History is always written by the victor

The Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984 The story began in 1972 when the Congress Party won the Punjab assembly elections and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was defeated. The Congress was in power at the center, as well, with Indira Gandhi leading the government. The SAD had put forward some political demands in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution which sought to make Punjab more autonomous and only leave matters like defense with the center. Punjab had lost 2 of the 5 rivers it is named after to the Partition and had to share the rest 3 with Haryana and Rajasthan; Punjab wanted a bigger share of the water. Moreover, they demanded the city of Chandigarh be returned which was being shared with Haryana.  Congress dismissed these demands citing that other states need to give permission to them, too. Twice had the Indira government made a decision but those were not accepted by the SAD. To make a singlehanded decision again which would not resolve the issue would simply have been unwise. Meanwhile, in Pu...

Mongol leader Genghis Khan (1162-1227) rose from the ashes of the previous generation to establish the largest interconnected empire in history. After uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau, he was the only one able to successfully conquer major chunks of central Asia and China. His descendants further expanded the empire, advancing to far-off places as Poland, Vietnam, Syria, and Korea. At the peak of their legacy, the Mongols were able to easily control 12 million contiguous square miles, an area around the size of Africa. He was able to grant religious freedom to his subjects, abolish torture, encourage imports and exports, and also created the first international postal system. Genghis Khan made the impossible possible by conquering more than twice as much land as any other person in history, bringing Eastern and Western civilizations into contact in the process. Did you know?  Mongol leader Genghis Khan never allowed anyone to paint his portrait, sculpt his image,...