The Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly suspended Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for the entire Budget Session for his remarks on Aurangzeb. He had claimed that Aurangzeb was not a cruel ruler and had even built several temples. Seeing the rising protest, he apologised later.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray slammed Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for his controversial remarks regarding Aurangzeb and demanded his permanent suspension from the state Assembly. He said, “He should be permanently suspended. It should not just be for the Budget Session, the suspension should be permanent.”
Earlier in the day, Abu Azmi was suspended by the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. Meanwhile, Thackeray also slammed former UP CM and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for backing MLA Abu Azmi for objecting to his suspension. He asked Akhilesh Yadav to make Azmi contest from UP if he wants to, as the entire Maharashtra has objected to his statement.
Talking to media, Thackeray ashed out at Akhilesh and said, “Let him object if he wants to. The entire Maharashtra has raised an objection against him. If he wants, he should make him contest from there (UP). He does not know the truth.”
Notably, Akhilesh Yadav objected to the suspension through a post on X. He said, “If the basis of suspension starts getting influenced by ideology, then what difference will remain between freedom of expression and slavery? Whether it is our MLAs or MPs, their fearless wisdom is unmatched. If some people think that by ‘suspension’ one can put a rein on the tongue of truth, then this is the childishness of their negative thinking. Today’s free thinking says, we don’t want BJP!”