Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb in Maharashtra's Aurangabad was on Thursday, 19 May, closed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for five days.
This came after a mosque committee of the area tried locking the place, a day ago on Wednesday, officials said, as per The Indian Express.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) spokesperson Gajanan Kale, on Tuesday, had questioned the need for the existence of such a monument.
"What is the need for Aurangzeb’s grave in the land of Shivaji Maharaj? Demolish this grave, so that no separatists (like Owaisi) will come to bow on it. Even Balasaheb Thackeray had said the same, don’t you want to listen to anything of Balasaheb?" Kale said in a tweet.
'Thackeray Govt Should Listen to Balasaheb': Kale
"In an interview given to ‘Saamana’ (the mouthpiece of Shiv Sena) by Balasaheb Thackeray in 2000, he had said that Aurangzeb’s tomb should be demolished, and it should not be rebuilt ever. Is this Thackeray government going to listen to at least Balasaheb? You have already taken a U-turn on renaming (Aurangabad as) Sambhaji Nagar, the issue of loudspeakers… At least on this, Thackeray government is going to listen to Balasaheb or not? Or just keep talking about asli (real) and nakli (fake) Hindutva?" he further said.
Following this, as a precautionary measure, the Aurangabad rural police beefed up the security at the tomb's site. This irked MNS and Kale who again slammed the "anti- Hindu" Mahavikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra and asked followers of Shivaji Maharaj and Sambhaji Maharaj to impart lessons to the government.
"Demolish the grave on your own, or we know how to do it," he reportedly said, adding that providing protection at the site is like rubbing salt on the injury, and a shameful act, Balasaheb and the people of Maharashtra have already asked for the tomb to be destroyed," he said.
Kale's demand for destroying the tomb came after All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi visited the tomb on 8 May, while he was at Aurangabad as a part of foundation laying ceremony for his school, which is run for underprivileged children. He had also visited multiple other dargahs that day.
His visit to the tomb was severely criticised by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), MNS and Shiv Sena. BJP leaders had also demanded that Owaisi be booked under sedition charges.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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