Vandals think Bahadur Shah is Aurangzeb, deface his portrait at Ghaziabad station

GHAZIABAD: Members of an outfit that calls itself Hindu Raksha Dal blackened with spray paint a portrait of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was the last Mughal emperor, on Friday at Ghaziabad railway station, believing it to be of Aurangzeb.
Railway Protection Force registered a case against unknown persons under sections 147 (unlawful entry upon or into any part of a railway) and 166 (defacing) of the Railways Act.
Brandishing saffron flags and chanting ‘Aurangzeb Murdabad' slogans, more than a dozen members of the outfit stormed platform 4 and sprayed black paint over the 16ft tall painting. The incident disrupted regular station activities and inconvenienced numerous passengers waiting for their trains.
A station official, who requested not to be identified, described the chaos. "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," he added.
The official said the vandals even signed their work with an "HRD" while chanting "Hindu Raksha Dal Zindabad".
Bahadur Shah Zafar's painting was part of a larger historical art project completed in 2016 by CS Disha Foundation. The NGO had decorated platforms 4 and 5 with portraits depicting figures of India's First War of Independence, including Tatya Tope, Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmi Bai, and others.
Udita Tyagi of CS Disha Foundation, who supervised the original art project, clarified the historical context. "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," she said.
The Ghaziabad station has a connection with the 1857 uprising. A fierce battle was fought between the British forces and local warriors as they headed towards Meerut to suppress the rebellion on May 30-31.
M Hasan — who authored the book ‘Wo Tees May' — chronicled the events that triggered the First War of Independence.
"Sepoy Mutiny was brewing for some time and flared up on May 10, 1857, in Meerut. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was old and infirm by then. But the First War of Independence was symbolically fought under his flag, which unified regional satraps, kings, and queens like Tatya Tope, Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmi Bai, and Kunwar Singh, among others," he told TOI.