Indian city faces curfew as Hindu groups target Muslim emperor’s tomb
An indefinite curfew was declared in Nagpur in the western Indian state of Maharashtra after clashes erupted over demands by Hindu groups to demolish the tomb of a 17th-century Mughal ruler.
A curfew remained in effect for the second consecutive day on Wednesday across 10 police jurisdictions of Nagpur, a day after more than 50 people were detained amid violence sparked by protests against Emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb.
State lawmaker Chandrashekhar Bawankule said 34 police personnel and five civilians were injured during the violence while several houses and vehicles sustained damage.
Senior police officer Ravinder Singal confirmed that at least 50 people had been arrested.
Police earlier said at least 15 officers were injured in the clashes and one of them was in serious condition.
The violence erupted after right-wing Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad burned an effigy of Aurangzeb, demanding that the government raze his tomb in Khuldabad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, formally called Aurangabad. They claimed the tomb was a reminder of “centuries of oppression, atrocities, and slavery” of Hindus during Muslim rule in India.
The agitation by Hindu groups started after the release of Bollywood film Chhaava, which portrayed Aurangzeb’s execution of a local Hindu king called Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. The chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said in the state assembly that “Chhaava has ignited people’s anger against Aurangzeb”.
In Nagpur, tension escalated when rumours spread that a Muslim holy book had been desecrated during the effigy burning. Muslim groups marched near a police station, leading to stone-pelting and attacks by masked individuals carrying weapons.
Mr Fadnavis condemned the violence and ordered strict action. “I have told the police commissioner to take whatever strict steps are necessary,” he said.
He had earlier said the violence looked like it was “a well-planned attack”.
On the second day of the curfew, shops and businesses in central Nagpur remained shut as security was heightened across the city.
Security was also tightened around Aurangzeb’s tomb in Khuldabad town.
Maharashtra’s deputy director general of police, Rashmi Shukla, instructed district police chiefs to watch carefully for even minor incidents that could spark unrest, according to The Indian Express.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad denied involvement in the clashes. The group’s general secretary, Milind Parande, said in a video message that they wanted a Maratha memorial to be built in place of the tomb.
Blobfish: From ‘ugliest animal’ to New Zealand’s fish of the year
The blobfish defied its reputation as the world’s ugliest animal to become New Zealand’s Fish of the Year, winning by about 300 votes over the orange roughy.
The competition, organised by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, was aimed at raising awareness about freshwater and marine species and their fragile ecosystems.
Native to the deep waters around New Zealand and Australia, the blobfish lacks a skeleton and swim bladder, enabling it to survive at depths of up to 1,200m. The gelatinous fish grows up to 30cm long. In its natural habitat, the blobfish maintains a typical fish shape due to high water pressure. When brought to the surface, however, the lack of pressure causes its body to collapse into its signature mushy form.
Psychrolutes marcidus, known for its miserable expression, was made the mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society in 2013. The society aims to protect “less attractive animals” such as the proboscis monkey.
Kim Jones, co-director of the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, said it was “a battle of two quirky deep-sea critters, with the blobfish’s unconventional beauty helping get voters over the line”.
A late push from More FM radio station helped secure the victory for the blobfish, turning its “unconventional beauty” into a symbol of marine conservation and sparking a wider discussion about protecting deep-sea species in New Zealand.
Campaigning for the eventual winner, More FM hosts Sarah Gandy and Paul Flynn said: “He has been bullied his whole life, and we thought, ‘Stuff this, it’s time for the blobfish to have his moment in the sun.’”
After the blobfish’s win, the hosts said: “The blobfish had been sitting patiently on the ocean floor, mouth open waiting for the next mollusc to come through to eat. What a glorious moment it is!”
Ten fish species competed for the 2025 Fish of the Year title. The blobfish won with 1,286 votes against the orange roughy’s 1,009. The longfin eel got 646 votes, whale shark 596, big-bellied seahorse 386, great white shark 344, and lamprey 312.
The 2025 edition of the annual competition witnessed the highest turnout of 5,583 votes, up from 1,021 in 2024.
“In some ways it was fitting blobfish and orange roughy were close at the end. They both live in deep sea environments close to New Zealand, and the blobfish is often incidentally caught during bottom trawling for orange roughy,” Ms Jones said.
The orange roughly is also a deep-sea fish found in New Zealand and Australia.
“While the blobfish’s exact conservation status is unknown, orange roughy populations are struggling. Carefully managing orange roughy and its habitat will benefit the blobfish, too,” Ms Jones added.
