Aurangzeb, a polarisation gimmick

Police personnel prepare iftar at Aurangzeb’s tomb in Maharashtra’s Khultabad.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Maharashtra has been embroiled in a controversy over the tomb of Aurangzeb, the 17th century Mughal ruler who was laid to rest in Khuldabad in Sambhajinagar district. The recent violence in Nagpur, the constituency of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and also of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, claimed one life and left dozens injured, including police personnel. Though the Nagpur Police Commissioner said that only a 800-metre stretch was affected by the violence, one third of the city continued to remain under strict curfew for days. The riots took place just a few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur.

After people on social media dared the Maharashtra government to use ‘bulldozer justice’ against the accused — in an oblique reference to a northern State under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule — the State government on Monday razed parts of the illegal houses of two of the key accused in the Nagpur violence case. The Bombay High Court was quick to stay the demolition drive by the Nagpur civic authority and rap it for its “high-handedness”.

The build-up to the violence in Nagpur was evident. It all began days after the State Cabinet went together to watch Chhaava, a movie that is allegedly based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, son of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The movie shows how Aurangzeb tortured and killed Sambhaji Maharaj. A few days later, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi stoked controversy when he said that Aurangzeb was not a “cruel leader” and was in fact a “good administrator”. Mr. Azmi received an immediate backlash for his comments. After a case was registered against him and he was suspended from the Budget session of the State Assembly, Mr. Azmi issued an unconditional apology. However, the controversy refused to die down.

Right-wing organisations protested in several parts of the State, demanding that Aurangzeb’s tomb be destroyed. The district administration of Sambhajinagar had to issue prohibitory orders against Milind Ekbote, president of the Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maharaj Pratishthan, an organisation which pays homage to the warrior-king annually, as he threatened to destroy the tomb. Shivaji Maharaj’s descendant and BJP leader Udayanraje Bhosale also called for the destruction of Aurangzeb’s tomb. Mr. Fadnavis unequivocally supported this saying, “Everyone wants the same thing. But it has to be done under the purview of law” as the site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Over the last few years, social tensions and controversy around Aurangzeb have only increased. In 2023, there were problems in Kolhapur and Beed. In 2022, there was a controversy after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi visited the tomb. The issue has in fact become a part of the mainstream political discourse. Several Muslim leaders say the community does not consider Aurangzeb as an ideal leader. “I don’t have a single name in my phone book which reads ‘Aurangzeb’,” a leader once told me. The State machinery though is raising an alarm, claiming that an increasing number of young Muslims are keeping Aurangzeb’s image on their social media accounts. The fact that the government feels alarmed by a few social media statuses and not by the law-and-order incidents in the State is worrying.

This is just one controversy out of many that have captured public imagination in Maharashtra recently. Just over the last month or so, providing Malhar certification for Jhatka meat to ensure adherence to Hindu traditions and empower Hindu community vendors, and sloganeering and unlawful assembly during the annual Shimga procession in the coastal areas of the State, point to a dangerous trend of fomenting social tensions within communities over irrelevant issues, which pose a law-and-order problem and even threaten the social fabric of the State. At a time when Maharashtra faces many serious issues, including inflation, unemployment, and farmers’ suicides, these seem to be diversionary tactics. They are dangerous and quick polarisation gimmicks, which have gone unchecked. Now, a medieval Mughal ruler, who the RSS itself terms “irrelevant”, has gained significance in the eyes of the State government. The signs of deterioration of governance are clear.