Nagpur Violence: Fadnavis Vows Strict Actions against Rioters Who Attacked Police

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Even as the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis vowed to take strict action against the culprits who attacked the police personnel during the violent clashes in Nagpur earlier this week, police on Wednesday arrested a ‘key accused’  identified as Faheem Khan who is believed to have ‘incited’ the mob for violence.

A local politician – from the Minority Democratic Party – Khan will be in custody till Friday. The FIR filed against Faheem Khan said he had first asked people to gather near a police station and then near a mosque in the Mahal area of Nagpur, where the clashes erupted. Police are probing his role in the clashes.

Multiple videos from March 17 have shown rioters purportedly raising slogans in support of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and referring to him as ‘Alamgir Hazrat’. Khan allegedly provoked people, incited violence, and played a role in spreading rumours that a holy book was desecrated.

So far 60 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. The police are also “examining if this (the violence) was the act of a single person or an organisation”. So far, they have registered six cases and filed complaints against 1,200 people, of whom less than 200 have been named so far. The rest are being tracked down.

Police action today comes after Mr Fadnavis and his deputy, Eknath Shinde suspected the violence to be a “premeditated conspiracy” by unknown persons. Mr Fadnavis on Wednesday also told the state Assembly that the government would “dig them out from their graves, but won’t spare those who attacked police in Nagpur.”

He further highlighted how a mob pelted stones at the cops. “A crowd of around 80 people was involved in stone-pelting. A police officer was attacked with an axe and three deputy commissioners were assaulted. Certain houses were deliberately targeted and one DCP was attacked with an axe,” he said.

The Chief Minister also highlighted the role of rumours in escalating the violence saying that the violence erupted due to a rumour of burning a religious symbol on the symbolic grave sheet.  He said, “Rumours were spread that things containing religious content were burnt….It looks like a well-planned attack. No one has permission to take law and order into their hands.”

Clashes broke out in Nagpur’s Chitnis Park area in Mahal on Monday. Police were attacked with stones following rumours that a religious text had been desecrated during a protest by a right-wing group demanding the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.

Mr Fadnavis said the violence began after Hindu protesters – including members of hardline groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajgrang Dal – burnt a “symbolic grave with bundles of grass.” Then there were rumours spread, he said (hence, the ‘conspiracy’) that there was religious text on the green-coloured cloth used to cover the “symbolic grave.”

“After namaz (Friday prayers) a crowd of 250 people came to the place and started shouting slogans. When people started saying they would set vehicles on fire, police used force,” he said. The Chief Minister, in a comment that raised eyebrows and invited caustic retorts from the opposition, also seemed to blame a Hindi movie for the violence. The movie in question – ‘Chhava‘ starring Vicky Kaushal and Rashmika Mandanna, which is the story of the war between the Maratha empire, led by Chhatrapti Shivaji’s son, Sambhaji, and the Mughals.

The violence in Nagpur – which is also home to the head office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor – broke late Monday evening in pockets across the city. Shops and homes were vandalised and vehicles set on fire as mobs ran rampant.

According to some complainants, “the protest turned violent when the crowd began hurling stones and throwing petrol bombs at police officers”. The cops were then reportedly attacked by people with “deadly weapons.” Police action, it was said, was prompted by threats to the safety of civilians.

The police have said 38 people were injured, including 33 police officers. One cop was attacked with an axe, the Chief Minister said. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. The opposition, led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena group, has been fiercely critical of the BJP-led Mahayuti, demanding Mr Fadnavis accept accountability and resign.

Mr Thackeray on Tuesday questioned the need for any violence on this issue, particularly since Aurangzeb has been dead for 318 years and is buried in a small, unmarked corner of the state. Aurangzeb’s grave is a historical monument protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, a decision by an earlier administration that the Chief Minister has publicly rued, saying, “We want the same thing (to remove the grave) but you need to do it within the framework of the law.”