# Tipu Sultan portrait in Malegaon deputy mayor office sparks fresh row 2026-08-26T13:47:11+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet A portrait of Tipu Sultan displayed in the newly renovated office of Malegaon Deputy Mayor Shan-e-Hind has triggered a fresh political controversy. The Samajwadi Party leader said Tipu Sultan had sacrificed his life for the country and she had placed the portrait after the renovation. Maharashtra minister Dadaji Bhuse criticised the move and said he would ask the deputy mayor to remove it. BJP's Malegaon district president Nilesh Kachwe said the city is highly sensitive and accused some people of trying to create a communal divide. He cited a Maharashtra government circular that permits portraits of 29 designated personalities in municipal offices and warned that displaying unlisted portraits could cause law-and-order problems. Kachwe said the BJP would verify whether the portrait had been removed after police reportedly told the deputy mayor it was not allowed. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Tipu Sultan remains a deeply polarising figure in Indian politics. Hindus often remember him as a persecutor of Hindus and Christians, while Muslims and some regional parties honour him as an anti-colonial martyr who fought the British. The Maharashtra government circular listing 29 approved personalities for display in municipal offices was issued by the state's general administration department. Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in Nashik district, has seen similar rows over symbols and statues before. The next flashpoint will be whether the BJP verifies that the portrait is gone and whether the deputy mayor reinstalls it after the controversy subsides. ## Coverage - timesnownews.com Straight news agency style reporting with quotes from both sides, no editorialising. This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: BJP, Maharashtra, Malegaon, Samajwadi Party, Shan-e-Hind, Tipu Sultan Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/tipu-sultan-portrait-in-malegaon-deputy-mayor-office-sparks-fresh-row/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/tipu-sultan-portrait-in-malegaon-deputy-mayor-office-sparks-fresh-row/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/