The question is why in Pakistan these men, Hindus and Sikhs, are being celebrated while India is going through a strong anti-Muslim phase.

It is possibly because Pakistan also has a powerful Punjabi nationalism. More than half of Pakistan is Punjabi speaking. Of Pakistan’s five biggest cities, four — Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Faislabad — are in Punjab. About 80% of the Pakistani army is Punjabi. The Sikh empire of Ranjit Singh was the only time in Indian history when Punjabis dominated northern India, and Singh is seen as a Punjabi hero, which he was. Ranjit Singh’s armies marched into Kabul and he and Tipu Sultan were the last real independent rulers in a subcontinent when the British had defeated the rest.

He was a great warrior and it is only after the death of Ranjit Singh, that the British were able to conquer Punjab. It may interest readers to know that the reason why the Dogra Rajputs of Jammu ruled Kashmir was their betrayal of Punjab.

Without this betrayal, Jammu and Kashmir would be two separate states today.

To know how big the prize was, consider this: there were only five kingdoms in India which were big enough for their rulers to merit the 21-gun salute: Mysore, Hyderabad, Baroda, Gwalior and Jammu and Kashmir. Most Indians do not know that the history of 18th century India, after the death of Aurangzeb, was a series of attacks by one Hindu hero against another. The Marathas extorted so much money from the Rajputs that Maharaja Ishwari Singh, son of Jaipur’s founder Sawai Jai Singh, committed suicide in December 1750.

In revenge, on January 10, the Rajputs spent nine hours slaughtering a troop of 4,000 Marathas who had entered the city as conquerors.

This is not taught in our history books. Knowledge of this will confuse most Indians because our understanding is coloured by our religious nationalism.

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