want an Akhand Bharat. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee used to talk about Akhand Bharat but he divided Bengal while Mughal Badshah Bahadur Shah Zafar had given up his leadership in the struggle for Independence.”
