Mob vandalises Bahadur Shah Zafar’s portrait at Ghaziabad railway station claiming it is Aurangzeb’s
Ghaziabad: Members of a Hindutva group blackened with spray paint a portrait of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was the last Mughal emperor, on Friday at Ghaziabad railway station, mistaking it to be of Aurangzeb.
Brandishing saffron flags and chanting ‘Aurangzeb Murdabad' or down with Aurangzeb slogans, members of the Hindu Raksha Dal stormed platform four and sprayed black paint over the 16-feet-tall mural of Bahadur Shah Zafar, as reported by The Times of India on Saturday.
The incident disrupted regular station activities and caused inconvenience to several passengers waiting for their trains.
“Before we could realise what was happening, they climbed atop each other and started smearing the portrait with colour. We tried to convince them, but they thought they were right,” an unidentified station official was quoted as saying by TOI.
The official added that the members also wrote “HRD” on the mural and shouted “Hindu Raksha Dal Zindabad”.
The mural of Bahadur Shah Zafar was painted by the non-profit organisation by CS Disha Foundation in 2016. The NGO had also decorated other platforms with portraits of Tatya Tope, Mangal Pandey and Rani Laxmi Bai, among other historical figures.
“The painting in question is certainly not of Aurangzeb, but of Bahadur Shah Zafar. Historically, Aurangzeb is not even distantly related to the First War of Independence, but Bahadur Shah Zafar definitely is,” TOI quoted Udita Tyagi of CS Disha Foundation, who supervised the art project, as saying.
Aurangzeb has become the subject of controversy in recent weeks after Hindutva groups, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, called for the removal of his tomb from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
