Nagpur riots: Blaming 'Chhaava' shows Fadnavis is weak, says Sena (UBT)

The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday, 20 March said Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis 'blaming' the film Chhaava for the Nagpur violence was a sign of his "weak morale".

An neditorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana asked, on a sarcastic note, if the BJP-led government was planning to register cases against the film's actors, director and producers over Monday's incidents in the state's second capital.

The climax of the period film — depicting the brutal execution of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the second ruler of the Maratha state, on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb — incited emotions, it said. However, "blaming Chhaava for Nagpur riots is a sign of Devendra Fadnavis's weak morale", the editorial added.

On Tuesday, Fadnavis had stated that the film presented the true story of the Maratha king, and after watching it, people were expressing their anger about Aurangzeb, a 17th century ruler, "in a big way".

In the aftermath of the film's release, Hindu right-wing groups have been demanding that Aurangzeb's tomb in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) district be removed.

The Saamana editorial noted that the brutal execution of Sambhaji Maharaj on the Mughal emperor's orders was known history. There have been many books of history and novels on this subject, but no one until now thought of digging up Aurangzeb's tomb, it pointed out.

The Sena (UBT) mouthpiece also claimed that late RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar and freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar had written about Sambhaji Maharaj in unflattering terms. If their writings did not incite riots, why should people resort to violence after watching a film, it asked.

Rumours about a chadar with Quranic inscriptions being burned during protests led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal seeking the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb allegedly led to the violence in Nagpur on Monday, in which several police personnel were injured.

Fadnavis stated in the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday that no such chadar with holy inscriptions was found to have been burned, but the rumours incited passions.

As demands to remove the tomb of Aurangzeb grow, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has put up tin sheets on two sides of the 18th century structure.

The decision was taken by the district administration two days ago when collector Dilip Swami and superintendent of police Vinaykumar Rathod visited the tomb at Khultabad with ASI officials.

Tin sheets and wire fencing were put up on two sides of the structure on Wednesday night, a local official said. A circular fence will also be installed around the tomb, a senior district official said.

"The green net covering two sides of the tomb was in bad shape, and the structure was visible to those visiting the nearby Khwaja Syed Zainuddin Chishti grave. So we have installed tin sheets," he told PTI.