Nagpur: True to the organisation’s style, senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Sunil Ambekar said on Wednesday that Aurangzeb is no longer relevant today, and any kind of violence is unhealthy for society. The RSS has its headquarters in Nagpur, where communal violence erupted on Monday evening, following a VHP-Bajrang Dal meeting calling for the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb from Sambhaji Nagar (earlier Aurangabad).
When asked by CNN News18 about the violence, Ambekar, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of the RSS said: “Aurangzeb is not relevant today. Any type of violence is not good for the health of the society. The police are looking into the matter and will take appropriate steps.”
The RSS is known to make such comments when matters start taking a turn towards the serious. The 17th century Aurangzeb tomb is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and any attempt to destroy it will not go in the country’s favour at a time when India’s importance is growing across the world.
In the past, when the Gyanvapi mosque matter was gathering steam, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had cautioned Hindus against ‘looking for a Shivling beneath every mosque’. He had said that those who had razed temples and built mosques on top of them, were invaders, and there is nothing that Hindus or Muslims can do about it today. He had called for both communities to resolve such issues mutually.
Recently, when trouble was brewing over Tamil Nadu’s refusal to implement the Centre’s three-language scheme under the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, Bhagwat had said that use of the mother tongue is important and people should do so when communicating at home or with friends and neighbours.