New Delhi: BlueKraft Digital Foundation CEO Akhilesh Mishra has reignited the debate over the controversial legacy of the Mahmudabad estate, highlighting how the BJP government’s intervention in 2017 blocked the transfer of vast ancestral properties to the family of Ali Khan Mahmudabad — the Ashoka University professor recently arrested over a contentious social media post.
Referring to past legal and political tussles surrounding the Enemy Property Act, Mishra cited a detailed argument once made by the late Arun Jaitley: “The Enemy Property Act of 1968 disenfranchised Raja of Mahmudabad from all his properties in India. SC erroneously ruled that let Mahmudabad’s son inherit his property (Mahmudabad was Pakistan’s citizen but he sent his son to live in India).”
According to Mishra, it was former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who attempted to undo the Supreme Court’s verdict by bringing in an ordinance. However, he claims that “UPA politics of vote bank prevailed and the ordinance was allowed to lapse”.
The matter was eventually resolved when the BJP government passed legislation in 2017, preventing the Mahmudabad family from claiming the properties. “Net effect: Due to BJP Government actions, Mahmudabad family has been unable to inherit huge property that Raja of Mahmudabad owned and used it to finance Jinnah and Idea of Pakistan,” Mishra said.
This sharp commentary comes in the wake of Ali Khan Mahmudabad’s arrest on Sunday, after two FIRs were filed against him on stringent charges, including endangering India’s sovereignty and integrity, over social media posts related to Operation Sindoor — a recent military operation amid escalating tensions with Pakistan.
Mishra did not hold back in his criticism, accusing Mahmudabad of indulging in “insidious propaganda” and echoing “talking points of Pakistan”.
He called the timing of the post particularly suspect: “A treacherous attempt to insert Hindu-Muslim rift just a day after Operation Sindoor strikes and while Pakistan was still sending drones in India. Whose agenda was it serving other than Pakistan?”
Highlighting specific parts of Mahmudabad’s Facebook post, Mishra alleged that the professor’s language mirrored that of Pakistani military leadership.
“Read the last para of his FB post. It argues that the logic of Pakistan (one which Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir expounded on) may have been fleetingly refuted by GOI optics but reality on ground is more or less the same (Munir’s logic),” he wrote.
He also slammed Mahmudabad for referencing the lynching of Muslims in India, accusing him of misrepresenting isolated incidents as state policy.
“A local law and order issue, maybe a decade ago, is casually parroted as a lived reality that must be a factor in a near-war with Pakistan?” Mishra asked, pointing out that if communal violence is relevant to the conversation, then recent cases like the Murshidabad violence against Hindus should also be acknowledged.
“Did anyone see Indian government or any so-called ‘right wing’, that Ali Khan disparages in his post, talk of Murshidabad in context of near war with Pakistan? No, right. Why? Because in a near-war with adversary, only treacherous people try and widen domestic schisms or parrot the lines which directly bolster the case of the enemy.
“The FB of Ali Khan Mahmudabad is nothing but talking points of Pakistan. He just used better English and phrased in a way that he could later dry FOE,” he stated.
(IANS)
