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Hoardings showing former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar ‘hugging’ Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sprung up in Mumbai’s Mahim area on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The message in Marathi on the hoarding can be loosely translated into: “Prakash Ambedkar is dancing to Aurangzeb’s tune and Uddhav Thackeray is backing it.” Mumbai police said that the posters, with hashtag ‘Uddhav Thackeray for Aurangzeb’, were put up at night and there is not information yet on who put them up.
“It has been removed now. No complaint received so far. Police will register an FIR against unknown people if law and order is disturbed,” an officer said.
Why Picture of Aurangzeb Was Put Up with Uddhav & Ambedkar
The posters came up after Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar, sparked a controversy by visiting Aurangzeb’s tomb in Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) and offered floral tributes to the Mughal emperor.
His visit came days after the communal tensions in Ahmednagar, and especially Kolhapur, that saw violence after some Muslim college students posted WhatsApp statuses and audio messages on Aurangzeb, triggering Hindu outfits.
ALSO READ | 3 Months, 8 Cities: Rise in Violence, Communal Tensions in Maharashtra Spur Political War of Words
After his visit raised a few eyebrows, Ambedkar said, “What was wrong in visiting Aurangzeb’s tomb? He was a Mughal emperor who ruled here for nearly 50 years. Can we wipe out history? Instead of abusing Aurangzeb, we should reflect on why he ruled here. What were the reasons… We should be mindful of our past. Instead of spreading hatred, let us reconcile ourselves to historical facts.”
The statement gave further ammunition to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, with BJP leader and deputy chief Devendra Fadnavis targeting Ambedkar’s ally, Uddhav Thackeray.
“Uddhav Thackeray is in alliance with Balasaheb Ambedkar. The latter goes to Sambhajinagar and throws flowers on Aurangzeb’s tomb. I want to ask Mr. Thackeray whether this glorification of Aurangzeb is acceptable to Maharashtra and the country?” he said.
Fadnavis added that after being in alliance with the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party for so long, Thackeray had completely forsaken his Hindutva and anything his allies did was now acceptable to him.
ALSO READ | How Shiv Sena Deviated from Bal Thackeray’s Hardcore Hindutva Agenda and Paid a Heavy Price
In a move that offended the opposers further, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav took a veiled jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party. He said that even stalwart BJP leader L K Advani had bowed before the tomb of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to Pakistan to eat cake on occasion of then-Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s birthday.
“When we used to be allies, (alluding to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance of 25 years) L K Advani had bowed before Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s tomb (during his Pakistan visit in 2005) and PM Modi had gone to Pakistan to eat cake on the occasion of then-PM Nawaz Sharif’s birthday (in 2015)… There are some who want that people should remain stuck in history. They want to stoke riots in Aurangzeb’s name and run their business,” Thackeray said, downplaying the controversy over ally Prakash Ambedkar’s visiting Aurangzeb’s tomb.
Why Aurangzeb’s Name Often Crops Up in Political Debates in Maharashtra?
Of the 49 years when Aurangzeb ruled the Indian subcontinent, he spent the last 25 years of his life in areas which now constitute the state of Maharashtra. A report in Indian Express stated that the stay the state was part of his failed and expensive foray into the Deccan. The emperor’s advance was stopped essentially by the Marathas, particularly Shivaji.
In Maharashtra’s politics, where Chhatrapati Shivaji occupies a revered space, he and Aurangzeb thus represent two extreme poles, with their conflict finding a mention in prominent writings, the report stated.
The IE report further mentioned that ff social reformer Jyotiba Phule criticised Aurangzeb in his ballad written in praise of Shivaji, Hindutva hero Vinayak Damodar Savarkar referred to the Mughal as “a veritable demon in human form, (who) vowed to root out the whole Hindu world” in his book The Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History.
The report explained that despite the history, still did not find much resonance in Maharashtra’s polity till right-wing organisations started painting him as the villain in their Hindu cultural renewal project. It stated that the outfit which rode the wave of religious and nativist chauvinism was the Shiv Sena.
Adding to this was the politics taking an anti-Muslim turn, when the Shiv Sena started openly calling Indian Muslims descendants of Aurangzeb. In seeking to denigrate Aurangzeb, the Sena even tended to refer to him as the colloquial “Aurangya”, the IE report stated.
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