News Analysis India

Tag: Samajwadi Party

  • I’m poor person without base, have no reason to be upset with party leadership: Azam Khan

    By PTI

    RAMPUR: As his absence from the SP MLAs meet fuelled speculation about his resentment with the party leadership, senior leader Azam Khan on Sunday said he is a “poor person” without any base and does not have any reason for being upset.

    Khan, who held immense sway in the party during the SP rule, was released from the Sitapur jail on Friday after spending 27 months in judicial custody in dozens of cases.

    Asked if he would end his “continuing resentment”, Khan told reporters, “I am getting this information about the resentment only from you. I don’t understand any reason.”

    ALSO READ | ‘My own people contributed to my destruction’: Azam Khan after his release from jail

    He said there should be some “basis” for resentment.

    “I am a man without any base, so where will the basis for resentment come from? I am a poor person now and live in a bylane. I am a poor person who lives in such a congested lane that not even a single four-wheeler could enter it,” he added.

    Khan who skipped the Samajwadi Party’s legislators’ meet on Sunday, a day ahead of the beginning of the maiden session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, also said, “The Vidhan Sabha is not a new place for me. I will be entering it for the 10th time.”

    Apparently referring to Jauhar University, founded during the Akhilesh Yadav government with he himself playing a major role in its establishment, Khan said, “If this university is demolished or bulldozer is moved over it, its razed remains will narrate the history more than the standing building.”

    “I want to give pens to children and the mission is still alive,” he added.

    Azam also visited the Rampur district jail on Sunday to meet his close aide Guddu Massod who has been lodged there in judicial custody in a case of forgery.

    Khan visited the jail along with his MLA son from the Suar assembly segment, Abdullah Azam, and met other jail inmates also.

    Azam Khan was released from the Sitapur jail on Friday, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a cheating case.

    He was lodged in jail for the last 27 months, facing trial in several cases, including that of land grabbing.

    Earlier amid complaints from Khan’s camp that SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav has been “ignoring” Khan and the Muslim community, though it backed the SP in the UP assembly polls, the party veteran had not met SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra when he had visited him in the Sitapur jail on April 24.

    But only a day later on April 25, he had met Congress leader and spiritual guru Pramod Krishnam.

  • Azam Khan appears before court in fake birth certificate case of son

    By PTI

    RAMPUR: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Saturday appeared before a court in connection with the fake birth certificate case of his son Abdullah Azam Khan.

    Azam’s son Abdullah Azam Khan also appeared before the court meant for the trial of MPs and MLAs.

    He is facing trial for allegedly forging documents to obtain a passport.

    Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam Khan were sent to jail in a criminal case registered against them, alleging that Abdullah got two fake birth certificates issued through fraudulent means from two different places.

    In an FIR lodged by BJP leader Akash Saxena at the Ganj police station in Rampur on January 3, 2019, it was alleged that Azam Khan and his wife helped their son obtain two fake date of birth certificates, one from Lucknow and another from Rampur.

    According to the prosecution, testimony of the witnesses is being recorded before the court.

    Azam Khan appeared before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Nishant Mann.

    District Government Counsel Arun Prakash Saxena, said, “Azam Khan appeared in the fake birth certificate case before the special MP-MLA court, which has fixed May 26 as the next date of hearing.”

    Assistant Prosecution Officer Neeraj Kumar Singh said, “Mohammad Naseem, the passport officer posted at Bareilly appeared as a public witness and recorded his statement. He will have to appear again before the court for cross examination by the defense counsel.”

    Saxena said the court has fixed May 30 as the next date for hearing the passport case.

    At present, Azam Khan is the MLA from Rampur Assembly constituency while his son Abdullah is an MLA from Suar in the district.

    Azam Khan was released from the Sitapur Jail in Uttar Pradesh on Friday morning, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a cheating case.

    Khan was lodged in jail for the last 27 months in connection with several cases, including that of land grabbing.

    The grant of the interim bail by the Supreme Court paved the way for his release from the prison.

  • In UP, a Congress leader woos SP legislator Azam Khan with posters

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Amid the purported differences between Samajwadi Party’s Rampur MLA Azam Khan and the party leadership over its approach towards the Muslims, the Congress party has found a window to woo the SP stalwart who has been in Sitapur jail since February 2020.

    In the latest development, posters have surfaced in Prayagraj welcoming Azam Khan to Congress party. The posters issued by a local Congress leader Irshad Ullah comprise the pictures of Congress general secretary and party’s UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Acharya Pramod Krishnam, Azam Khan, senior Congress leader Baba Abhay Awasthi and Irshad Ullah himself. 

    Ullah has also released a poster on social media.

    Notably, amid the reports of Azam Khan’s annoyance with the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for not supporting him legally in securing bail in cases due to which he has been in jail for the last 26 months, Acharya Pramod had met Azam in Sitapur Jail recently.

