Aurangzeb remark row: BJP, SP face off over Abu Azmi's comment

NEW DELHI: Mughal emperor Aurangzeb became a political flashpoint between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), yet again!
The controversy that began with SP leader Abu Azmi's remark hailing Aurangzeb snowballed into a massive slugfest after Azmi was suspended from the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday for his statement.
Weighing into the controversy, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath lashed out at Azmi, while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav backed his party leader and called the action an attempt to muzzle the truth.
Addressing the UP assembly, Yogi Adityanath challenged Akhilesh Yadav to expel Azmi over his remark, saying: "Remove that person from (Samajwadi) party and send him to UP, we will do his treatment."
Adityanath also questioned Azmi's legitimacy to stay in the country, saying: "The person who feels ashamed about the heritage of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and considers Aurangzeb his idol, does he have the right to stay in our country?"
On the contrary, Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the BJP over Azmi's suspension, calling it 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," Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X.
As the controversy raged, Azmi reacted to his suspension labelling 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?" Azmi asked in a clip he posted on X.
Earlier, in a sharp-worded criticism, deputy CM Eknath Shinde had called Azmi a "traitor", who has "no right to sit in the assembly".
"He has always been insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji and Sambhaji Maharaj," Shinde said.

The action against Maharashtra SP chief came a day after he apologised for his remark. However, at the same time, he justified his 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".

Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi found himself in the center of a heated controversy on Monday following his remarks in praise of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. Azmi, who represents the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency, made the comments while discussing historical portrayals in the Bollywood movie Chhava.
Azmi claimed that history had been misrepresented and that Aurangzeb was not a cruel ruler.
"Wrong history is being shown. Aurangzeb built many temples. I do not consider him a cruel ruler. The battle between Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Aurangzeb was about state administration, not about a religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims," Azmi said.

Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Wednesday alleged that Azmi’s remarks were scripted by the BJP to divert public attention from key issues. The Congress legislature party leader said: "Abu Azmi reads out a script written by the BJP. Whenever the Government is in trouble and an important issue has to be diverted, this happens, and such statements are made."
The Shiv Sena (UBT) in an editorial published in Saamna, the party’s mouthpiece, accused the BJP of using Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi’s controversial remarks on Aurangzeb to divert attention and prevent the opposition from taking credit for Dhananjay Munde's resignation.

Aurangzeb was the sixth ruler of the Mughal Empire, reigning from 1658 to 1707. He was the son of Emperor Shah Jahan and is known for expanding the Mughal Empire to its greatest territorial extent, covering almost the entire Indian subcontinent.
Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb followed a more orthodox Islamic rule, enforcing religious policies that included the reintroduction of the jizya tax on non-Muslims and restrictions on certain cultural practices.