Abdul Khaleque, a Congress MP from Assam, claimed that he is proud of the Mughals for giving the shape of ‘Hindustan.’
“The perception of Hindustan was made by the Mughals. There were small states in Bharat. Mughals shaped them together as Hindustan. So I am proud of the Mughals. 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.” Khaleque told the reporter.
According to the Barpeta MP, the Mughals were defeated by the former Ahom army. He claimed it was a conflict between India and Assam at the time. “But today, Assam is an integral part of India. The situation is completely different now,” he stated.
The Congress MP went on to say that seven of the ten Vidhan Sabha seats in his parliamentary constituency were part of the Ahom kingdom at the time, while the other three were part of the Koch Kingdom.
He stated that the Battle of Saraighat was fought not between Hindus and Muslims, but between the King of Hindustan and the Ahom dynasty.
Khaleque slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying, “It is BJP’s policy to spread hatred. They say they will rewrite history. It means they want to change history.”
When asked about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Akhand Bharat ideology, the Congress MP stated, “I also want Akhand Bharat. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee used to talk about Akhand Bharat but he divided Bengal. Mughal Badshah Bahadur Shah Zafar had given his leadership in the struggle for Independence.”
This declaration by Khaleque comes at a time when the names of many Mughal-era places have been modified. In 2018, Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh), was renamed as Prayagraj and Mughalsarai was also renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar.