During a visit to the ruins of the city of Gauda, Suchitra Vijayan ran across a honeymooning couple from Gujarat. “I salute our armed forces!” shouted the husband while his bride filmed him. “Our soldiers will take back what was denied to us in partition.” As he lamented the lost Hindu temple, which he claimed had been razed and built over at this site by rampaging Muslims, the nearby Border Security Force (BSF) guard declined to participate in this encomium and encouraged the Gujaratis to read the nearby placard. There, they would learn that no temple ever existed on this site, which had been the capital of Muslim Bengal before being abandoned four centuries ago. Undeterred, the newlyweds sauntered away, continuing to impress upon their audience their love of country and antipathy for Muslims.
Read the full article in American Purpose