Abu Azmi Retracts Statement On Aurangzeb Amid Backlash: ‘Want Matter To Be Rested’
After stoking a massive controversy by calling Mughal ruler Aurangzeb a “good administrator”, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Azmi withdrew his statement on Monday, stating that he wants the issue to be laid to rest.
Azmi, SP’s Maharashtra president, drew massive criticism after praising Aurangzeb. While commenting on historical portrayals in the Bollywood film Chhava, Azmi claimed that history distorted Aurangzeb’s legacy and that he was not a cruel ruler.
“If my statement has hurt people, I take back my statement. I have never spoken badly against big people. It would be injustice to the Maharashtra people to stop the Assembly proceedings over this issue, I take back my statement, I want the matter to be rested,” the SP legislator said.
Further clarifying his remark, Azmi said, “When I came out of the Assembly yesterday, the press asked me about a statement of Assam CM comparing Rahul Gandhi to Aurangzeb. I don’t know how he was, I only know what many historians said. Many historians have hailed him. There has been no ban on their books. I just repeated what they said.”
“I could never imagine insulting words against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Rajshri Shahuji Maharaj, but Prashant Koratkar, Rahul Solapurkar have spoken against, they have security, why this furore against my statement?” he added.
The members of the ruling Mahayuti on Tuesday demanded the suspension of SP MLA Azmi from the Maharashtra assembly. The uproar over the issue led to the House being adjourned twice.
Abu Azmi’s Remark On Aurangzeb
SP MLA Azmi said that he doesn’t view 17th-century Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb as a cruel, tyrannical, or intolerant ruler, drawing massive criticism from BJP leaders.
“Wrong things are being said about Aurangzeb. He constructed a lot of temples for Hindus. He even got one of his soldiers trampled by elephants when he wanted to marry a Hindu priest’s daughter. As a mark of their gratitude, they constructed a mosque for Muslims. History has been distorted,” Abu Azmi said on Monday.
Azmi further said that during Aurangzeb’s reign, India’s border reached Afghanistan and Burma (Myanmar). “Our GDP accounted for 24 per cent (of the world GDP)) and India was called a golden sparrow (during his regime),” he claimed.
Reacting strongly to the statement, Shiv Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken this matter seriously, and demanded that Azmi should be tried for treason.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Police lodged a case against Azmi under several sections of the Bharat Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) over his remarks on Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.
The case has been filed at Wagle Estate Police Station under BNS sections 299, 302, 356(1), and 356(2) following the complaint from Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske, who also asserted that Abu Azmi has “no right to stay in India.”