Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi, never a stranger to controversy, has now knocked on the doors of the Bombay High Court—this time to swat away multiple FIRs that accuse him of glorifying a ruler from the past who still manages to stir up fury centuries later: Aurangzeb.
Azmi’s comments, made on March 3 while speaking to reporters during the Maharashtra Assembly’s budget session, snowballed into a political uproar. The trigger? A defense of the Mughal emperor wrapped in statistics and selective memory. “Aurangzeb was a good administrator,” Azmi said, adding that under his rule, India was the “Golden Sparrow” of the world, supposedly boasting 24% of global GDP. That, Azmi claimed, was what attracted the British in the first place.
He also painted the emperor as a frugal ruler who drew no salary and oversaw borders that stretched to Burma and Afghanistan. And if that wasn’t enough to ignite outrage, Azmi threw in a clarification: Aurangzeb’s wars weren’t Hindu-Muslim battles, and Hindu generals had fought under him too.
The backlash was swift. Critics, especially from right-wing quarters, accused Azmi of whitewashing the legacy of a man they blame for the destruction of Hindu temples and religious persecution. The fallout included suspension from the Assembly and criminal charges under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to religious insult and defamation.
Now, with anticipatory bail already in his pocket, Azmi has approached the High Court to have the FIRs filed at the Marine Drive and Thane Police Stations thrown out. His petition, filed via Advocate Mubin Solkar, argues that there’s no mention in the complaints of intent to hurt religious sentiments, calling the entire episode a politically motivated exercise in legal harassment.
The bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Rajesh Patil has issued notices on Azmi’s twin pleas. The next hearing? Four weeks from now. Enough time, perhaps, for another history lesson—or another headline.
