Azam Khan walks out of jail after spending 26 months in Judicial custody.The one time MLA of Rampur has won the constituency again in 2022 UP elections. He is also heavily popular among Muslims, yet has problems with Akhilesh Yadav. Chances are that he may shift the vote bank against him.
On Friday, SP leader Azam Khan walked out of jail after spending 24 months in judicial custody. The Supreme Court has granted him interim bail in a cheating case. After reaching his home in Rampur ,Azam Khan was thronged by his followers. The Samajwadi Party leader had contested and won the constituency in the 2022 UP elections. He said that it was no less a wonder that he’s standing alive before his followers.
“I was kept in British era cells. Near the prison where I was held, there was a gallow where inmates were hanged earlier. Generations will remember my persecution”, Azam said. He claimed that he was kept alone and was given chapatis with water. His health is not well and whatever happened to him in jail shows in his body now. He is thankful to Supreme Court for delivering him justice.
May Create Problems for Akhilesh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has won 111 seats in the UP elections. Muslim voters in UP have gravitated towards either Mayawati’s BSP or Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. Azam himself was an aide of Mulayam Singh Yadav and is immensely popular among Muslims in the state. He has currently won Rampur constituency by 55,141 votes, defeating Congress’s Nawab Kazim Ali Khan and BJP’s Akash Saxena. His son Abdullah too was arrested and has won the seat of Suar by 61,103 votes.
Reports say Azam is currently dissatisfied with Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership of SP.His camp says Azam felt abandoned by his party during his incarceration. They allege that SP has been gradually moving away from Muslims. On the other hand, some SP leaders argue that the real cause of Azam’s disaffection lies elsewhere. After he became MLA, Azam vacated his Rampur seat and wanted his kith of kin to be given it. Akhilesh,however,had other plans; he floated the idea of giving it to somebody else.
While Akhilesh has lauded the Supreme Court and welcomed Azam Khan’s release in a tweet , he didn’t welcome him in person. Akhilesh too seems to have made his mind.On May 13, he visited SP workers held at Azamgarh jail, but didn’t care to visit Sitapur where Azam was jailed. As Azam Khan walks out from jail, he is sought after by BSP and Congress.
Azam Khan Walks Out from Jail to Influence UP opposition
As soon as he walked out of jail , Azam was greeted by Shivpal Yadav, chief of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party. Shivpal is also Akhilesh’s estranged uncle and has accused him of not taking up Azam’s case. The two leaders have reportedly bonded over Akhilesh’s disrespect towards the older generation of the party. Shivpal’s accusations prompted Akhilesh to send SP leader Ravidas Mehrotra to visit Azam in prison.However, Azam refused him audience and said he was ill. Shivpal himself has plans to form a third front with Azam. If a third front does materialize, it may cost Akhilesh his Muslim vote bank. Azam is so popular a candidate that he has won from Rampur 10 times. He still holds his ground despite BJP’s efforts to dislodge him.
Shivpal is not the only leader to have Azam in his camp. Before Azam walked out from jail, he found support from Mayawati. The BSP leader claimed that his continued confinement meant BJP’s “strangling of justice” in the state. Congress’s Pramod Krishnam too, had met him in jail on 28th April. Even more unexpected was BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s praising him. Singh called him a “mass leader” and wanted to meet him. However,BJP seems to have distanced itself from the affair, calling Singh’s remark personal.
(Inputs from Indian Express,Times of India,Hindustan Times)
