Bangalore: Quashing myths floated by communal outfits regarding the spread of Islam through the use of the sword, former speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly K. R. Ramesh Kumar said that if Islam was spread by the sword, not a single Hindu would have survived in India today.
On September 26, the former Congress MLA and speaker of the Karnataka spoke at a book launch of former Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, who launched a book called ‘The Population Myth’ in Bangalore. He also called out the communal forces stating, “They are undermining the Constitution of India.”
Kumar went on to say, “It is a completely false propaganda, having no historical basis.” He further stated that attempts are being made to distort India’s Muslim-rule and its history, along with their contribution to the development of the country.
Kumar was the 16th speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly between 2018 to 2019, best known for disqualifying 17 rebel MLAs of Congress and JD(S) in 2019. He is currently the representative of the Srinivaspur assembly constituency of Kolar district in the House.
Expressing his pleasure over Dr. SY Qureshi’s book, Kumar said, “The book is a befitting reply to the propaganda of Muslim population explosion, and that Muslims will overtake Hindus in future,” according to a report by Muslim Mirror
Agreeing with the former speaker’s views, HC Mahadevappa, a former Karnataka minister stated that “The allegation against Muslim rulers that they did spread Islam by force has no basis and historic facts.”
“Muslims ruled this country for 800 years and for 200 years after the Muslim rule, the British ruled the country, but during that period there was no attempt made to declare India as Islamic state or a Christian state” he further stated.
On the occasion of the book launch, the author and former IAS officer S.Y. Qureshi said, “There has been an increasing rhetoric, propagated by the Right-wing, on the growth of Muslim population and this rhetoric has given rise to several myths, which are used to stoke majoritarian fears of a skewed demographic.”
He further stated that he used empirical evidence and government data to demolish myths and demonstrated how a planned population is in the interest of all communities. “It is the first such book in India that evaluates the country’s demography through a religious lens,” he added.