IGI Logo

The ruling Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Shirshat on Monday demanded that the grave of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar should be shifted to Hyderabad.

The city MLA Shirsat's quirky call came in response to the indefinite agitation launched by All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Saturday protesting the name change of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and reverting to the old 'Aurangabad'.

"If they have so much love for Aurangzeb, then shift his grave to Hyderabad... Let them build a memorial there or do whatever they want, nobody will bother, but stop this agitation," declared Shirsat, who belongs to the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Reacting, the local AIMIM President Shareq Naqshbandi dismissed the SS leader's demand as "only politics and intended to create disharmony among communities to consolidate their position".

"If they have so much hatred for Emperor Aurangzeb, then why did they take the G20 delegates on a tour to view his wife Rabia-ul-Daurani's tomb, the 'Bibi Ka Maqbara', built in 1668, by their son Muhammad Azam Shah," Naqshbandi countered.

Going further, he asked, with so much animosity for the past rulers, why the Bharatiya Janata Party government wants to earn revenues from the Taj Mahal (Agra) and other monuments for its coffers.

Naqshbandi said that since the BJP and its allies have no issues left to take to the people they are resorting to such politics and driving a wedge among different sections of society.

Last month, the Centre okayed a state government proposal to rename Aurangabad to 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar' and Osmanabad to 'Dharashiv'.

However, other parties like Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, have not yet responded to Shirsat's outburst.

Meanwhile, last week the AIMIM state President Syed Imtiaz Jaleel, MP, demanded that the names of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Malegaon must also be changed in honour of prominent icons.

He has suggested Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Mahanagar (Mumbai), Jyotiba-Savitri Phule Nagar (Pune), Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Nagar (Nagpur), Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Nagar (Kolhapur) and Maulana Azad Nagar (Malegaon).