Lucknow, Sep 22 (IANS): Samajwadi Party (SP) National General Secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav on Tuesday triggered a political controversy after claiming that jailed leader Azam Khan was implicated in false cases and asserting that he would be released once the SP returns to power in Uttar Pradesh.
The ruling NDA hit back at Shivpal Yadav’s remarks, saying they had exposed the “true face” of the SP, while the Samajwadi Party defended its leader and reiterated that Azam Khan had been implicated in false cases.
Speaking at a political event on Monday, the SP National General Secretary said that Azam Khan had been implicated in false cases and that members of his family had also been harassed through such cases.
“Those who try to trap Azam Khan will be guilty… If the SP forms the government in Uttar Pradesh, Azam Khan will be out,” he added.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma, reacting to the statement made by SP General Secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav regarding Azam Khan, backed the party’s position and alleged that the former Minister and his family had been targeted after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Uttar Pradesh.
“Everyone knows that Azam Khan had established a university of such calibre that thousands — lakhs — of students could study there and build their futures, but ever since the BJP government came to power, not only Azam Khan, but his wife and his son have been sent to jail and implicated in false cases,” Verma said.
“When BJP cannot fight, it resorts to such tactics. When the SP government comes to power, action will be taken against those who have falsely implicated our leaders,” he added.
Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, however, rejected the SP’s allegations and said the cases against Azam Khan could not simply be attributed to the BJP government.
Speaking to IANS, Rajbhar said, “It was the SP people who framed him. Not all the cases filed against him were registered during the SP’s tenure; you were giving him money, building structures on government property, and if that land is government-owned, why didn’t you convert it into a school in his name — is this the BJP’s fault or the SP’s?”
“I want to ask Shivpal ji: when you were a Minister, jobs in the state were up for auction; wasn’t that also a sin, and won’t that consume you? Today, under Yogi Adityanath ji’s government, jobs are being given without any money,” he added.
BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gurjar also attacked the SP over Shivpal Yadav’s remarks and accused the party of defending leaders facing serious allegations.
Speaking to IANS, Gurjar said, “This is their (Samajwadi Party’s) true face… These are the very people who called Bharat Mata a ‘daayan’… The very people who orchestrated Muzaffarnagar riots, oppressed the poor, took away people’s land… Then talking about bailing out Azam Khan, who used the term ‘daayan’ for Bharat Mata; the people of Uttar Pradesh understand all this. Uttar Pradesh cannot forget this and people see him as a terrorist, not a leader.”
JD(U) national spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan also criticised the SP’s position on Azam Khan and questioned Shivpal Yadav’s contention that action against the jailed leader amounted to wrongdoing.
“One thing I absolutely cannot understand is how the leaders of the Samajwadi Party have so many stains of sin on their reputations. The number of cases running against Azam Khan, from property matters to all sorts of issues, the way he misused resources during his tenure — how the entire Uttar Pradesh Police were deployed just to find his buffalo,” Ranjan told IANS.
“If Shivpal Yadav is calling action against such politicians something akin to incurring sin, then in 2027, even their candidates’ deposits won’t be saved,” he added.
