‘Raze Aurangzeb’s tomb, but do call Nitish, Naidu [for it]’: Uddhav Thackeray

Slamming the BJP for raking up a “400-year-old issue”, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, 18 March, caustically said the government should raze Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb in Maharashtra’s Khultabad.

Thackeray was speaking to reporters in Vidhan Bhawan premises, a day after protests against Aurangzeb's tomb triggered violence in Nagpur, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ home town.

“Raze Aurangzeb’s tomb immediately, but do call Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu when that happens,” Thackeray said sarcastically.

He slammed the BJP-led government for raking up a "400-year-old" issue.

Observers said the reference to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Naidu and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar — both key BJP allies — was a reference to the importance of Muslim votes for Naidu’s TDP and Nitish’s JDU in the elections in their states.

“If the BJP has any issue with green colour, it should remove the green colour from its flag,” Thackeray said.

“You tried to malign our party’s saffron flag and then try to teach us Hindutva,” he mocked.

Thackeray added that Aurangzeb was born in Gujarat and was vanquished and died in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray said that the BJP is "shameless", given the violence took place in the hometown of CM Fadnavis.

"Sadly, when the BJP cannot govern, they resort to violence, riots — and this is their set formula in every state. They are trying to dig up the history of someone who lived 300-400 years ago, but they cannot speak about the future. They cannot speak about the present,” he said.

Aditya Thackeray accused the BJP of orchestrating the tomb controversy to distract from the state government's failures.

He claimed the BJP was trying to "make a Manipur of Maharashtra".

Edited PTI inputs