Azam takes centrestage in Uttar Pradesh politics

questioned the UP government over the incarceration of Khan. The court has directed the UP government to file a reply over the delay in hearing of Khan’s bail application in a land grabbing case, said a BSP leader.

Earlier, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national president Jayant Chaudhary met Khan’s wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam at their residence in Rampur.

Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav and Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam had also met Khan at Sitapur jail with the offer to join their respective parties.

Later, a Congress leader Irshad Ulla put up posters at Prayagraj welcoming Azam Khan to join the Congress. All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi too asked Khan to join the party. Owaisi alleged that the SP was interested in the votes of the Muslims and not in their welfare. Muslim leaders should join the AIMIM to fight for their rights, he said.

In April, Fasahat Ali Khan, an aide of Azam Khan alleged that the SP leadership was making no effort for release of Khan from jail, indicating souring of Khan’s relationship with the SP top leadership. Later, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the party was with the jailed leader and would make efforts for his early release. The BJP government was misusing power to harass the SP workers, he had said.

A Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan wields considerable influence over the Muslim community. He won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Rampur and 2022 assembly election from behind the bars. His son Abdullah Azam won from Suar assembly constituency in Rampur district.

A political analyst and secretary of Motilal Nehru Trust, Lucknow, Rajesh Singh said even though out of power and lodged in jail, Azam Khan enjoyed influence over Muslims across Uttar Pradesh. He was the founder member of the Samajwadi Party and played a pivotal role in making inroads among the Muslim community. Realizing the hold of Khan among Muslims, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav brought him back in the party after the relationship between both the leaders soured, he said.

In jail for over two years, Khan had turned into a symbol of the Muslim community’s harassment by the state government, he said. In the 2022 assembly election, Muslims rallied behind the SP, taking the seat tally to 111. The Muslims as well as supporters of Khan felt that he had been dumped by the SP leadership. No movement was launched by the SP for the release of the top leader with over four decades of political experience. No committee of the legal experts was constituted by the SP to fight the case in the court. The BJP government was humiliating Khan by lodging one case after another, he said.

The rival political parties were aware of Khan’s strength and his influence over Muslims. The BSP, Congress, AIMIM and other political parties hoped that if Khan jumped the ship to join another political party, they would bag Muslim votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, he said.

Though out of power and in jail, Azam enjoys influence over Muslims across U.P