    However, the Congress leaders in the state capital sought to distance themselves from the posters saying it could be a personal view and feeling of a Congress worker. “Azam Khan is a senior leader of the state. It is unfortunate that BJP is committing atrocities on such a stalwart and ironically his own party has failed to provide him adequate support in his trying time. As far as induction in Congress is concerned, this decision has to be taken by Azam Khan and Congress leadership,” said a senior Congress leader.

    ALSO READ | ‘Travesty of justice’: SC on delay in bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan

    Azam Khan has been booked in 87 cases. The leader has secured bail in a majority of the cases. The hearing in a case related to a waqf property was also completed in Allahabad High Court on May 5. But the bench reserved the decision, which is expected next week.

    Ahead of meeting Acharya Pramod Krishnam, Akhilesh Yadav’s disgruntled uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party – Lohia (PSPL) chief Shivpal Yadav had also met Azam in jail. The SP MLA, however, refused to meet a delegation of SP MLAs led by party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra. 

    Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly been assuring Azam and his supporters of his party’s support for the jailed leader.

  • Supreme Court stays takeover of land of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s Jauhar University

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the takeover of the land of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur initiated by the Uttar Pradesh government for nonadherence to certain conditions on which the land for the institution was granted to a trust run by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in 2005.

    A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and others on the appeal filed against the Allahabad High Court order.

    The High Court had in September last year dismissed the petition filed by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust seeking quashing of a report submitted by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in March 2020 on the constructions over the land as well as the order dated January 16, 2021, by Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Rampur for vesting of the land in the state.

    Both Azam Khan and his son Abdullah are currently lodged at Sitapur district jail and are facing several cases. Citing the SDM’s report, the high court had said a mosque was constructed over the land which was only for educational purposes, and thus, is a violation of the permission granted by the state government.

    The high court had said that no interference was required in the order passed by the ADM to initiate proceedings under Section 104/105 of the UP Revenue Code, 2006 for vesting of University’s land in UP Govt i.e. taking over the land given to the Trust.

    In 2005, the then Samajwadi Party government enacted the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University Act, paving the way for the creation of the university.

    Thereafter, the state government granted permission to the Trust to acquire 400 acres of land against the ceiling of 12.5 acres (5.0586 hectares) for the establishment of the University while imposing certain conditions, one of which was that the land will be used only for educational purposes.

    According to law, if such a condition is violated, the permission granted by the state government stands withdrawn.

  • With dissent brewing in SP, Mulayam holds closed-door meeting with Akhilesh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In the wake of voices of dissent emanating from certain quarters of the Samajwadi Party, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has become suddenly active.

    On Friday, Mulayam held a 90-minute-long closed-door meeting with son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at the party headquarters in the state capital.

    The father-son duo had visited their stronghold of Mainpuri two days ago and had given a pep talk to the party workers. The Friday meeting was in fact the second time that Mulayam and Akhilesh had gotten together in the past 48 hours.

    With rising wrangling in the party’s first family and speculations about Shivpal Yadav joining the saffron brigade doing the rounds, the meeting is being seen as a gesture by the party patriarch to send out a message that he was standing by son Akhilesh.

    Political observers feel the recent developments within the SP — starting from Shivpal’s expression of dismay over the treatment meted out to him, Sambhal MP Shafiqur Rehman Barq’s diatribe expressing discontent over the way the party had been dealing with minority issues, Azam Khan’s close aide accusing Akhilesh of neglecting the Rampur MLA and SP RS MP Sukhram Yadav’s latest move of meeting CM Yogi Adityanath — have all unsettled the party cadre.

    “Mulayam is a seasoned politician and he wants to give an impression that he and Akhilesh are on the same page on all party-related issues. He wants to convey that he is with Akhilesh in every situation — victory and defeat,” said AK Mishra, a political scientist, adding that the party patriarch might have shared some pearls of wisdom with the son over party matters and the dissensions cropping up.

    Highly-placed SP sources said Mulayam arrived at the party office unannounced on Friday afternoon and was joined by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav an hour later since he (Akhilesh) was returning from his constituency Karhal.

    ALSO READ | Another Muslim leader quits Samajwadi Party, cites Akhilesh’s inaction over ‘atrocities’

    As mentioned earlier, the two spent almost 90 minutes together before some other leaders joined them. Thereafter, Mulayam left the party office. Akhilesh held a couple of meetings with SP leaders before he called it a day.

  • Another Muslim leader quits Samajwadi Party, cites Akhilesh’s inaction over ‘atrocities’

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The number of Muslim leaders questioning the silence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the alleged incidents of atrocities against the minority community has gone up further as another leader – Mohammad Kasim Raeen – tendered his resignation from all party posts here on Friday.