A 2012 editorial in New Zealand’s Stuff noted that “the cuteness factor” of some animal species has been the subject of scientific analysis, “through which it was determined that cute animals always trump their more modest-looking fellow species when it comes to conservation”.
New Zealand has around 1,400 marine fish species, including 300 endemics and 54 freshwater species, many of which are declining or threatened, according to the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust.
Gaza doctors describe scenes of ‘armageddon’ after Israeli strikes
Doctors in Gaza described scenes of “armageddon” as they struggled to tend to hundreds of dead and wounded, including children with severed limbs, as Israel launched some of its deadliest-ever strikes, shattering the relative calm of a ceasefire.
The ferocious bombardment came after Israel had imposed a two-week blockade on aid, supplies, and electricity, crippling the emergency responses. It pounded swathes of the strip early Tuesday morning, bringing an already struggling healthcare system to its knees.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of Hamas’s rejection of a new ceasefire proposal. He vowed that Israel would “from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength”.
Palestinian health officials said that in just a few hours alone, over 400 people had been killed, the vast majority women and children.
Doctors told The Independent they could not cope with the injured and dying, as a total blockade on supplies meant they lacked basic necessities, including diesel for generators and essential surgical items like gloves, swabs, and syringes. Gaza Health Ministry officials said that only seven of the territory’s hospitals were providing services.
Dr Muhammad Abuafash, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, who rushed to treat those at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, said the few medics available struggled to decide who to treat first, as patients and bloodied bodies intermingled on the floor.
“The vast majority of the wounded are children. We’re talking about large numbers of children with severed limbs,” he said in desperation, adding that emergency workers were still pulling the wounded and the dead out from under the rubble.
“There are not enough medical facilities or supplies, nor are there enough medical personnel. The doctors deal with injuries without preference, unfortunately.”
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care physician working with Medical Aid for Palestinians inside Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, described being woken before dawn by an “airstrike frenzy.”
“The ER was just chaos, patients everywhere on the floor,” she said in a voice recording, adding that the paediatric intensive area unit beds were full and in the first couple of hours, more than 70 bodies were brought in and taken immediately to the morgue.
“There were probably three men, and the rest were all children, women, the elderly – it was everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in their blankets. Terrifying, a level of horror and evil that is hard to articulate. It felt like armageddon.”
Dr Mohammad Qishta, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) emergency doctor at Nasser Hospital, said the emergency department was “disastrous.”
“We received no less than 400 cases in less than two hours. We received many bodies and parts of bodies, most of them children and women,” he continued.
Palestinian civilians and international aid workers described being shaken awake at 2am by the sound of heavy bombing as Israel launched some of the strongest attacks in the 15-month war.
“It was one bomb after the other, sometimes with just a few seconds between them. I could see the sky lighting up,” said Rosalia Bollen, at the UN’s children’s agency Unicef, from al-Muwasi camp, a coastal area Israel has said is a protected humanitarian zone.
“Everyone was yelling, and I heard ambulances. We knew that some of those bombs hit tents and schools that were shelters for people. We know there were dozens of children killed and scores more injured. The sound of drones and the rumbling of planes has been uninterrupted.”
Catherine Russell, executive director of Unicef, added: “Reports and images emerging from the Gaza Strip following today’s attacks are beyond horrifying. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, including more than 130 children, representing the largest single-day child death toll in the last year.”
Mr Netanyahu’s office released a statement that the army had been instructed to “take strong action” after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
The Israeli military said it had started to strike what it claimed were targets belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including weapons stockpiles and launch posts.
The attack, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, could signal the full resumption of a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised fears about the fate of around two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the 7 October attacks on southern Israel, who are believed to still be alive.
A senior Hamas official said Mr Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages.
In Israel, families of the hostages expressed their desperation, with the largest faction of the families saying: “Our greatest fear has come true – the Israeli government has chosen to abandon the hostages.”
“Resuming fighting will cost more hostages their lives,” they said as they announced a wave of rallies in Israel. “We must stop the fighting and immediately return to the negotiation table to reach a comprehensive agreement for the return of all hostages.”
Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq accused Mr Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce. Hamas said at least four senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes.
In Israel, many have also accused Mr Netanyahu of putting domestic politics first, ahead of an important budget vote next week, and also amid multiple trials where he is accused of corruption.
The ceasefire was first drafted to consist of three phases, the first of which expired two weeks ago and saw Hamas hand over 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Phase two, which is yet to be fully negotiated, was supposed to pave the way for a long-term ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all hostages.
