Uddhav Thackeray breaks silence, says Aurangzeb was not secular

The crisis within the Maha Vikas Aghadi on the issue of the proposal to rename Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar seems to be deepening with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray breaking his silence and saying that Aurangzeb was not secular.

Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj – the son of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – was killed at the behest of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, after whom the city has been named.

While over the past couple of weeks the Shiv Sena renewed the demand to rename the city after Sambhaji Magaraj, the issue compounded after the Chief Minister’s Office in a tweet referred to the city as Sambhaji Nagar and wrote Aurangabad within brackets – invoking opposition from the Congress.

Thackeray, the president of Shiv Sena, said that he sees nothing wrong in referring to the city as Sambhaji Nagar. “Aurangzeb was not a secular person. While our agenda has the word secular in it, a person like Aurangzeb does not fit into it,” he said.

Also read — Nothing new in calling Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar: Uddhav Thackeray

This was an apparent reference to state Congress president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat who had said that the government needs to run as per the common minimum programme (CMP).

Reacting to Thackeray’s statement, Thorat said: “It is not about Aurangzeb. We also adore Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. Our position is very clear...we are against renaming the cities...we will explain our position (to the Chief Minister).”

State Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan said: “This is a three-party government, the issues which are not a priority can be discussed in the coordination committee between the parties.”

A couple of days ago, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of NCP said: “The three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) sit together and take any decision...it is working for the last one year. In this case of the issue of (renaming of) Aurangabad we will sit and decide,” he had said.