NAGPUR/BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said attackers of police during Nagpur violence will be “dug out from their graves,” even as the RSS condemned the violence and described the 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb as “irrelevant.”
Police arrested Fahim Khan, Minority Democratic Party candidate for Lok Sabha polls from Nagpur last year, for allegedly leading a protest outside a Nagpur police station on Monday after VHP workers staged an agitation for the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb, which triggered the violence.
Police also released a video of Khan, purportedly delivering an inflammatory speech.
Police have so far arrested 54 people in connection with the Nagpur violence, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Yogesh Kadam said, stressing that attacks on police personnel will be dealt with strictly.
Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) said the Centre should remove the protected monument tag of Aurangzeb’s tomb, located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, to prevent riots and to cool down the heads of fanatics in the state.
Speaking in the state assembly following outrage over rioters allegedly touching a woman constable inappropriately and trying to disrobe her during the violence, Fadnavis said the mob hurled stones and petrol bombs, injuring 33 police personnel, including three DCP-rank officers.
“Those who attacked police during the arson in Nagpur will be dug out from their graves. Attacks on police are unpardonable. They will get the strictest punishment. We won’t spare them,” Fadnavis said, while replying to a debate on the budgetary demands of the Home department headed by him.
Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur, said the situation in the city is calm now. Nagpur is known for peace and communal harmony, he added.
“No riot occurred in the city after 1992. The violence was planned by some people. Only a replica of Aurangzeb’s grave was burnt (during the VHP’s protest). We have verified that no ayat (verses from the Quran) were burnt. But rumours were spread deliberately,” he said.
RSS chief spokesperson Sunil Ambekar told reporters in Bengaluru that any form of violence is detrimental to the society’s well-being. He described Aurangzeb as “irrelevant”.
“Any type of violence is not good for the health of the society, and I think police have taken cognisance of it, and so they will get into the details,” Ambekar said.
To a question on whether Aurangzeb, who died 300 years ago, was relevant today and if his tomb should be removed, Ambedkar said, “I think (he is) not relevant.”
Violence erupted in central Nagpur on Monday, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that the holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation by a right-wing body demanding the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb.
In an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) said that since the release of the “Chhaava” movie, the RSS, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the “neo-Hindutvavadis” of the BJP have been raising the heat over Aurangzeb’s tomb and disturbing the atmosphere in the state.
“There is no need to create a scene over Aurangzeb’s tomb. He (Aurangzeb) is in his grave, and he is not going to come out of it,” the editorial said.
It further said the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) is currently giving protection to Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly known as Aurangabad) since it is an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protected monument.
“The Centre should withdraw the protection and also the tag of a protected monument site given to the tomb so that the land will be freed and there will be no scope for further escalation of tension,” it said.
Khan’s name is mentioned in one of six FIRs registered so far along with 50 others in connection with the violent clashes that left several police personnel injured, police said.
A group of 50 to 60 people led by Khan had unlawfully gathered outside Ganeshpeth police station on Monday and submitted a memorandum against Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s protest to the police, the FIR stated.
Asked if Khan was the mastermind, Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singal said investigations are underway to identify attackers and the role of the persons named in the FIR.
Opposition parties on Wednesday questioned the Maharashtra government over the law and order situation in the state and said it could not prevent the violence in Nagpur due to its intelligence failure.
Speaking in the legislative assembly, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar said Nagpur is the home turf of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“Who lit the fire there? … If the violence was pre-planned, what happened was due to the intelligence failure. Police were nowhere to be seen for one-and-a-half hours after the violence broke out,” he alleged.
Speaking on budgetary demands of the home department, Wadettiwar wondered why no action was being taken against a state minister despite his provocative statements.
“Why is he not asked to resign?’ the Congress leader sought to know.
Earlier, BJP MLA Pravin Datke, who represents the Nagpur Central assembly constituency, said through a point of information in the House that women constables were molested during the violence.
