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"I am not blaming a particular movie. After all, 'Chhaava' portrayed the true history of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. But people's sentiments have heightened since (the movie). The anger against Aurangzeb has also intensified. Despite all of it, it is important to maintain law and order for the progress of the state," said Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state Assembly a day after violent communal clashes in Nagpur.
The violence on Monday was followed by weeks of intensified calls for removal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb from Chhattrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
While one would agree that sentiments have been heightened, is Vicky Kaushal's movie to be blamed entirely for it?
A closer look at the series of events since the movie's release, political milking of the movie's success by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and statements by several leaders including Fadnavis himself, paint a much clearer and larger picture of why the clashes on 17 March may have been long time coming.
On 17 March, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal held demonstrations in Nagpur's Mahal area where they burnt the effigy of Aurangzeb amid chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji'. The demonstration was one among many organised by the VHP across several districts of the state on Monday with the specific demand of the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb.
After the demonstrations at 11.30 am, claims of a green chadar with religious inscriptions being burnt along with the effigy went viral on social media, leading to escalated tensions. But despite police action against the protesters, clashes erupted at three locations in Nagpur between 7-7:30 pm.
Here's a closer look at what all transpired since the movie's release in February.
The 'Chhaava' Fanaticism
'Chhaava' released on 14 February to a blockbuster opening. While the film has been lauded by critics for its filmmaking, the historical accuracies in it have been questioned by some of the seniormost historians from the state like Indrajit Sawant.
Within days of its release, social media was flooded with videos of children weeping in theatres or people chanting 'Shiv Garjana' - praise for Shivaji in Marathi, and sloganeering inside cinema halls. A man even dressed up as Sambhaji Maharaj and entered a Nagpur theatre on a horse. A man in Bharuch vandalised a multiplex screen during the climax of the film.
The film claiming to represent the 'true history' of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj fit the Hindutva right wing's 'good Hindu, bad Muslim' narrative perfectly. A Maratha ruler and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's son being tortured by a cruel Mughal oppressor was 40-minute sequence in the film.
Within days of its release, leaders of the BJP and Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance played up on the sentiments while publicly showering praise on the film.
On 19 February, Fadnavis also shared stage with actor Vicky Kaushal to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chhattrapati Shivaji at Agra Fort.
Cabinet minister and NCP leader Aditi Tatkare also organised a screening of the movie for all MLAs. NCP MLA Sangram Jagtap declared a week-long free screening of the film for women in several multiplexes in Ahilyanagar constituency.
On 22 February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too praised the film and Kaushal's performance, calling it a 'glimpse into Sambhaji's true personality'.
Promoting films that play up the Hindutva narrative is not a first for the BJP. But while doing so, many like Nitesh Rane and T Raja Singh also resorted to raking up communalsentiments in the garb of criticising Aurangzeb.
'Unfortunate We Have to Protect the Tomb': How Politicians Paved the Way for Fringes
On 3 March, Maharashtra's politics saw the first major upheaval after Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi "praised" Aurangzeb, claiming that the ruler had also built many temples and that his differences with Chhattrapati Shivaji were not on communal lines. Followed by angry reactions, several FIRs were filed against Azmi while he was also suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly.
Former Lok Sabha MP and BJP leader Navneet Rana, a regular hate speech offender, posted a video on 4 March condemning Azmi's comments.
"The man who tortured Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his tomb must be removed from Khuldabad," she said.
Two days later on 6 March, Rana's demands were backed by Udayanraje Bhosle, BJP MP from Satara and the 13th Decedent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
"He was a destroyer of our Gods, the nation, and our religion. How can such a person be revered? The man who troubled Chhatrapati Shivaji and mercilessly killed Sambhaji Maharaj, why should his tomb be in Maharashtra at all? Despite all this, some are glorifying him. His tomb is being prayed at and he is being worshipped. There is urus being offered there. This is like rubbing salt on our wounds. To stop all this, his tomb must be removed ," Bhosale said in Satara.
Bhosale and Rana's comments then received CM Fadnavis' support two days later on 8 March. Asked about Bhosale's demand, Fadnavis while addressing the media said: "We all feel the same. But some issues need to be tackled legally. Because that site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It was given ASI protection in Congress' tenure."
