Sangh heaps praise on Aurangzeb’s brother Dara Shikoh

New Delhi: Mughal emperor Aurangzeb could be one of the saffron camp’s biggest villains but the Sangh is all praises for his brother Dara Shikoh, who for them was a “devout Muslim who made efforts to understand the real Hindustan.” Asking why there is a fear among Muslims in India, whose population is in crores while Jains, Buddhists, Jews and Zoroastrians, who are few thousands or lakhs have no fear, RSS joint general secretary Dr Krishna Gopal on Wednesday, asserted that “oneness” and “cohesiveness” are the basic characters of India and “unity is one of the core fundamentals of the country.” “If one can understand India's legacy, the person can understand Dara Shik-oh. At a symposium ‘A hero of the Indian syncretist tradition: Dara Shikoh’, Dr Krishna Gopal said had Dara ruled India then “Hindus” would have und-erstood Islam in a “much better manner” and Islam would have flourished in a “better way.” Crediting Dara for taking Indian traditions and culture to the foreign world through the translation of Indian scriptures, minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said “unfortunately” he was the “victim” of “intellectuals, secular historians and Left historians’ intolerance,” who presented him as “anti-Islam”. The minister said it was due to this “intolerance” that Dara never had any road or memorial named after him unlike Aurangzeb, until recently. While Aurangzeb was an example of pure cruelty and terror, Dara was a personification of cohesiveness, amalgamation of India's culture and tradition,” said Mr Naqvi.