Members of a Hindutva group blackened the mural of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, at the Ghaziabad railway station on Friday, mistaking it to be of the sixth Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb, reported The Times of India.
Shouting “Aurangzeb murdabad”, or down with Aurangzeb, members of the Hindu Raksha Dal sprayed black paint over the 16-feet-tall mural of Bahadur Shah Zafar. The incident reportedly disrupted several passengers.
“Before we could realise what was happening, they climbed atop each other and started smearing the portrait with colour,” an unidentified station official was quoted as saying by The Times of India. “We tried to convince them, but they thought they were right.”
The official added that the members also wrote “HRD” on the mural and shouted “Hindu Raksha Dal Zindabad”, or long live Hindu Raksha Dal.
A case against unknown persons was registered under the Railways Act sections pertaining to unlawful entry upon or into any part of a railway (147) and defacing (166).
The mural of Bahadur Shah Zafar was painted by the non-profit organisation by CS Disha Foundation in 2016. They had also painted the portraits of Tatya Tope, Mangal Pandey and Rani Laxmi Bai, among other historical figures.
“The painting in question is certainly not of Aurangzeb, but of Bahadur Shah Zafar,” Udita Tyagi of CS Disha Foundation, who supervised the art project, told The Times of India. “Historically, Aurangzeb is not even distantly related to the First War of Independence, but Bahadur Shah Zafar definitely is.”
Aurangzeb has become the subject of a controversy in recent weeks, following demands by Hindutva groups, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, to remove his tomb from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, formerly known as Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal are part of a group of Hindutva organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The groups claim that Aurangzeb’s tomb is a “symbol of pain and slavery”.
On March 17, violence broke out in Nagpur hours after Hindutva groups held a protest demanding the tomb’s removal.
After the violence, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the Hindi film Chhaava sparked anger against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Chhaava, directed by Laxman Utekar, stars Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna and Rashmika Mandanna. The film is based on the life of Sambhaji, who is the son of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, and depicts his capture and execution by Aurangzeb’s forces.
On March 31, Uttarakhand announced that it was renaming Aurangzebpur in Haridwar district to Shivaji Nagar. This was among names of 17 places in four districts being changed “in accordance with public sentiment and Indian culture and heritage”.
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