Renowned poet and lyricist Manoj Muntashir is facing flak from liberals, Islamists, and Leftist ‘historians’ after his video went viral in which he denounced the Mughal rulers and called out their barbarity. In the video title ‘Whose heir are you? Choose Your Legacy and Your Heroes!’ Manoj termed Mughal rulers like Akbar and Humayun as "dacoits" and asked the audience to choose their heroes or legacies wisely.
In a recent video that Manoj posted on his YouTube channel, he is seen talking about choosing heroes beyond religion, caste, and other barriers. He also said for years our education institutions have been telling us about the glories of Mughal rulers but hid the details of atrocities committed by Mughals against Hindus. “For the last several centuries, we have left the land of our history unclaimed. We were brainwashed to such an extent that suddenly in our pre-primary textbook, instead of G for Ganesh, we are taught G for Gadaha (Donkey) and we did not even get a crinkle on our forehead,” he said.
He added that we should choose our heroes based on their deeds, not based on their identities. He has spoken against the blatant Mughal glorification done by so-called historians and governments over the years. Further in the video, he questioned the leaders who happily inaugurated roads in the name of Mughals ignoring the fact that they killed many Hindus, made many Hindu women widows, and destroyed a large number of temples to make their way to our hallowed nation.
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“The roads leading to our house were named after some glorified dacoits like Akbar, Humayun, and Jahangir and we kept on clapping, watching the opportunist leaders cutting the ribbons,” he added.
However, much of ripple was created over his comment about the Mughal ruler. “In Chittorgarh, one who killed thirty thousand civilians in the name of jihad was ideal king? The one who held Meena Bazar in front of the Agra Fort was jille ilahi. Jille Ilahi means the shadow of God, which God is this whose shadow is so black? Pick your heroes and villains by rising above caste which has been the tradition of this great country. Who was Ravana? A Brahmin. He was in the direct bloodline of Lord Brahma, but have you seen a Brahmin worshipping Ravana?” he said.
As soon as the video went viral many politicians and renowned celebrities took to their social media handle to criticize the poet publicly. Taking a shot at Manoj writer Vaibhav Vishal tweeted, “The man who made a career out of Ishq, Khalish, Mehfooz, Fariyaad, Humsafar and Rashqe Kamar questions our Indo-Islamic legacy, and our education, values and choices,” adding, “Good to see the mask coming off, Manoj. Remove the word “Muntashir” from your name now. Choose your legacy!”
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Actor Richa Chadha also tweets “Cringe. Bad poetry, unwatchable. Should drop the pen name too. Why profit off of something you so hate.” Journalist Abhishek Baxi wrote, “For a writer/poet, I'd expect better bigotry. This looks like a crowdsourced effort from a WhatsApp group.”
However, while many netizens criticized Manoj for the video, many users also supported Muntashir and praised him for the video.
