'Show evidence or accept that you spread misinformation about Bhopal and its history'

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: Lyricist Manoj Muntashir has been asked to come up with facts and historical evidences to corroborate his 'claims' made during a controversial speech about Bhopal and the the city's history.

Muntashir has been told that his speech at the Motilal Nehru Stadium in Bhopal earlier this month, was full of errors and was not fact based, rather, it had wrong claims that have nothing to do with actual history.

"'Your speech on the day shows your lack of knowledge about Bhopal. You demanded that the name of the city be changed and even though Raja Bhoj's era was around 1000 to 1050 AD, fact is that the city of Bhopal that exists today, its foundation was laid in 1723 AD", says the notice served to him.

Senior advocate Shahnawaz Khan, on behalf of Bhopal History Forum states that, he (Muntashir), "..didn't even mention or cite references about history over a period of centuries or sources and texts. You must know that Rani Kamlapati was helped by Dost Mohammad Khan, the first Nawab, who treated her like a sister"

"The terms used for the first and last Nawab of Bhopal are inappropriate and highly objectionable. You claimed that Bhopal gained independence as late as 1949, which is wrong. The fact is that Bhopal had become part of India and the tricolour was unfurled on August 15, 1947. In fact, Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan had already signed the Instrument of Accession and on the standstill agreement.

"You have made several claims but they are not facts and have nothing to do with history. You must get authentic information about the biggest sacrifice during independence struggle in Sehore. It was led by Wali Shah, Mahavir Koth, Ramju Lal and Arif Shah along with more than 356 other sepoys".

"Lot of wrong information was given by you. It seems that you have been fed lies and factually incorrect stories, not historical facts. On behalf of Bhopal History Forum we ask you to provide source of the claims that you made and also corroborate your claims that you made on June 1, 2023. If you are unable to provide historical evidence, you should publicly state that you had given wrong and inaccurate information, a notice sent in this regard says.