Azam equates EC with CBI

TIRADE Senior minister says the election commission is a slave of the Cong, causes damage to its rivals

S.Raju

■ s.raju@hindustantimes.com

RAMPUR: In a fresh attack on the election commission (EC), senior UP minister Azam Khan on Sunday equated the poll panel with the CBI, which according to him, was the slave of the Congress.

He alleged the EC’s bid to silence him was at the behest of the union government and the Congress.

Criticising the poll panel “for obeying the orders of the Congress to cause political damage of its rivals,” Azam asked: “Does the EC want to prove itself as a CBI?

Addressing the media at the Samajwadi Party office in his hometown, Azam said such oppressive actions would not succeed in preventing the party’s message to reach across the country.

Rejecting the charge of the EC that he failed to submit his reply within the time limit, the minister claimed that he filed his reply at least three hours before the deadline.

“But, commission took no cognizance of it and passed the order against me. It seems that the EC was in hurry to announce its decision,” he said asking the EC to prove its impartiality.

Azam said he would challenge the order in court, if he failed to get it resolved through the EC, where he had filed a petition for re-examination of its ban order.

He also justified his speech for which he was banned from canvassing in Uttar Pradesh.

A four-minute video related to Kargil was also shown on the screen during the press conference to endorse the controversial statement of the minister on Kargil, which the EC had found objectionable.

Ignoring EC’s view on his speech, Azam described it as a message of love and affection, not hatred. “Maine nafrat nahi mohabbat ka sandesh diya,” he said while urging the EC to admire his words rather than imposing a ban on him.

“What I said was a historical fact. I spoke about our love and affection for our country and dreamed to see Mulayam Singh Yadav as prime minister. If all these come under purview of communalism than I don’t want to say anything more,” he said.

He reiterated that the Samajwadi Party extended support to the Congress government for 10 years to keep the fascist forces away from the power. He also expressed his dismay over EC’s stance of equating him with BJP’s state incharge Amit Shah.