From book on Why Modi is Right for India, to Babur: Author behind lit fest cancellation

So, adds the 37-year-old, when he first heard of protests against a planned session on his book Babur: The Quest for Hindustan at the Bhopal Literature and Art Festival, he was not unduly bothered. He knew many of the people among the protesters and was fairly confident of an amicable settlement, Maldahiyar says. “I reached Bhopal on January 9, a day ahead of my session and dialled the numbers I could, offered to address their concerns, issued a press note to say that there is nothing in my book meant to inflame or show Babur in anything but the true light. But it just didn’t work out.”

After the session was cancelled, Maldahiyar posted an open letter to PM Modi on X, saying the decision had been taken “after the newspaper Swadesh published false and defamatory reports alleging that I intended to glorify Babur”. “The proposed session was intended to discuss the so-called ‘Bhopal Wasiyatnama’, a nineteenth-century forgery falsely presented as Babur’s will to portray him as tolerant towards Hindus. By cancelling the session, these self-proclaimed guardians of the cause destroyed an opportunity to expose a major Marxist fabrication at the very place of its origin; Bhopal… What pains me is that those who claim to oppose Babur do not even recognize the scholars who are equipping them with intellectual tools for that very debate,” Maldahiyar wrote.

Bhopal Literature and Art Festival co-founder Abhilash Khandekar told The Indian Express that the session was cancelled after police warned of disruption by right-wing groups. “Police said they will ransack the event… The author exposed Babur in his work and anyone could have challenged that. We wanted to save our festival, that’s why we had to call it off… Most people objecting have not read (Maldahiyar’s) book,” Khandekar said.

The Quest for Hindustan, published last year, is Maldahiyar’s second book on the Mughal Emperor, after Babur: The Chessboard King in 2023, and he calls them “a result of five years of hard work”. “It does not glorify Babur in the least.”

Maldahiyar says his interest in history grew only in recent years. “My father taught history at a university but I used to hate it in school. A lot has to do with how history is taught.”

According to him, he was drawn first to Marxism, seeing it as a solution to “all the problems of the world”. The epiphany, as he describes it, came during a trip to the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra in 2012. By then he was studying architecture. “The paintings and the rock-cut architecture were a revelation. The sadhus and the monks whom I used to disparage had created them. I wanted to read religious scriptures, know more about them,” he says, adding that he began with Buddhist texts before moving on to the Upanishads.

His idea of India changed alongside, says Maldahiyar. “For the first time in my life, I was drawn to history.”

Modi’s rise coincided with this, thus drawing him to the changes happening in the country and to write the book on Modi, he adds.

About the Mughals, Maldahiyar says he wants to explore the debate on whether the dynasty “enriched” or “ravaged” India.

Among those who have come out in support of Maldahiyar is Supreme Court advocate and writer J Sai Deepak, who is known to take up issues identified as pro-Hindutva. “To accuse (Maldahiyar) of glorifying Babur couldn’t get any worse. This is the time to stand by him so that hardworking scholars like him who serve the cause of Dharma are not discouraged by people who should be supporting and encouraging them,” Deepak tweeted.

Maldahiyar, meanwhile, has started work on his next book, a profile of Humayun, Babur’s son and the second Mughal Emperor. “I don’t want to glorify the Mughals,” he repeats. “Only show them in the right light.”