The demand for the removal of the tomb was also raised by Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske in the Lok Sabha on 13 March, and then backed by deputy CM and Sena chief Eknath Shinde.
It is only after the in-principle support voiced by Fadnavis and Shinde that the demands by Hindutva outfits for the removal of the tomb gained momentum.
'Will Meet Babri-Like Fate': How Fringe Outfits Have Further Fanned Tensions
Scores of Hindutva outfits including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Ekta Andolan, Patit Pavan Sanghatna, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Pratishthan began to push for the tomb's removal.
Over the past few days, the Chhattrapati Sambhaji Nagar district administration banned the entry of at least two Hindutva outfits and their leaders amid calls to destroy the tomb.
Hardcore Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, who leads the Chhattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Pratishthan and is one of the accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, was banned from entering the district from 16 March to 5 April.
The Hindu Ekta Andolan, a Sangli-based outfit led by former MLC Nitin Shinde had also given a call for a march to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on 11 March, following which the district administration banned the outfit's entry in the district for three days. Shinde and his supporters then held a rally in Sangli to demand for closure of the tomb and discontinuation of urus at the site. Speaking at the rally in the presence of some local BJP leaders, he said that "Aurangzeb's tomb must be thrown into the sea the way America threw Osama Bin Laden." Similar demonstrations were held by the Patit Pavan Sanghatna in Pune on 16 March.
However, the call for state-wide demonstrations by the VHP and Bajrang Dal on 17 March received the highest response and media attention.
On 15 March, Bajrang Dal leader Nitin Mahajan told news agency ANI: "On March 17, we will demand to the government that it should be removed. We will greet the government if they remove it, but if that does not happen, then VHP and Bajrang Dal will come out on the streets and launch a huge agitation."
"And we know what happens when the Hindu community carries out an agitation concerning its existence, we all saw what happened in Ayodhya to remove the Babri structure. If the government does not remove the grave, then we will do Karseva and do so ourselves," he added.
Govind Shende, VHP's Maharashtra and Goa regional secretary, told several media outlets that the outfit has launched demonstrations and will conduct them "step by step", with the final stage being a "march to the tomb to do karseva."
"If the government does not take appropriate steps, VHP and Bajrang Dal members will remove the tomb and throw it in the sea," he said.
Subsequently, protests by the two outfits were held at several locations in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, and Satara.
BJP's Goshamahal MLA and serial hate speech offender T Raja Singh also attended the demonstrations in Pune and supprted calls for "karseva".
"Aurangzeb's tomb in Maharashtra is like a poisonous sword. Not just Hindus of Maharashtra, but Hindus across India are asking why his tomb still exists," he said.
T Raja Singh also wrote to Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to demand for the allocation of funds for the tomb by the ASI, and sought justification for the government's continued expenditure on it.
Just hours before the violence broke out in Nagpur on 17 February, Fadnavis was addressing the inaugural event of a temple of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Thane's Bhiwandi, where he expressed "regret" for having to protect the tomb in Khuldabad.
"If anybody is to be glorified, it will be Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and not Aurangzeb or his tomb. One might ask why we need the tomb of Aurangya* in Maharashtra. But as you know, the ASI has declared it to be a protected site 50 years ago. Hence, it is the central and state government's responsibility to protect the site. We unfortunately have to protect the same Aurangya* that killed thousands of our people," Fadnavis said.
Following Monday's clashes, several leaders of VHP and Bajrang Dal, including Govind Shende, have been booked. The Nagpur police has also filed five FIRs over the violence that left 33 policemen injured.
The fanaticism over destroying Aurangzeb's grave has clearly been ongoing for weeks. On several occasions since the movie's release, anti-Muslim hate was propagated in the garb of criticism of Aurangzeb.
However, Fadnavis' in-principle support for the tomb's removal only escalated matters and emboldened the Hindutva outfits in what was seen as a tactical support from the state government.
The flames of the fire that Fadnavis was fanning eventually reached his own backyard, with calls for peace and maintaining law and order seeming too little too late.