However, the extreme-right of the Israeli government including Itamar Ben-Gvir, minister of national security, who resigned in protest, have fiercely rejected ending the war and withdrawing from the besieged strip.
Mr Netanyahu needs to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for passing a budget or his government will collapse and the country would be forced into early elections. He has struggled to reach an agreement with coalition partners.
Following Tuesday’s strikes, the far-right Jewish Power party of Mr Ben-Gvir announced it was returning to Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.
Mr Netanyahu was also due to appear in court this week to testify in his ongoing corruption trials, which have cast a long shadow over his terms in office. The Israeli premier has vehemently denied the charges and portrayed the legal proceedings as a political witch hunt.
He has also frequently, and unsuccessfully, requested that his hearings be cancelled so he can focus on the war in Gaza. His wish was apparently temporarily granted on Tuesday – the latest session has been cancelled due to the renewed hostilities.
The renewal of the campaign against Hamas, which is supported by Iran, came as the US and Israel stepped up attacks this week across the region. The US launched deadly strikes against Iran-allied rebels in Yemen, while Israel has targeted Iran-backed militants in Lebanon and Syria.
Chinese engineer sentenced to death for leaking state secrets
A Chinese court has sentenced an engineer to death for espionage and selling state secrets to foreign intelligence services, the Ministry of State Security said.
The former assistant engineer at a research institute, identified only by his surname Liu, was held guilty of leaking sensitive information, a crime that the ministry said had severely endangered national security.
Liu copied classified papers before leaving his post, driven by resentment over stalled career progress and perceived unfair treatment. He attempted to sell the material after taking financial losses from failed investments, the ministry said.
He meticulously planned his espionage activities, using multiple aliases, anonymous communication channels and encoded messages to avoid detection, the Global Times reported.
Liu established contact with a foreign intelligence agency, offering to sell classified documents.
The agency took the material at a low cost and severed ties with him.
Undeterred, Liu continued seeking buyers and travelled to multiple countries over six months, further compromising national security, the ministry said.
The security services tracked Liu’s activities and arrested him after gathering substantial evidence. The ministry did not disclose the timeline of the case, including when the verdict was delivered but confirmed that he had been sentenced to death with lifelong deprivation of political rights.
The case highlights China’s increasing focus on national security and espionage threats. In recent years, authorities have intensified warnings about foreign intelligence agencies targeting Chinese citizens, particularly those working in sensitive industries.
The Ministry of State Security, which launched an official WeChat account in 2023, has used social media to caution citizens against espionage risks and foreign recruitment tactics.
China remains secretive about its use of the death penalty, with execution statistics classified as state secrets.
Last year, the ministry announced that a former employee at one of China’s state agencies had been given a rare death sentence for leaking “state secrets” after he was accused of handing over his USB drive to foreign spy agencies.
The man surnamed Zhang provided a “large number of top-secret and confidential state secrets to foreign spy intelligence agencies, seriously endangering China’s national security”, the ministry posted on WeChat on 6 November 2024.
While it did not reveal his full name or his previous job, the ministry said Zhang was once “a core confidential personnel of a state agency” and was exposed to a large number of state secrets at work.
After leaving his job, Zhang became an “important target for foreign spy intelligence agencies to win over and subvert”.
Chinese lawmakers passed a wide-ranging update to Beijing’s anti-espionage legislation in April, banning the transfer of any information related to national security and broadening the definition of spying.
In a separate case earlier last year, a Beijing court handed Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence on espionage charges in February, a decision the Australian government described as “harrowing”.
A suspended death sentence in China gives the accused a two-year reprieve from being executed, after which it is automatically converted to life imprisonment, or, more rarely, fixed-term imprisonment. The individual remains in prison throughout.
Reason behind ‘blood rain’ that turned Iran’s shoreline red revealed
The “blood rain” that turned an Iranian island’s coastline crimson last week was due to the local soil containing high concentrations of oxidised iron, experts said.
Social media footage showed rainwater streaming down a cliff to the beach on Hormuz Island, located in the Strait of Hormuz at the junction of the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.
One of the videos of the rare sight that garnered over a million likes on Instagram showed tourists watching blood-red rainwater flow down the island, dubbed “rainbow island” due to its colourful soil and mineral deposits.
“The island is a salt dome, a teardrop-shaped mound of rock salt, gypsum, anhydrite, and other evaporites that has risen upward through overlying layers of rock,” Nasa’s Earth Observatory explained.
