A visit to Vidisha and interaction with the man in the street, would reflect that there is a lingering, although suppressed, but bitter resentment ag… - Praful Goradia

Lest the author sound antagonistic towards either Bangladesh or Pakistan, let him begin with the destruction that has taken place in the Kashmir Valley since 1990. He is quoting from a book called Kashmir: Wail of a Valley by R .N. Kaul, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.46 Amongst the prominent temples to be set on fire was the Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar. It is the mandir from where the annual summer pilgrimage to Amamath begins. Ganpatyar temple has been attacked again and again including by bombs. It has a lso been subjected to two separate rocket attacks. The Shiva temple at Jawahir Nagar, a well known locality of Srinagar, was yet another object of attack. At Anantnag, the targets of violence were the Raghunath as well as the Gautam Nag mandirs and the triple temple ofLok Bhawan. The Wanpoh mandir which had been almost completely demolished in 1986, was again desecrated on 21st February, 19~2. The Mattan mandir was instantly converted into a Muslim shrine by namaz, being said. In all, some 70 Hindu places of worship have been desecrated.

The Adina or Friday mosque is situated on National Highway No. 34 between Raiganj in West Dinajpur district of West Bengal and Maida. At first glimpse, the dual colour of the edifice walls strikes the visitor. The first ten feet immediately above the ground are grey in colour because of stone tiles. The upper 12 feet comprise of red brick work. Evidently, the current mosque was superimposed on an earlier building.

The new temple was built at the behest of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar long after Aurangzeb's desecration . As already explained by Sherring, all the temples built during the Mohammaden rule in Benares had to be diminutive in size. It transpires that the demolition of temples was not inspired merely by a hatred for idolatory or by greed for loot. It was also driven by a desire to humiliate the Hindus. Or, else, how does one explain that the masjid built by Aurangzeb had to be bang next to the Gyan Vapi or the well of knowledge.