A small portrait of Tipu Sultan displayed in her office has pushed 42 year old Shaan e Hind Nihal Ahmed from municipal politics into the centre of a statewide confrontation.

The Deputy Mayor of Malegaon found herself at the heart of a political storm after the portrait, visible during a television interview, sparked protests, drew in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and led to a police case against Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal over remarks linked to the row. Violence followed in Pune.

“I don’t think I have done anything wrong by putting up a photo of Tipu Sultan who is a patriot. He is not some terrorist. He is a person who fought the British for his homeland and laid down his life. I see no issues in putting his picture up,” Hind says.

Whether the move was conviction or calculation is debated in Malegaon. Hind is no political novice. She is a three time corporator and the daughter of the late Nihal Ahmed, a five time Janata Dal MLA who dominated the city’s politics for decades. Local lore recalls how he once sidestepped a ban on political gatherings by sitting on a chair in the middle of a market while supporters walked alongside him, turning a rally into a moving speech.

Malegaon’s politics has long revolved around two families, that of Nihal Ahmed and that of the late Congress leader Shaikh Rasheed. Civic and Assembly power alternated between them. Nihal Ahmed was Malegaon’s first Mayor after it became a Municipal Corporation in 2002. Hind’s mother, Sajeda Nihal Ahmed, earlier headed the Municipal Council.

A law graduate, Hind was groomed to carry forward the family legacy alongside her brother Buland Iqbal. The deaths of both her father and brother in quick succession brought her to the forefront. She is married to Mustaqeem Dignity, a close associate of her late brother.

In 2023, she left the Janata Dal Secular, breaking down publicly as she protested the party’s decision under H D Deve Gowda to align with the BJP. She later joined the Samajwadi Party and contested the 2024 Assembly election, though unsuccessfully.

In a significant shift, Hind and her husband set aside years of rivalry with the Shaikh family and aligned with former MLA Shaikh Asif’s ISLAM party to counter the growing influence of Mufti Ismail, who won the Malegaon Central seat in 2019 and again in 2024. The alliance secured 40 seats in the corporation, enough to lead with outside support, paving the way for Hind’s elevation as Deputy Mayor on February 7.

Five days into her tenure, the Tipu portrait controversy erupted.

“The photo was gifted to me by my fellow Corporators. I want to state this that I have not removed the photo. It has been taken down only because my office has gone under renovation,” she says.

She also frames the portrait debate in personal and social terms. “I am an OBC woman who hails from a weaver community. We believe in taking everyone along. We have proposed building a statue of Shivaji Maharaj as well,” she says.

On whether the portrait will return, she remains guarded. “I am a socialist at heart. We will continue to put photos of all those who we believe adhered to or are representative of the Socialist ideology that we believe in,” Hind says.