“Rock salt or halite is weak and buoyant, so it loses its brittleness and flows more like a liquid when under high pressure.”
The phenomenon of “blood rain” usually occurs when high concentrations of red-coloured dust or particles are mixed into rain, giving it a crimson appearance, the UK Met Office said.
In the case of the Iranian island, however, the crimson colour of the shoreline was a result of the region’s iron-rich red soil interacting with rainwater, Simon Frasers University earth sciences professor Brent Ward told CBC News.
A previous study found that iron was the most abundant of all analysed metals in the soil. “The rising mass is not purely made of salt,” the observatory said in a statement. “Embedded within it are layers of clay, carbonates, shale, and iron-rich volcanic rocks, some of which have taken on vivid shades of red, yellow and orange as they moved upward and interacted with water and minerals from other rock layers.”
The island’s soil is so rich in minerals it is used as a local spice, playing an important role in the region’s food culture. The red soil is used in the preparation of a special local bread in Hormuz called “tomshi”.
Scientists warn against using the soil in cuisines due to its heavy metal content.
“The native people of this region of Iran call this soil ‘Gelak’ and use it as a spice. They turn the red soil into a sauce and use it in a variety of foods,” a 2023 study published in the journal Chemosphere noted.
Botched heist sees thief trapped inside mall after hiding overnight
A Thai burglar’s meticulously planned heist went badly wrong when he trapped himself inside the jewellery shop he intended to rob.
The man hid inside a Yaowarat gold shop in a shopping mall in Chiang Mai until closing time, donned a Scream Ghostface mask and broke into the store, police say.
He used a metal bar to force open the lock on the shop’s retractable iron gate after the shopping mall closed on Monday, said police colonel Yannapol Pattanachai, commander of Mae Ping police station. After slipping inside the shop he pulled the gate shut behind him to stay unnoticed.
The burglar took several gold necklaces and walked back towards the gate, only to realise that he couldn’t lift it from the inside. The gate was too close to the shop’s display counter and couldn’t be moved, The Nation reported. In desperation the suspect searched for an exit at the back of the shop but found no way out, police said.
A 21-year-old suspect arrested from the scene has been identified by police by only his first name, Aesara. The incident took place off the Chiang Mai-Lampang Superhighway in Chiang Mai’s Mueang district.
Police say staff found him stuck when they arrived for work on Tuesday morning, locked him in further and called the police.
Police say Aesara told them he spent three days studying the target and was convinced he had planned the perfect robbery.
Travelling from Na Noi district in Nan province, he dressed in black and wore the infamous Ghostface mask from the film Scream to evade security cameras, police said.
India scrambles to set up new tiger reserves as population booms
India’s wild tiger population has doubled in just over a decade, cementing its status as the global stronghold for the species. But with this success comes an urgent challenge – given their famously large ranges, where will all these big cats live?
At least one aspect of India’s answer comes in the form of new tiger reserves, with the government rapidly expanding its network of protected areas. Three new national parks have been established in just the last five months, taking the country’s total to 58. They house 3,682 tigers, according to the most recent census in 2022, up from 1,706 in 2010.
In theory that means an average of 63 tigers per park. But the problem for India’s forest officials is that their distribution is not even – the newest reserve, named earlier this month as Madhav National Park in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, was home to no tigers at all up until 2023.
That changed with human intervention – the relocation of three tigers, which led to the birth of two cubs in the forest, reported India Today. In March, another tiger was introduced, strengthening the area’s credentials as a potentially vital wildlife corridor linking the more famous and established reserves of Ranthambore, Kuno, and Panna.
While India’s conservation efforts have generally been praised, experts warn that protecting tigers is not just about increasing numbers. More than 60 million people live in areas overlapping tiger habitats, leading to growing concerns about human-wildlife conflict.
At the same time, some reserves – especially in the eastern regions of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh – struggle with critically low tiger populations. Conservationists believe these regions could double their tiger numbers with better protection, cooperation with local residents and stricter anti-poaching measures.
As India’s tigers multiply, officials will face growing challenges – not just to count them, but to ensure they have enough space to survive, explains Milind Pariwakam, wildlife biologist and joint director at the Wildlife Trust of India. “What matters is the location of the tiger reserve, the unique habitat type it protects,” he tells The Independent.
