Maharashtra Congress Leader, Harshwardhan Sapkal, caused a political uproar when he compared Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, and referred to both as "cruel rulers" who exploited religion to gain power. The BJP aggressively reacted to his comments and accused the Congress of demeaning Maharashtra's identity and breaking new ground in political discourse. BJP MP Bhagwat Karad said that the remarks made by the Congress leader were wrong and condemnable.
Slamming the Congress leader, Bhagwat Karad said, “The comment made by State Congress President against CM Devendra Fadnavis is very wrong, condemnable. I want to say that the Devendra Fadnavis government is doing good, the CM has good experience, he is working for a 'Viksit Maharashtra'. Such kind of comment is condemnable, it is childish.”
"Aurangzeb was a cruel ruler. He put his own father in jail and always used religion as a tool. Today, Devendra Fadnavis is equally cruel. He also takes the help of religion. Therefore, the administration of Aurangzeb and Devendra Fadnavis is the same," Sapkal said.
This comes amid the ongoing controversy over Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi praising Aurangzeb for his ruling style. He praised the emperor during his criticism of the portrayal of Aurangzeb in the film 'Chhava'. This triggered a massive backlash. He had said that India was referred to as the "golden bird" during Aurangzeb’s reign and that the country’s economy accounted for 24% of global GDP at the time.
He was suspended from the Maharashtra Parliament till the end of the ongoing session for his remarks. After this many Hindu Organisations were demanding the removal of Aurangzeb’s Thomb from the state. On this Karad said, “Hindu organisations are trying to remove the grave of Aurangzeb, they are doing this because Aurangzeb had brutally killed Hindu King Chhatrapati Sambhaji, hence they are demanding it, we support them.”