    Kasim tendered his resignation citing no action by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others against the alleged atrocities meted out to Muslims in the state. He accused the SP chief of having no interest in raising the issues of Muslims.

    Referring to the “plight” of Muslim leaders and party MLAs like Azam Khan, Nahid Hassan and Shahzil Islam, Raeen wrote in a letter released to media: “I am resigning from all the posts of the party after being displeased with such behaviour of the SP President towards Muslims,” he added. Kasim was the SP sector in-charge of the Sultanpur district.

    In the wake of rising discontent among the Muslim leadership of the SP, the party may find it tough to keep the minority community in good humour, say political pundits.

    According to them, if the discontent intensifies, the SP will face a challenge in keeping the minority vote bank intact in 2024 getting as much support as it got in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

    It will be difficult for Akhilesh to fight the perception that Muslim leaders are being ignored by him despite putting in their blood and sweat in the biggest ever consolidation of the community in his favour in the history of UP Assembly elections.

    Despite aggressively positioning itself against the saffron party, the SP finished a distant second winning 111 seats and the BJP-led NDA retained power winning 273 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

    In the recent past, the SP has been facing dissent from different quarters of the Muslim community. While an office bearer Salman Javed Raeen resigned on Wednesday,  Azam Khan’s media in-charge Fasahat Ali Shanu, SP MP from Sambhal Shafiqur Rehman Barq and a cleric of revered Ala Hazarat shrine of Bareilly, Maulana Shahabuddin Rizvi, all have expressed dismay and displeasure over the alleged apathetic attitude of the SP chief towards the community.

    The cleric even went to the extent of saying that Akhilesh didn’t like Muslims. He advised the community to shun the SP and join the BJP. Rizvi is also the national general secretary of Tanzeeem Ulma-e-Islam. “In fact, the dissent emanating from the minority community is due to the frustration and feeling of hopelessness among the Muslims especially after the Assembly elections. In fact, the perception that Muslim consolidation could stop the saffron juggernaut has been defeated. Now the feeling of being ‘irrelevant’ as a vote bank is riding high among Muslims and they are venting that ire on the SP leadership,” says JP Shukla, a prominent political commentator.

    However, he does not rule out a division of Muslim votes in upcoming elections especially the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “The Muslims have realized that their votes even in favour of one party best placed to defeat the BJP cannot stop the saffron surge. So, in 2024, they may drift a bit towards the Congress as it will be a national election and the SP and BSP do not have much stake in it,” says Shukla.

    Over Akhilesh’s silence to all the dissent, Dr AK Verma, director, Centre for Study of Society and Politics (CSSP), feels that the SP chief possibly does not want to be associated with those who violate the law. “Akhilesh seems to have realised that if he will be seen supporting Muslim leaders with prominent criminal antecedents, he will lose the support, whatever it may be, of other sections of society without which he will never be able to come to power,” says Dr Verma.

    However, for now, voices emerging from the Muslim camp are no music for the SP leadership. The situation may see other political parties like the Congress and BSP back in the picture eyeing Muslim votes.

  • Dissent gets shriller in SP, party leader quits of apathy to Muslims

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Amid the growing discontent among the Muslim leadership in the Samajwadi Party, the first Muslim leader Salman Javed Raeen tendered his resignation from the party in protest against the alleged apathy of the party leadership towards the Muslim community.

    While writing a letter to party leadership, Raeen flagged the guarded silence by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav by quoting the instances of Azam Khan who, he claimed, was sent to jail along with his family, Kairana MLA Nahid Hasan had been languishing in jail and Shahzil Islam, SP MLA from Bhojipura assembly segment in Bareilly district, booked for hate speech and his petrol pump was demolished.

    The SP office-bearer from Sultanpur further added that if a coward leader could not raise the voice in support of his party men, how could he be expected to raise people’s issues. Raeen is not the first person to express his discontent with the attitude of SP chef towards Muslims, earlier, SP stalwart and party’s Rampur MLA Azam Khan’s media in-charge Fasahat Ali Shanu had also aired his anger and disappointment with the approach of Akhilesh Yadav towards Azam. 

    Shanu had claimed that Akhilesh did not reciprocate the gesture of Azam Khan who supported the candidature of both Akhilesh and Mulayam for the Chief Ministership, by appointing him as leader of the opposition in the 18th Assembly.

    Shanu had claimed at a meeting in the Rampur SP office that Akhilesh Yadav could win 125 seats with the overwhelming support of Muslims but he did not want to be seen with them. He had accused Akhilesh Yadav of visiting Azam Khan in jail just once during the last 26 months of his incarceration.

