Azam Khan (politician)

Azam Khan (born 14 August 1948) is a Samajwadi Party politician in India. He is a cabinet minister in the governnent of Uttar Pradesh.^[2]

Early life and background

Azam Khan was born in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India, and studied in Baqar Wala School, Sunder Lal Inter-College, and Aligarh Muslim University, where he also served as the secretary of the students' union.

He has two sons, Mohammad Adeeb Azam Khan and Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, and is married to Tazeen Fatima.^[2]

Political career

Mohammad Azam Khan was elected as a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly eight times. On 17 May 2009, Azam Khan resigned from the general secretary post of the Samajwadi Party, but was able to retain his primary membership.^[3] However, during the 15th Loksabha elections, his opposition to the Samajwadi Party candidate, Jayaprada, and the surrounding controversies resulted in a crisis in the party,^[4] and on 24 May 2009, he was expelled for six years.^[5] The Samajwadi Party later revoked his expulsion and he rejoined on 4 December 2010.^[6]

Controversies

On August 28, 2012, he lost cool and abused an IAS officer during a meeting and shouted at the officer, "Bakwas karte ho...chup baithiye...badtameez kaheen ke" (Stop talking non-sense...sit quietly...you ill-mannered).^[7]

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Azam Khan caused a controversy which has sparked attention by the media. First, Azam Khan made a controversial statement: "The perks of Kargil were conquered not by Hindu, but Muslim soldiers.”^[8] This was criticized by the Indian media and an FIR was lodged against Azam Khan. Azam Khan also refused to apologize for this and later blamed the Indian Election Commission for being partial with respect to him. Second, while addressing a rally in Sambhal, Azam Khan appealed to people to take revenge against the “murderers of Muzaffarnagar.”^[9] Third, Azam Khan launched insults against his political opponent Narendra Modi, saying, "“We don’t want your sympathy, elder brother of a dog’s son. Khan has lost his support among masses of UP population and is considered merely as a pawn in the hands of the mighty Yadavs. ^[9]

Finally, on 11 April 2014, Azam said that Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had been punished by Allah for "forcible" sterilisation during the Emergency and "shilanyas" at the disputed site in Ayodhya.^[8] He also commented on Narendra Modi's acknowledgement of his marriage,saying "the person who could not live with his wife, how can he live with the country?".^[8]

It has been alleged that he put pressure on cops that people from one community should not be arrested during Muzzafarnagar riots.^[10] Later he was in news to misuse government machinery to find buffaloes when sniffer dogs and a team of 100s of policemen were deployed for the job^[11] Even among Muslims lately Shias have become against him and asking for his removal^[12]

On 21/11/2014, Azam Khan commented that Taj Mahal should be handed over to the Wakf board. Many people saw his remark as political desperation. Azam khan is widely criticized in the media over his remarks as Taj Mahal belongs to the whole of India and not to a single community. He also claimed that the huge birthday funding of Netaji came from Dawood Ibrahim and Taliban.^[13] He is also accused to have called Bharatmata a DAYAN (Witch) in the past.^[14]

In 2013, Dalit writer and social activist Kanwal Bharti was arrested by Rampur Police (constituency of Azam Khan) for a Facebook post against Khan. Bharti, was booked under section 66-A of the Information Technology Act. Similarly, in 2015, a teenage school boy was also arrested under section 66-A of IT Act for an “objectionable” post on Khan after Khan’s media-in-charge Fasahat Ali lodged an FIR. Later, Supreme Court sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh Police on the circumstances leading to the arrest of the boy. Eventually, the section 66-A of IT Act was struck down by Supreme Court deeming it unconstitutional.^[15]

Kumbh Mela incident

He was appointed as the Chairman of the Maha Kumbh Mela committee by the U.P. Chief Minister. More than 50 million pilgrims took the holy dip in the Ganges River and returned home safely. However, forty people died in a stampede at the Allahabad Junction railway station (which was actually located outside Kumbh Mela premises).^[16] Praising the minister for his sincere work, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister rejected Khan's resignation.^[17]

See also

• Islamic Terrorism
• Terrorism in India

References