BHOPAL: After a discussion on a book titled ‘Babur: The Quest for Hindustan’ set to take place at the Bhopal Literature and Art Festival (BLF) was cancelled amid fear of protests, its author Aabhas Maldahiyar has penned an open letter to PM Narendra Modi decrying the move.
The 37-year-old architect-turned-writer wrote, “I was invited to speak on January 10, on my latest book, ‘Babur: The Quest for Hindustan,’ the second volume of my definitive biographical work on Babur. ‘The first volume, Babur:
The Chessboard King’ examines his early life and central Asian campaigns, while the second volume focuses exclusively on his tenure in Hindustan. The book also refutes the long-circulated myth that Maharana Sangram Singh invited Babur to Hindustan.”
Maldahiyar, a Marxist-turned Modi supporter who also penned ‘#Modi Again: (Why Modi is right for India) An Ex-Communist’s Manifesto’ (2019), rued, “The organisers informed me that my scheduled session might not be allowed to proceed. The reason cited was objections and proposed protests by certain Hindu organisations, triggered by a misleading and defamatory report published in a newspaper. The newspaper report falsely claimed that a session on Babur at the literature Festival was intended to glorify him.”
“Ironically, a session intended to challenge Marxist distortions of Babur’s image was sabotaged on the false allegation that it sought to glorify him. The reality was precisely the opposite,” he expressed, also blaming Madhya Pradesh’s MoS for Culture and Tourism Dharmendra Singh Lodhi for the fiasco.
Slams report
Author blames “misleading & defamatory” newspaper report for misinformation
Says talk was to question Marxist distortions of Babur’s image
Report “falsely” claimed session would glorify him