Source Credit : NDTV
Maharashtra's Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Azmi, who has been suspended for the whole budget session, claims that there have been threats from the government to him and his family.
The suspension was announced on March 5, 2025, by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar after Azmi made some controversial remarks regarding Mughal emperor Aurangzeb that he was not a "cruel administrator" of India and his fight against Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj was for the proper administration of the state and not for religion.
Azmi, disapproving of the suspension, termed it "arbitrary" and said that dangerous disregard for democracy was being exhibited through the actions of the state in Maharashtra. He posted on the social networking site X, "My life and my family life is under threat. If democracy has come to an end in Maharashtra, the government can do anything with the common public and elected representatives".
Notably, Azmi has not yet lost his support from Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, who also reprimanded the party for suspending its members, stating that this has violated freedom of expression. Moreover, Yadav said that if such decisions would be highly influenced by their political ideology, then democratic freedoms would be undermined with the result of this controversy spreading political debate regarding limits of free speech in legislative bodies.
