With the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Singh meeting the Azam Khan family, it has become clear that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav wants to reach out to the disgruntled senior party leader who has been in jail for more than two years.
Though both the SP and the RLD refrained from making a statement and Mr Akhilesh Yadav told reporters at an event in Agra that he didn’t send Mr Singh, senior RLD sources admitted that Mr Singh did act like a mediator.
“He told Abdullah Azam to show patience,” said a senior RLD leader. An MLA from Suar seat in Rampur, Mr Abdullah is the political heir of Mr Khan who has been indisposed for almost a year. “The family is a little disturbed but we believe ultimately they will stay with the party,” he said.
The faultiness emerged when Fasahat Khan Shanu, the media in-charge and a confidant of Mr Khan, cryptically said at a meeting of party workers that Yodi Adityanath was right when he said Mr Yadav didn’t want Mr Khan to come out of jail. He said in the recently held Assembly polls Muslims overwhelmingly voted for SP in the polls on the direction of Mr Khan, who secured the Rampur seat for the tenth time. “But Muslims are being ignored in the party. It seems Mr Yadav gets bad odour from our clothes,” he said, reminding the audience that the SP President met Mr Khan only once in jail.
Sources said Mr Khan, who is facing 80-odd cases, could be released on bail before Id but there is fresh trouble brewing for him as a Firozabad court has issued non-bailable warrants against him in a 15-year-old case about making provocative remarks.
SP spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi said everybody in the party was entitled to hold his views. “Azam sahab is the founding member of the party. The whole party stands with his family. We know that the present BJP government is doing vendetta politics with him. We hoped the judiciary will do justice with him.”
Mr Gandhi said the party was in touch with the family but described Mr Singh’s visit as a courtesy call. “I cannot say that he went as a mediator.”
After Mr Shanu’s charges, the All India Majlis-e-Itthehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) urged Mr Khan to join the party. The party’s State spokesperson Mohd. Farhan wrote a letter to Mr Khan inviting him to join hands so that the Bharatiya Janta Party and SP could be eliminated from the State.
However, a senior SP leader from Moradabad said it was the BJP’s plan to divide the Muslim vote bank by using the AIMIM. “They are feeling threatened by the significant increase in the vote percentage of the SP in the recent polls. In many closely contested seats, we lost because AIMIM got 1,000-2,000 votes.” The party has 35 Muslim MLAs in the Assembly and its vote percentage has gone up by 10%.
He said Mr Khan could have his concerns, and some of them were genuine — like taking on the entire wrath of the BJP on himself while the Yadav family remained unscathed — but said he would not leave the party that he built. Also, most Muslims are with the SP at present. He admitted that Mr Yadav wanted to come out of the shadow of Mr Khan who was one of the de-facto CMs when Mr Yadav was in power between 2012-2017.
“But he has come to terms with Mr Khan’s space in the party and it reflected in the way he canvassed for Abdullah during the polls,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SP is taking proactive measures to reach out to the community. On Thursday, Mr Yadav constituted a committee to look into the Jahangirpuri violence. The party has also allowed the spokespersons to participate in television debates. “Right now, AIMIM leaders are being called for debates on Muslim issues. It is not good both for the community and the party,” said a spokesperson.
Meanwhile, tensions continued between Mr Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who is sulking since he was not called for the party’s legislative group meeting after the polls. At a party event in Agra, Mr Yadav said those who are seen standing with the BJP, have no place in the party while Mr Shivpal responded that he was ready to face action.
