Police stated on Tuesday that authorities placed an indefinite curfew on areas of the Indian city of Nagpur following more than a dozen police personnel were injured in conflicts started by a demand for the demolition of the tomb of 17th-century Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Monday’s violence in the central Indian city damaged numerous vehicles and injured several individuals, among them at least 15 police officials, one of them was in critical state.
Chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, where the city is situated, Devendra Fadnavis denounced the violence in a video message and demanded every effort to uphold law and order.
“I have instructed the police commissioner to implement whatever rigorous actions required,” Fadnavis said.
Police reported in a statement that when members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) yelled slogans calling for the Emperor Aurangzeb’s ouster from the neighboring city of Aurangabad, they burned an effigy of him and his mausoleum.
According to the police officer, the situation worsened when numerous members of Muslim groups marched close to a police station and threw stones at cops.
Wearing masks to cover their faces, the attackers brought bottles and sharp weapons—a resident of the region told the ANI news agency, in which Reuters owns a minority share.
The VHP refuted charges of using any violence. Its general secretary, Milind Parande, said in a video message that it wants the mausoleum replaced with a memorial honoring local Maratha community leaders.
The Ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has its headquarters at Nagpur. The VHP runs under the same family of companies.
Critics of Modi have sometimes accused him of discriminating against Muslims and of not acting to stop those aiming against them. He and his officials have refuted the charges.
