Lessons for India from Poland

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Saxon Square built by authorities of Imperial Russia in Warsaw, Poland between 1894 and 1912 then under the rule of the Russian Empire.

It was demolished in mid-1920s by the Polish authorities. The negative connotations in Poland associated with Russian imperial policy towards Poland, and belief it was built purposely to hurt Polish national feelings, was cited as the major motive by the proponents of the demolition, especially since the church occupied one of Warsaw's main squares. The cathedral shared the fate of many Orthodox churches demolished after Poland regained its independence from Russia.

Adding to the political and nation-wide character to the destruction of the largest Orthodox Cathedral in interwar Poland, the Warsaw magistrate issued public bonds to "give a chance to every Pole to take part in the action." The bonds were backed by the value of the materials recovered during demolition. (Far left photo: The original cathedral;Immediate Left Photo: The ruins of the cathedral during demolishing).

Occasional attempts to save the cathedral continued even while demolition was underway. For example, in the summer of 1924 an Orthodox member of the Polish Senate, Vyacheslav Bogdanovich, gave a passionate speech in favour of preserving the cathedral.[6] However, overall such voices were few and far between. The proponents of its preservation in its original form were contemptuously called the "Cathedralists", thus implicitly accusing them of an underlying lack of patriotism.

Contrast this with the approach of India with regards to the construction of mosques by Mughal rulers, the Mughal rulers constructed these mosques on the sites of demolished Hindu temples. It is accepted that the Mughals were aggressors and destroyed thousands of Hindu temples in India in addition to forcefully converting people to Islam.

The Polish destroyed the cathedral even though they were Christians because they viewed it as a sign of imperialism and subjugation by the Russians. Whereas, in India any such act would be a blasphemy. Hats off to the Polish for their patriotism! Well Indians have a lesson to learn from the Polish. (Left Photo:Location of the leveled cathedral).

For complete information and original source refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky_Cathedral,_Warsaw