Aurangzeb: A ‘grave’ issue snowballing into a long-time divisive problem

Two years ago, a lane in New Delhi named after the Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb was changed to Abdul Kalam Lane. It commemorated the late president but did not erase Aurangzeb from the collective memory of the country though that was the intent. Now, efforts are on to further erase it by asking for the destruction of Aurangzeb’s grave in Maharashtra’s Khuldabad.

This demand, at least not to protect the grave, is not new. The outrage at the presence of the grave suddenly burst out after the portrayal of how Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji was cruelly killed by dismembering him on the Mughal ruler’s orders in Chava, a movie. Its graphic nature has stirred strong emotions.

We need to understand why the call for the razing has a strong chord. Every Maharashtrian, especially those who are Marathi speakers to whom the language is an identity, swears by Shivaji and his successors because they established the Hindavi Swarajya. Then there is the Right Wing which sees everything in a Hindu versus Muslim binary. Here both substantially overlap.

If, however, Aurangzeb’s memory is erased by deliberately anything associated with him, history would not be completely understood because Shivaji and Sambhaji had taken him on in a manner that kept Aurangzeb tied down to the Deccan, far away from Delhi, for close to three decades. Future generations would find it hard to guess who the great Maratha empire builders fought to build the largest-ever empire in India.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has confessed that because the grave was protected by the Archeological Survey of India, he has the unenviable task of keeping it safe. That is a stand a person holding a constitutional post would necessarily take. But the undertone was clear – that if it were not protected by ASI as a monument of national importance, the story would have been different.

Was that a dog whistle, never mind the later calls to keep peace?

The VHP has announced that it would demonstrate outside all district collectorates demanding the grave’s removal. In a wider theatre of arguments, the very presence of the grave in Maharashtra is seen as rubbing the salt into the wound. Aurangzeb only rouses strong passions not because he fought the Marathas but because he inflicted unspeakable torture on Sambhaji.

The grave, simple by Mughal standards, is some 30 km away from Sambhaji Nagar, which earlier was Aurangabad. This renaming of the city which is the tourists’ base from which one travels to Ajanta and Ellora was a purpose to remove any vestiges of the Mughal ruler from public memory. Eyebrows are raised if anyone calls that urban spot ‘Aurangabad’ even by mistake or due to any old habit.

A demonstration by anti-gravers in Nagpur on Monday evening turned communal as per official versions cautiously reported in the media. A report on the NDTV website, while reporting on the curfew notice said, “The burning of (a) green cloth triggered rumours as many claim sacred verses were written on it, leading to tension in the area. Last evening, about 80 to 100 people from a certain community turned violent.

The first person to raise the issue of Maharashtra’s ignominy of hosting the grave within its borders is Udayanraje Bhosle, the 13th descendant of the builder of the Maratha empire. He is an MP. Others have chipped in, especially after it was raised in the Maharashtra State Assembly. The controversy took a turn when a Samajwadi MP, Abu Azmi praised Aurangzeb for being a good administrator and that Aurangzeb was not cruel.

Narratives known only point out how cruel the sixth Mughal emperor was. Chaava the movie not only underscored it but brought to life the real nature of that cruelty. Abu Azmi, who stands suspended from the entire budget session of the Assembly for saying what he has done was not going to be believed. His stand was seen as a glorification of Aurangzeb, which Fadnavis insists will not be tolerated.