Azam Khan, the most popular Muslim leader of Uttar Pradesh and the Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party, is at the crossroads with Congress and AIMIM trying to court him. A few days ago, AIMIM leader Asauddin Owaisi requested to meet Azam Khan in jail, although the request wasn’t finalised. This is a major worry for Akhilesh Yadav, the former CM of Uttar Pradesh.
Akhilesh Yadav, the President of the Samajwadi Party, is now worried about losing the popular Muslim leader of the party and has started making efforts to woo Azam Khan. Yesterday he went to Rampur and met Azam, his wife and his son. Yadav also said that Samajwadi Party would agitate for the Al Jauhar University after the budget session of UP legislative assembly, and if needed, he himself would participate in the cycle rally to save the university.
Previously the Yogi Adityanath administration had released an order to take back 70 hectares (173 acres) of land owned by Jauhar Trust, headed by Azam Khan and run by his family members.
Additional District Government Counsel (Revenue), Ajay Tiwari said that the order was passed by ADM (Administration) Jagdamba Prasad Gupta after the court found that the Jauhar Trust, headed by Azam Khan, had not followed the conditions set by the state government during the sale of the land in 2005.
The Khan family doesn’t seem happy with Akhilesh Yadav because the latter made very little efforts for the release of Azam Khan in the last one year. In fact, Yadav hardly raised the issue after February, when Azam surrendered and was sent to jail. Therefore, the chances of Khan leaving the Samajwadi Party to join Owaisi’s party are pretty high.
After the Uttar Pradesh administration released the orders to take back the land grabbed by Azam Khan and his family in the name of university trust, of which Khan is lifelong patron, Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party did not release any statement in opposition to the move.
Akhilesh Yadav did not want to ally with Azam Khan, whom the Hindus of the state hate due to his role in Muzaffarnagar riots and many other anti-Hindu activities. However, at the same time, now Yadav does not want to lose Khan to other parties because it will divide the Muslim votes, which so far has been loyal to the Samajwadi Party.
Azam Khan is facing several cases of corruption and forgery. The trust headed by him was allotted 12.5 acres of land for the Mohammed Ali Jauhar University, but over the years the land area under the control of the university expanded to 300 acres. The Azam Khan-led Al Jauhar Trust invaded the land surrounding the university, be it public or private. Many households were forced to sell land surrounding the university and the land owned by the government was transferred to the university illegally. He is in jail for falsifying birth certificates and many other official documents.
The dilemma for Akhilesh Yadav is that if he backs Khan rigorously, he will lose Hindu votes and if he does not back the corrupt leader, he is all set to lose the Muslim votes. Therefore, Yadav is forced to walk on a tightrope and now he has tilted to Azam Khan’s side to ensure that the Muslim leader does not dump the Samajwadi Party for Congress or the Owaisi-led AIMIM.