Variamkunnath Kunhamed Haji and Ali Musaliar, the leaders responsible for the Moplah Massacre of Hindus, will be removed from the Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle, The Hindu has reported. Along with them, 387 others who died during the Moplah Massacre will also be removed.
The dictionary was published by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). A three member panel that reviewed the fifth volume recommended the deletion as it came to the conclusion that the massacre was a fundamentalist movement bent on religious conversion and not a part of the freedom struggle.
The panel concluded that the Moplah Massacre sought to establish a caliphate and if they were successful in their attempt, then India would have ended up losing that territory. It also conclude that a Sharia Court was established and a large number of Hindus were massacred.
Director (Research and Administration) of the ICHR, Om Jee Upadhyay, stated that the freedom fighters’ list would be modified accordingly and the updated dictionary would be published by the end of October.
August 2021 marks the completion of a hundred years of the brutal episode in Indian history. A couple of days back, Kerala Assembly Speaker MB Rajesh had compared Haji to Bhagat Singh, drawing the wrath of the BJP which demanded a case of sedition against him.
Last year, the Ministry of Culture had withdrawn the dictionary following the intervention of the state unit.