Muslim ministers should resign over Maharashtra CM’s remarks: Abu Asim Azmi

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said his party was proud to have been associated with the demolition of the Babri masjid, trouble was witnessed within Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said his party was proud to have been associated with the demolition of the Babri masjid, trouble was witnessed within Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi. Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi demanded that Muslim ministers belonging to Congress should resign immediately, while Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam asked if the chief minister’s remarks were part of the common minimum program, the basis of the formation of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Abu Azmi with Nana Patole during the Assembly's Budget Session at Vidhan Bhavan, on Thursay. (Vidyadhar Rane/HT PHOTO)

Thackeray in his reply to the governor’s address on Wednesday had said that while everyone else ran away after the demolition of Babri Masjid, his father and Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray owned up to it. “He had said that if the Shiv Saniks have demolished the structure, he was proud of them,” Thackeray said.

Azmi, who had supported the MVA government when it was formed in November 2019, raised strong objection to the speech. “Thackeray’s statement and political speech in the Assembly are highly objectionable. He should not forget that the government was duty-bound to follow the CMP on which the government was formed,” he said in the Assembly on Thursday.

Nirupam slammed the leaders from ruling parties for keeping mum over the statement. “While Thackeray made the remarks, the Congress, NCP ministers and MLAs sitting next to him kept enjoying it. Which common minimum program is this,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Congress and NCP ministers chose to not react to it. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said that he would not comment on it.