MIT expelled Prahlad Iyengar, a student of Indian heritage, for supporting a banned radical group in Palestine, sparking debates about ideological betrayal and historical amnesia. The article critiques how descendants of oppressed communities often align with ideologies that once subjugated their ancestors.
When you hear the word injustice, what comes to mind? Is it the discrimination by upper-caste Hindus against their own brethren? The unimaginable suffering of Jews under Hitler’s regime? Or the brutal persecution of non-Muslims at the hands of Islamic invaders? Surely, such instances of historical injustice flash across your mind.
Every society is tasked with documenting its crises. It passes these narratives to the next generation, not merely as tales of suffering but as warnings to prevent such tragedies from recurring. This process of remembrance is essential, at least ideally.
Take, for instance, the Mandyam Iyengars. They refuse to celebrate Diwali, a stark reminder of the atrocity committed by Tipu Sultan of Mysore. He crushed their ancestors under the feet of elephants at the Narasimha Temple. This pain has become intergenerational, surviving even among the Iyengars who migrated to the distant shores of America. One such family named their son, born in 2000, “Prahlad,” perhaps in memory of resilience and justice.
But history has a cruel sense of irony.
This Prahlad Iyengar grew up to be an extraordinary scholar, studying at none other than MIT, the world’s leading institution of science and innovation. Yet, his brilliance became tainted by a troubling choice. Recently, Prahlad authored an article urging support for a radical Islamic terrorist group operating in Palestine—a group banned by the very nation that nurtured his academic growth.
The result? MIT expelled him and suspended his admission for six years.
Prahlad defended his stance, claiming it was a fight for justice. He vowed to use his intellect, influence, and platform to champion this cause. Yet, he seemed oblivious to his own ancestral truth. His intellectual might was not spent in recounting the atrocities suffered by the Iyengars at the hands of Tipu Sultan. Instead, he aligned himself with a modern iteration of the very ideology that once crushed his forebears.
Think about it: how many such Prahlads exist today? Individuals who actively promote the ideologies that once subjugated their ancestors? The same ideologies that demanded jizya (a tax imposed on non muslims by oppressive muslim sultanates ), desecrated temples, and extinguished countless lives in their quest for dominion.
Yet today, these misguided descendants side with the violent oppressors of their heritage, offering intellectual and moral cover to those who stand against freedom and self-respect. Such a non-devotee Prahlad has turned into an ally of a modern Hiranyakashipu.
This is the bitter fruit of a long-planted seed—the failure of our society to properly document, preserve, and transmit the memory of our suffering. While leftist media romanticizes the invaders and glorifies their ideology, we sit as silent spectators, watching our own legacy be distorted, forgotten, or outright abandoned.
The real injustice, then, is not just in what was done to our ancestors, but in how their sacrifices are ignored today. When justice becomes selective, when intellectuals like Prahlad choose to fight for causes that betray their lineage, it is not just a personal failing but a collective tragedy.
The question now is: will we continue to let Hiranyakashipu reign, or will we awaken the true spirit of Prahlad within us? The answer will determine whether justice prevails—or becomes a mere word to be manipulated.
Article by : Pratham Uvach
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