Tharoor challenges ‘invader’ label for Indian Muslims in history debate

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has argued that India's Muslim community should not be defined through the lens of medieval conquest, calling instead for a more nuanced reading of history. Speaking at an April conference on Muslim contributions to Indian civilisation, Tharoor noted that Islam arrived on India's southern coast through Arab traders, 'as news, not sword.' He cited the Qutb Complex, Humayun's Tomb and the Taj Mahal as evidence of a civilisation in conversation with itself.

Tharoor's remarks come amid a wider political struggle over how India's past is taught and remembered. A prominent Hindutva narrative, articulated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, holds that Islam came to Bharat with invaders. While no historian denies that Muslim rulers conquered parts of the subcontinent, critics argue that characterising an entire community as descendants of invaders undermines its cultural belonging in the present.