To lay new corpses, old dead bodies were dug up, that too in the name of Aurangzeb: Sanjay Raut

Raising the issue of Aurangzeb’s tomb in Rajya Sabha on Friday, Shiv Sena (UBT) member Sanjay Raut said that after Manipur, now Maharashtra is burning and riots are taking place in Nagpur. The Shiv Sena member accused the Home Ministry of turning the country into a police state in the last few years. Participating in the discussion in the Upper House on the functioning of the Home Ministry, Raut targeted the government and alleged that the forces trying to destabilize the country are repeatedly taking the name of Aurangzeb. He said that some of such people are ministers in the Maharashtra government and some are sitting on senior posts in the central government. Referring to the tomb of the Mughal emperor, Raut alleged, “Raut has dug up the tomb to lay new corpses and that too in the name of Aurangzeb. If you want to break Aurangzeb’s tomb, who has stopped you.” He stressed that there is a BJP government in the state and the Center. He said that till now Manipur was burning, but now Maharashtra is also burning. Raut referred to the “riots” in the constituency of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. “In the last 300 years there has been no riot in Nagpur. This has been the record of Nagpur,” he said. “If the forces that are trying to destabilise the country repeatedly by taking the name of Aurangzeb, some of them are ministers in the Maharashtra government and hold senior positions in the central government…if we do not stop them, this country will not remain united and integrated,” he said. He said that it is the job of the Home Ministry to maintain the unity and integrity of the country, but in the last few years the country has been turned into a ‘police state’ and the Home Ministry is weakening political opponents and breaking political parties. Massive incidents of stone pelting and arson took place in many parts of Nagpur on Monday evening after rumours of burning of chaadar with holy verses written on it during a protest led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanding removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. 33 police personnel, including three Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) rank officers, were injured during the violence in Nagpur on Monday. A Nagpur court has sent 17 accused in the case to police custody till March 22. Police have booked the prime accused in the violence, Faheem Khan, and five others for sedition and spreading misinformation on social media.