A key RSS leader on Wednesday said Aurangzeb was “not relevant” today as he condemned the clashes in Nagpur following a demonstration by Hindutva groups demanding the demolition of the Mughal emperor’s tombin Maharashtra.
“Any type of violence is not good for the society and I think police have taken cognisance of it and so they will get into the details,” RSS chief spokesperson Sunil Ambekar said at a media interaction in Bengaluru.
Replying to a journalist’s question on whether Aurangzeb was relevant today and whether his tomb should be removed, Ambekar said: “I think, not relevant.” He parried the question about the tomb’s removal.
The RSS headquarters is located in Nagpur.
Ambekar was addressing the media ahead of the RSS’s three-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Bengaluru from March 21. Delegates from all the Sangh-affiliated organisations, including the BJP, participate in the annual meeting to take stock of their work and decide on the future course.
A communal flare-up gripped parts of Nagpur on Monday after Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal cadres led demonstrations across Maharashtra demanding the demolition of Aurangzeb’s tomb — a centrally protected monument at Khuldabad in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
The riot broke out over rumours of an act of sacrilege during the anti-Aurangzeb protests.
On Wednesday, the police claimed the mastermind of the violence, Fahim Shamim Khan, a leader of the Minorities Democratic Party, had been arrested.
The controversy around the Mughal emperor’s tomb started brewing after the release of the film Chhaava, which showcases the history of Maratha king Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and how he was executed by Aurangzeb.
Though Ambekar tried to steer clear of the controversy by skipping the question on the demand for the demolition of the tomb, the fact remains that the agitations were led by the VHP, a Sangh affiliate.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, an RSS favourite, has backed the demand for the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb and claimed that the violence in Nagpur was “pre-planned”.
Taking a cue from Fadnavis’s comments, VHP chief Alok Kumar claimed that their protest was peaceful. “Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the violence was planned.... Petrol bombs cannot be obtained immediately, they were prepared in advance. It did not happen due to any provocation. Our protest was peaceful,” Kumar said.
Hindutva and RSS affiliates have maintained their strident positions despite messages of harmony from the Sangh. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had last year disapproved of efforts by Hindutva groups to “look for Shivlings under every mosque” and followed it up with a message of harmony, appearing critical of the post-Ayodhya mosque-temple controversies.
Bhagwat’s message, however, met with disapproval not only from Hindutva groups but also from Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who belligerently identified Sanatan Dharma as the “national religion” and justified the drive against a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal. This created a widespread perception that the RSS’s liberal positioning was only for optics.