After threats by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena [MNS] to destroy Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) on May 19 shut the tomb for the next five days to visitors even as the Aurangabad police increased security around the structure.
The move comes after MNS spokesperson Gajanan Kale had earlier in a tweet questioned the “need for the existence of the tomb in Khuldabad in Chhatrapati Shivaji’s Maharashtra,” calling for it to be destroyed.
In a video post, Mr. Kale, who is the MNS’s Navi Mumbai city president, had taken aim at the Uddhav Thackeray-led tripartite ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ government (of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress) while stating that late Sena founder Bal Thackeray himself had questioned the need for the structure’s existence.
