{"id":2467,"date":"2013-07-02T22:17:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/?p=2467"},"modified":"2013-07-02T22:20:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T16:50:37","slug":"biker-gangs-of-delhi-a-page-out-of-islamic-history-priyadarshi-dutta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/?p=2467","title":{"rendered":"Biker gangs of Delhi: A page out of Islamic history – Priyadarshi Dutta"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"biker<\/a><\/h1>\n

http:\/\/www.niticentral.com\/2013\/07\/02\/biker-gangs-of-delhi-a-page-out-of-islamic-history-98273.html<\/a><\/h1>\n

Biker gangs of Delhi: A page out of Islamic history<\/h1>\n

Priyadarshi Dutta<\/b> on<\/b> July 2, 2013<\/p>\n

A 2000-strong all-Muslim bikers\u2019 gang recently traumatised the national capital.\u00a0 Their road rage terrified the night traffic in New Delhi. Traffic Police was\u00a0 found napping. Some policemen were wounded and the rest remained bystanders.\u00a0 Even last year, these skull-capped bikers had besieged the Indian Gate circle,\u00a0 performing dangerous stunts. Yet no preparations seemed to be in place. Taj\u00a0 Hassan, Special Commissioner (Traffic), Delhi Police could not be faulted if he\u00a0 were himself busy in Shab-e-Barat<\/i> festivities!<\/span><\/p>\n

Why has the road rage become an integral part of \u2018Night of Benediction\u2019? In\u00a0 2007, it had taken a perilous turn in Agra. Several trucks were burnt down after\u00a0 four bike riders were mowed down. Curfew had to be imposed in the old Mughal\u00a0 capital. Whether it is the city of Taj or of Taj Hassan, the bikers\u2019 daredevilry\u00a0 is no one-night wonder. They seem to be inspired by the methods of medieval\u00a0 Islamic conqueror. Our hallowed security & intelligence analysts might find\u00a0 the episode trivial. They are accustomed to thinking in sub-continental\u00a0 perspective. Many are not conversant with Islamic history. However, the Ulema\u00a0 always takes it lessons of Islamic history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cavalry powered Islamic conquests<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Understand it like this. How did the Muslim invaders rapidly overrun India in\u00a0 the medieval age? It was due the cavalry or the horse-mounted force with its\u00a0 wild advantage of speed. Cavalry warfare was not unknown in classical India. But\u00a0 it was relatively unimportant even as monarchs up to Rana Sanga fought on\u00a0 elephant\u2019s back. India was deficient in equestrian resources. The quality and\u00a0 quantity of indigenous horses were unsatisfactory.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moreover, Hindus had no knowledge of stirrup for horse riding. The stirrup,\u00a0 comparable to internal combustion machine in a vehicle, was devised in central\u00a0 Asia. It turned horses into formidable war machines. The Turks, Pathans and\u00a0 Mughals were adept in its use. They also controlled the equestrian resources \u2014\u00a0 fine quality Arabic and Turkish horses. The deadly potential of cavalry warfare\u00a0 was unleashed in India by the central Asian Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

The horses were intrinsic to the power structure under Muslim dynasties. The\u00a0 power pyramid of Mughal Empire was built on the horses. The rank and pay of\u00a0 commanders was consummate with the number of horses they commanded. Francois\u00a0 Bernier found Omrahs<\/i> \u2013 or power elites \u2014 holding titles like\u00a0 hazary, douhazary, dehhazary<\/i> which meant master of one thousand horses,\u00a0 two thousand horses and ten thousand horses respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maratha cavalry eclipsed the Mughals<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the 18th century, the Marathas ate up Mughal territories. This was\u00a0 made possible by a decisive shift in favour of cavalry and artillery in the\u00a0 Maratha army. The infantry had been the prime wing of the Shivaji\u2019s army. But\u00a0 under Peshwa Baji Rao-I, an excellent cavalry general, the composition of the\u00a0 army changed. Cavalry powered Maratha expansion from \u2018Attock to Cuttack\u2019. Even\u00a0 in post-Panipat war period the Maratha horsemen under Mahadji Sindhia strafed\u00a0 through Rohilkhand. The Rohila Pathans were punished for cooperating with Ahmed\u00a0 Shah Abdali\u2019s army.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Sikhs also distinguished themselves as storm troopers on horseback.\u00a0 Post-Aurangzeb the bankrupt Mughal Empire was going to seeds. Cavalry bore its\u00a0 burnt, as maintaining horses was an expensive proposition. A Mughal recruit was\u00a0 afraid more of losing his horse than his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The great age of cavalry warfare came to an end in third Anglo-Maratha war in\u00a0 1818. The British, in that war, crushed the Pindaris, the plunderers patronised\u00a0 by the Marathas.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dark age of cavalry<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This great age of horses was actually a dark age. Horses were commanded by\u00a0 ruling elite and military. It deprived the civilian of speed and freedom thus\u00a0 stunting the public life. It was the British who brought the advantage of speed\u00a0 and freedom to the civilians in form of the railways. Public life could thus\u00a0 crystallise in India in second half of the 19th century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Islam\u2019s modern horsepower<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The biking Muslims are taking a leaf out of the medieval cavalry\u2019s book. Our\u00a0 strategic and intelligence experts may think otherwise. But the Ulema always\u00a0 take a look into precedents of Islamic history. The biker brigade is a\u00a0 modern-day cavalry, in urban perspective in peace time. Though they carry no\u00a0 weapon, their object is to terrify the non-Muslim population. They want to\u00a0 frighten the non-believers into submission. Islam\u2019s sheaf is younger, given the\u00a0 higher rate of population growth amongst Muslim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biking rage is also a part of the \u2018training\u2019. Islam seems to be readying\u00a0 itself for ultimate civil confrontation in India. In Kerala, the Popular Front\u00a0 had instituted such biking programmes. Muslim biker gangs operate on the\u00a0 outskirts of Kolkata. A few years ago Sydney, Australia was rocked by Muslim\u00a0 biker gangs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Muslims reading incomplete history<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

While it is true that Turks and Mughals could overrun India due to superior\u00a0 cavalry, the tables were turned upon them by the Marathas and the Sikhs. If\u00a0 Muslim youth have bikes, Hindus have more of them. It is another thing that they\u00a0 do not indulge in monstrous biking culture. But if they decide to wheel it out,\u00a0 it would not exactly be a happy situation for Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

— PRIYADARSHI DUTTA New Delhi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.niticentral.com\/2013\/07\/02\/biker-gangs-of-delhi-a-page-out-of-islamic-history-98273.html Biker gangs of Delhi: A page out of Islamic history Priyadarshi Dutta on July… more »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2470,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions\/2470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patriotsforumindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}