    Earlier, even SP MP from Sambhal, Shafiqur Rehman Barq had also expressed his dissatisfaction with the way SP was going about Muslims. Significantly, the state chief of Jayant Chaudhury led Rashtriya Lok Dal, Masood Ahmad was the first one to raise a red flag against the alliance leadership immediately after the Assembly elections accusing them of having a dictatorial attitude and having sold the tickets to candidates.

    On the other, in an interesting turn of events, a senior Muslim cleric Maulana Shahabuddin Rizvi, associated with the revered shrine of Ala Hazrat in Bareilly, advised the community to explore other options, even the BJP, to extend support. He even accused the SP chief of abhorring Muslims and that he failed to unite himself with the minority community. The cleric charged Akhilesh with pushing the prominent Muslim faces back during the election carrying the whole campaign alone. “There is a huge difference between the SP of Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh Yadav,” said the cleric.

  • Those who flayed Samajwadi Party’s red cap themselves wore one, Akhilesh Yadav’s jibe at BJP leaders

    By PTI

    KANNAUJ: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday took a dig at BJP leaders for wearing caps at an event, recalling how they used to earlier comment on the headgear worn by his party members.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders were seen wearing saffron caps at the party’s foundation day programme on Wednesday.

    The red cap worn by members of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party had come under severe criticism during the recently held Assembly polls, with PM Narendra Modi equating it with “red alert”.

    In a swipe at the Samajwadi Party, Modi had alleged that those wearing red caps “want power to commit scams, fill their coffers, indulge in illegal grabbing (of resources) and to give complete freedom to the mafia”.

    “Those who used to say all sorts of things about red caps of the Samajwadi Party are today sitting with caps on,” Yadav told reporters here after pictures emerged with BJP leaders and PM Modi wearing caps at their party’s 42nd foundation day.

  • Tongues wag as sulking Shivpal meets CM Yogi

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Shivpal Singh Yadav, the sulking younger brother of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Wednesday met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, triggering speculation of realignment of political forces. 

    The development comes amid widening rift between Shivpal, who won the recent Assembly election from Jaswantnagar in Etawah on SP symbol, and his nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. After Shivpal took his oath office as an MLA of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, he proceeded to Yogi’s official residence and the two leaders were closeted for about 20 minutes.

    When reporters asked Shivpal whether he intends to join the BJP, he did not refute it, merely saying that he had already taken the oath of the House and did not want to say more than that for now. For the record, Shivpal’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia termed it a “courtesy call” to greet Yogi on his victory and return to power in Uttar Pradesh. 

  • Amid rift with Akhilesh, Shivpal meets Yogi triggering speculations

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Amid the rift with Samajwadi Party chief and nephew Akhilesh Yadav, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief Shivpal Yadav reached out to UP CM Yogi Adityanath paying him a visit at his official residence triggering speculation of realignment of political forces here on Wednesday evening.

    Shivpal, who is an MLA from Jaswantnagar in Etawah on SP symbol, however, called it a courtesy call meant to greet Yogi on his victory and return to power in UP.

    Earlier, in the day, Shivpal had reached Assembly where he was administered the oath of house as an MLA by the newly-appointed Speaker Satish Mahana.

    Coming out after the 20-minute meeting with Yogi, when the media persons asked Shivpal Yadav about his plans to join the BJP, he did not refute the possibility it saying that he had already taken the oath of the house and did not want to say more than that for now.

    The chasm in the first family of Samjawadi Party widened on Tuesday when Shivpal Yadav boycotted the meeting of allies called by Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.

    In fact, Shivpal has been sulking since he was not invited to SP legislative party meeting in which Akhilesh was elected SPLP leader on Saturday. He had openly expressed his discontent over not being invited to SPLP meeting. The sources close to Shivpal Yadav claimed that the PSP-L chief wanted a bigger role in SP after he contested the recently concluded Assembly elections on SP symbol from Jaswantnagar sacrificing his own party.

    After Shivpal’s outburst, the SP issued a clarification saying that none of the allies were called to the meeting and Shivpal too was an ally. Whereas Shivpal contended that he was an SP MLA who contested and won the Jaswantnagar seat on SP symbol.

    In fact, Shivpal has been nurturing the discontent since his party was not spared even a single seat to contest in the recently concluded elections. 

    Even during the elections, Shivpal had expressed his chagrin by saying that he agreed to contest on SP symbols only to keep Mulayam Singh Yadav’s words.

    The PSPL sources claimed that during his recent Etawah visit, Shivpal consulted his supporters about his future course of action after the “disrespect” shown to him by SP chief. 

    It is believed that he got the full support of his supporters who promised to stand by him unconditionally.

    It may be recalled that Akhilesh had reached out to Shivpal ahead of Assembly elections offering him to contest the polls on SP symbol from Jaswantnagar and promising him the respect and honour as per his stature.