Maharashtra MLA Abu Azmi suspended from assembly over Aurangzeb remark

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.
Reacting to his suspension, Azmi called the action against him "unfair" and an "injustice" to the "millions of people" he represents.
"My suspension from the Maharashtra assembly for the budget session is not just an injustice to me but also to the millions of people I represent. This is an unfair action against me. I would like to ask the Maharashtra government—are there two sets of laws in the state? One law for Abu Asim Azmi and another for Prashant Kortkar and Rahul Sholapurkar?" he said on X.

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.
Soon after Abu Azmi's suspension, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the BJP, saying the action against his party leader was an attempt to "silence the truth".
"If suspensions start being influenced by ideology, then what will remain the difference between freedom of expression and subjugation? Whether it's our legislators or parliamentarians, their fearless wisdom is unparalleled. If some people think that a "suspension" can silence the truth, then it is nothing but the immaturity of their negative thinking," Akhliesh Yadav wrote on X.