Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath speaks in the state Legislative Council during the Budget session of UP Assembly, in Lucknow, Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday asked the Samajwadi Party (SP) to expel its Maharashtra MLA Abu Azmi for his remarks praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and send him to UP as his government knows how to ‘treat’ such people.
‘’Use yahan bulaiye....hum uska ilaj kar denge....UP aise logon ka ilaj acchhe se karta hai,’’ (bring him here...we will give him good treatment....UP knows how to treat such people), Adityanath said while speaking in the state assembly.
Lashing out at the SP, Yogi said that the former considered Aurangzeb its ‘idol’. ‘’SP considers Aurangzeb its idol, who had imposed Jizya (a kind of tax imposed only on the Hindus) and did not provide water to his thirsty father (Aurangzeb had imprisoned his father Shahajahan at Agra fort),’’ he added.
The chief minister said that the SP did not have control over its MLAs. ‘’SP should criticise the remarks and expel him from the party,’’ he said.
Azmi had praised Aurangzeb and said that the Mughal emperor was an able administrator and had also demolished mosques along with temples. Azmi had also said that the battle between Aurangzeb and Maratha warrior Chatrapati Shivaji and his son Sambhaji was political.
Azmi, however, claimed that his remarks were ‘twisted’ and that he had not said anything about Shivaji or Sambhaji.
Abu Azmi was suspended by the Maharashtra assembly over his reported remarks.