More than three centuries after the last fireworks of the Deccan Wars, the conflict between the Marathas and the Mughals has claimed its latest casualty — Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi.

His crime: Zealousness to review the film Chhaava for TV reporters he bumped into outside the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday.

Azmi was on Wednesday suspended from the Assembly for defending Aurangzeb against allegations of being an anti-Hindu zealot and his portrayal in Chhaava, which is based on the life of 17th-century Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Sambhaji who was executed by the Mughal emperor.

After at least one police case was filed in Maharashtra against Azmi, political parties from across the spectrum in the state demanded action against him and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath suggested that he would fix the Samajwadi leader, Azmi was on Wednesday suspended from the Assembly following a motion that was passed by voice vote. Azmi is the Maharashtra unit chief of the Samajwadi Party, whose president Akhilesh Yadav has stood by him.

BJP minister Chandrakant Patil, who moved the motion to suspend Azmi for the rest of the budget session even after the Samajwadi leader withdrew his statements, said: “Azmi’s comments praising Aurangzeb and criticising Sambhaji Maharaj do not suit the stature of a member of the Assembly and is an insult to the democratic institution.”

However, Azmi had not mentioned Sambhaji in his soundbite to TV channels for which he has been suspended.

After he criticised the film for “being unfair” in its portrayal of Aurangzeb, Azmi was asked if he didn’t think the Mughal emperor was cruel for ordering the torture and execution of Sambhaji in 1689 after summarily convicting him for the sacking of Burhanpur in 1681.

Azmi replied: “I do not at all consider Aurangzeb a cruel ruler…. The kings back then used to struggle for power and property, but it was not Hindus versus Muslims.”

In a video statement after his suspension, Azmi said: “My suspension by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the budget session is an injustice not just to me but to millions of people whom I represent; it is an injustice to me.

“I would like to ask the Maharashtra government whether two types of laws are followed in the state. One law for Abu Asim Azmi and another for (Right-wing activist) Prashant Koratkar and (actor) Rahul Solapurkar?”

Koratkar had been accused of threatening historian Indrajit Sawant for claiming that a Brahmin clerk, and not an agrarian landlord, betrayed Sambhaji. There is documentary evidence to support the claim, which had triggered a conflict between groups claiming to represent Brahminsand Marathas.

Koratkar has denied the allegations against him.

Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena, both factions of the NCP, the Congress and other Opposition and Maratha groups have been demanding actionagainst Koratkar.

Earlier this year, Marathi actor Solapurkar was in the eye of the storm for saying that Sambhaji’s father Chhatrapati Shivaji bribed his way out of captivity in Agra Fort in 1666, and that B.R. Ambedkar could be called a Brahmin in the Vedic sense of the word as he was learned.

NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Jitendra Awhad told reporters: “The ruling party wants to hide Koratkar and Solapurkar who were instrumental in insulting the great Shivaji Maharaj. Just to insulate them against the controversy, they played this game.”

Azmi found support from SP president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh, who posted on X: “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.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Adityanath had demanded the removal of Azmi. Speaking in the Assembly, the chief minister said: “Remove that person from the party and send him to UP, we willfix him.”

Maharashtra BJP minister Nitesh Rane demanded that Azmi “be sent to Pakistan”.

Uddhav egged on the BJP government, demanding Azmi’s permanent suspension. Reacting to Akhilesh’s comment, he said: “If he wants, he should make him (Azmi) contest from there (Uttar Pradesh). He (Akhilesh) does not know the truth.”

In Patna, JDU MLC Khalid Anwar had a sympathetic view on Azmi: “People have different opinions on Aurangzeb. Historians have said that Aurangzeb was a good ruler and he was not as cruel as he is portrayed; there is a lobby which is trying to portray him as cruel. This is an academic discussion and it can’t be discussed on the floor of Parliament or at a political rally. So, academic discussion should be left as academic. I don’t understand what a political party wants to gain through such misinformationagainst Aurangzeb.”

Congress MP Tanuj Punia protested Azmi’s suspension. “This is a direct attack on democracy. This has not happened for the first time. In the past also, around 150 MPs were suspended from Parliament and major bills were passed by the BJP.... This shouldn’t happen in a country where we follow BabasahebAmbedkar’s Constitution.”