‘Erasing History’: Rana Safvi on Akhunji Mosque Demolition in Delhi’s Mehrauli

Historian Rana Safvi talks about the Akhunji mosque demolition in Delhi & being a historian in current times.

(Photo: Chetan Bhakuni/The Quint)

Video Editor: Kriti Saxena & Nitin Bisht

"Mehrauli is the palimpsest of history. It is the first city of Delhi and it has been continually inhabited from 800 AD. Erasing that is erasing a part of the history. Not just Indian history, but the history of a particular community also," said historian Rana Safvi on the recently demolished Akhunji mosque in Delhi's Mehrauli district.

Safvi was speaking to The Quint at the 17th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival held in the pink city from 1-5 February 2024.

Read edited excerpts below.

The Akhunji mosque in Delhi's Mehrauli was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority on 31 January. This is not the first time a mosque has been demolished in recent history. Can you tell us about the historicity of the mosque and your take on the demolition?

As far as the Akhunji mosque’s demolition is concerned, there was a stay order. The (Delhi High) Court had stopped the demolition and asked them (the Delhi Development Authority) not to do it. In fact, they’ve questioned them as to why they did it. 

Mehrauli is the palimpsest of history. It is the first city of Delhi and it has been continually inhabited from 800 AD. Erasing that is erasing a part of the history. Not just Indian history, but the history of a particular community also. 

From what I’ve heard, they’ve also demolished the (Bahrul Uloom) madrasa and the cemetery. I saw someone’s interview who said that my mother’s grave has been demolished and she was buried in that cemetery.

These are all connected to the people, their history, their emotions. This is something that’s very concerning to everybody, not just to me and my community.

It should be of concern to everybody because it can happen to anybody, any community. It can happen to any mosque, any temple, where anyone who’s in power feels that they can do whatever they want. This is something that should be of concern to everyone in a democratic setup.  

How do you perceive the growing trend of changing the names of places? What kind of impact does it have on our history and culture?

Whoever has been in power, throughout (history), has always changed names. It’s a question of who wields the power and at which point of time.

For example, when Muhammad ibn Sam of Ghor conquered Delhi, he changed the name of Lal Kot, and that of Ranjit Dwar to Fatehgarh. This is not new. What happened earlier was in monarchies and autocracies, what is happening today is in a democracy.

Changing a name takes away from the history of that place. Over a period of time, maybe people will forget. But you change the history of a place. 

The larger narrative around these decisions is that of decolonisation. What is your take on that?

Decolonisation is taking control of the narrative, instead of following the colonial history. But the Mughals or pre-British rulers were not colonisers. They were rulers and were invested in the land here. It is not decolonisation to remove the names of Mughals. 

If you were removing the names of the Britishers whom we were an imperial colony of, but we were never the colony of the Mughals or the Ottoman empire.

The Mughals emperors lived and worked in India, they were invested in India. They built India. Whatever they did, they did here. They cannot be called colonisers.

What is it like to be a historian at a time when history is constantly being rewritten?

It adds to my responsibility as a historian, as a citizen, to document events that are happening, along with the past, and do that in an accessible way that reaches the maximum number of people.