NEW DELHI: Maharashtra MLA and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi was suspended from the state assembly on Wednesday over his controversial remark on Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. Azmi has been suspended till the end of Maharashtra’s ongoing budget session.
Azmi’s statement stroked a controversy after he had claimed that India flourished under Aurangzeb’s reign.
Last week, during an interview, Azmi said Aurangzeb should not be viewed simply as a cruel ruler, but rather as a great administrator who also built temples. He had also said that during Aurangzeb’s reign, India’s border reached Afghanistan and Burma (now Myanmar).
“Also, I do not believe that the battle between Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Aurangzeb was not about religion; it was a political battle,” he added.
Later, the Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief apologised for his remark but at the same time justified the statement saying he only said what the historians and the writers have already said about the Mughal ruler and that it was in no manner against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or Sambhaji Maharaj adding that his “words were twisted”.
In a sharp-worded criticism, deputy CM Eknath Shinde called Azmi “traitor”.
“Azmi is a traitor and has no right to sit in the assembly. He has always been insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji and Sambhaji Maharaj,” Shinde said.
FIRs were registered against Azmi for hurting religious sentiments and defamation under the BNS, even as the MLA from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar issued a statement saying his remarks were in the context of the film “Chhava”, which depicts the conflict between Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Aurangzeb.