Dr Medha Nayak, a conservation sociologist at the National Institute of Technology in Odisha, explains the importance of Madhav National Park’s addition to the list of tiger reserves in the country. “Madhav Tiger Reserve forms part of the Kuno landscape,” she says. “It will facilitate wildlife movement from Kuno, Madhav and Panna. Moreover, it shall also provide connectivity to the tigers of Ranthambore in Rajasthan which is not very far, geographically,” she says, referring to the popular tiger reserve in the adjoining north-western state.
“Madhav Tiger Reserve is not only about securing a good habitat but also ensuring a corridor for secured wildlife movement,” she says.
India’s tiger conservation efforts have come a long way since 1973 when Project Tiger was launched to counteract the alarming decline in tiger numbers due to rampant hunting and deforestation.
The initiative initially covered just nine reserves, but over the years the number has expanded to include diverse landscapes from the Shivalik Hills in the Himalayas to the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.
While tigers can be found in areas outside these legally protected zones, they only thrive in large numbers near or within them, according to conservationists in the most recent 2022 Status of Tigers report for the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India.
These high-density tiger populations play a crucial role in maintaining the species by producing young tigers that then spread across the landscape, wrote the authors of the paper Qamar Qureshi, Yadvendradev V Jhala, Satya P Yadav and Amit Mallick. This movement helps connect different tiger populations, which is vital for their survival by ensuring genetic diversity and stable numbers.
Madhya Pradesh leads India’s states in terms of tiger population, boasting 785 of the big cats within its nine reserves, according to the latest government figures. Other states with significant tiger populations including the southern state of Karnataka on 563 and Maharashtra with 444. The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has 560 tigers, with Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve – named after an Anglo-Indian hunter and author born in India in 1875 – holding the largest single population with 260.
But not all states or reserves have seen such success, and 16 national parks are rated as being on the verge of local extinction, according to The Indian Express.
“While overall numbers have gone up, tiger abundance and occupancy remains a concern in large parts of our forest network,” says Mr Pariwakam.
“Areas such as North and Western Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha have very low densities of tigers. These forests can easily help double the tiger numbers in the Central Indian and Eastern Ghats Landscape with no negative implications such as human-wildlife conflict,” he says.
“Even if these three states can harbour one tiger per 100 sqkm, which is a very low density, they can pack 1400 tigers in the forests available.”
But the states need to focus on strengthening surveillance, as he highlights “illegal hunting, forest fires, overall lack of protection and patrolling” as the major challenges in these areas.
India’s economic prosperity and social conditions play a crucial role in determining where tigers can thrive, research has revealed. While some states support high densities of tigers coexisting with human populations, others have seen their big cat populations dwindle due to poverty, poaching, and habitat loss.
The study, Tiger Recovery Amid People and Poverty, published in the journal Science in January 2025, found that states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka host significant tiger populations alongside human settlements. However, in regions like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and northeast India – areas that include some of the nation’s poorest districts, where bushmeat hunting and poaching have historically been prevalent – tigers are either absent or extinct.
The authors suggest that economic prosperity, particularly in regions benefiting from tiger-related tourism and government compensation schemes for human-wildlife conflict, has contributed to better tiger conservation outcomes. However, they warn that development can also lead to land-use changes that harm tiger habitats.
“Tiger recovery is thus constrained at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum, by intensive urbanisation and poverty,” the study states. “Hence, adopting an inclusive and sustainable rural prosperity in place of an intensive land-use change–driven economy can be conducive for tiger recovery, aligning with India’s modern environmentalism and sustainability.”
Bollywood film that sparked tension around an 18th century Mughal tomb
A Bollywood film that portrays the capture and execution of an Indian warrior king by a 17th century Mughal ruler has fuelled street protests and demands from right-wing groups to demolish the emperor’s tomb.
Authorities have now tightened security around the tomb of Aurangzeb Alamgir in the western Indian state of Maharashtra after right-wing groups threatened to raze the monument.
On Monday, violence erupted in Nagpur following rumours of a holy book being desecrated. Police reportedly used tear gas to disperse the mob, and four policemen were injured. Police said they had detained dozens of people after 30 were injured and a similar number of vehicles torched.
“After the release of the film Chhaava, the views of many people on the Mughal emperor have turned extreme, as seen in social media posts,” local authorities said in a statement on 15 March.
Chhaava portrays the life and times of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, who was the second ruler of the Indian Maratha empire and the eldest son of the 17th-century Indian warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji is revered in western India as a Hindu ruler who fought the Mughals and established a Maratha kingdom. “Chhaava” is a Marathi-language word which means lion’s cub.
