Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath came down heavily on Maharashtra MLA and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi for praising Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. The BJP leader asked SP to remove him from the party and send him to UP, saying ‘we will treat him’. Yogi made the comments in his speech in the assembly on Wednesday.
The CM said that the Samajwadi Party is considering Aurangzeb as an ideal. He said that even Aurangzeb’s father Shah Jahan had criticised him in him autobiography. ‘He imprisoned his father in Agra fort, harassed him for every drop of water, and if these people take pride on him, they should at least read the biography of Shah Jahan,’ the CM said.
He added that those who behave like Aurangzeb are proud of Aurangzeb, saying the Samajwadi Party must answer if such a person is their ideal. “The Samajwadi Party must answer for this. Does the party consider a ruthless, fanatical, and cruel ruler—who came to oppress India and attack its faith—as its ideal?” he said.
Watch: Regarding Maharashtra Samajwadi Party President Abu Azmi's remarks on Aurangzeb, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath says, "…Those who behave like Aurangzeb will take pride in him. The Samajwadi Party must answer for this. Does the party consider a ruthless, fanatical, and… pic.twitter.com/7AKzCb1VMV
— IANS (@ians_india) March 5, 2025
Yogi Adityanath told the SP leaders in the house, “Expel that ‘kambakht’ from the party and send him to Uttar Pradesh once, we will treat him ourselves.” He further asked, “Should he have the right to live in India? Why is the Samajwadi Party not expelling Abu Azmi?”
Abu Azmi was suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday over his controversial remark on Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. He has been suspended till the end of Maharashtra’s ongoing budget session.
In an interview last week, Azmi had claimed that India flourished under Aurangzeb’s reign. He said Aurangzeb should not be viewed simply as a cruel ruler, but rather as a great administrator who also built temples. He had claimed said that during Aurangzeb’s reign, India’s border reached Afghanistan and Burma. Abu Azmi had said, “Aurangzeb got several temples built. In Varanasi, he saved a Hindu girl child from a priest who had an evil eye on her. He had the priest trampled by elephants.”
Azmi further said that he does not believe that the battle between Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Aurangzeb was not about religion, saying that it was a political battle.
Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief has apologised for his remark, but also justified the statement saying Azmi only said what the historians and the writers have already said. FIRs have been registered against Azmi for hurting religious sentiments and defamation under the BNS.