Right-wing groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal threatened to demolish the tomb in Khuldabad town in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district (formally known as Aurangabad) as they claim it is a reminder of “centuries of oppression, atrocities, and slavery” of Hindus during the Muslim emperor’s rule.
The groups threatened a “Babri-like” repeat if the tomb is not razed, referring to the demolition of the Babri Masjid (mosque) in Ayodhya in 1992 which sparked nationwide religious riots, killing more than 3,000 people in a decades-long dispute that fuelled Hindu-Muslim tensions in the country.
The groups, according to the news outlet India Today, pledged “karseva” if the government does not act on their demands. “Karseva” is a Sanskrit word which means voluntarily offering services for religious causes. In 1992, several religious volunteers called “karsevaks” were responsible for demolishing the Babri mosque.
The right-wing groups had earlier announced a statewide protest on Monday to demand the removal of the tomb, following which police deployed additional forces around the tomb and restricted entry to prevent any unrest.
Chhaava, directed by Laxman Utekar, was released in February, and was successful at the box office. It portrayed the captivity, torture and execution of Shivaji’s son. But many called the film out for its “clumsy grip on history” and leaving “no room for complexity”.
“Chhaava does have the laudable goal of setting the historical record straight about Sambhaji as a great warrior and administrator against biased accounts. But it becomes harmful national-level propaganda when it is fixated on the good Hindu versus the bad Muslim binary, skips some incontrovertible facts, and is in complete sync with the ruling party’s ideology,” wrote Nissim Mannathukkaren, chair of Dalhousie University’s department of international development studies, in The Hindu.
It also sparked extreme reactions among audiences. A fan in Nagpur rode a horse to the theatre to imitate the Hindu king, while in Gujarat, a man vandalised a cinema screen in anger over a scene depicting the torture of Sambhaji.
Last week, after two Indian politicians – Nitesh Rane and Navneet Rana – called for the tomb’s removal, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis backed the proposal but stressed that any action must follow legal procedures, as the historical site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor, ruled from 1658 until his death in 1707 and was engaged in a prolonged war with the Marathas in present-day Maharashtra.
During a press meet, Kishor Chavan, a coordinator for the VHP in western Maharashtra, said: “Aurangzeb’s cruelty is well-documented – he imprisoned his own father, executed his brothers, and ordered the destruction of Hindu temples. The existence of his tomb only serves to glorify his atrocities, and the Maharashtra government must act immediately to remove it. If government fails to remove it, we will do it by holding ‘karseva’, like we observed during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.”
The Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a Hindu nationalist campaign pushing for the construction of a temple (dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram) at the site of the mosque in Ayodhya, leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque and the eventual building of the Ram temple that Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated in January 2024.
The tensions in Maharashtra over Aurangzeb’s tomb come amid controversy over the state Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi’s remarks about the Mughal emperor, which led to his suspension from the state assembly until 26 March and multiple police complaints against him.
“Wrong things are being said about Aurangzeb. He constructed a lot of temples for Hindus. He even got one of his soldiers trampled by elephants when he wanted to marry a Hindu priest’s daughter. As a mark of their gratitude, they constructed a mosque for Muslims. History has been distorted,” Mr Azmi remarked earlier this month.
It led to Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde demanding an apology from Mr Azmi and saying that he should be tried for treason.
Opposition Congress MP Kalyan Kale accused political groups of deliberately stoking controversy over Aurangzeb’s tomb to polarise voters ahead of the legislative council by-elections. He called it a strategic move to raise communal issues for electoral gain.
“The tomb has been there for years. Many are seeing it now only because elections are around.”
“If they want to remove the grave of the Aurangzeb, then what about various structures built by the Mughals across India?” Imtiaz Jaleel, a former member of parliament, was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.
Controversies surrounding Aurangzeb aren’t exactly new – prime minister Narendra Modi has referenced the long-dead Mughal emperor in his speeches in the past. “Aurangzeb severed many heads, but he could not shake our faith,” Mr Modi had said in 2022 during an event at the Mughal-era Red Fort in the capital Delhi.
In May 2022, the ASI temporarily barred public visits to the site following threats of vandalism from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional party. The MNS had called for the tomb’s destruction, leading to increased security measures and a five-day closure.
In 2023, another AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi’s visit to Aurangzeb’s tomb sparked a political controversy, and was also met with increased security at the site.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis held Chhaava responsible for the violence in Nagpur. “This violent incident and riots seem to be pre-planned,” he said during a speech in the legislative assembly. “Chhaava has ignited people’s anger against Aurangzeb.” He added that “everyone must keep Maharashtra peaceful”.