Azam Khan ‘refuses’ to meet SP MLA in jail

This comes two days after Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav met Khan in the jail for more than an hour. Shivpal had said the SP should have led “a struggle in support of one of its tallest leaders”.

Speaking to reporters outside the jail, Mehrotra said, “It has been 26 months since Azam Khan has been in jail. It seems the BJP government has murdered democracy in UP. We have apprehensions that he will be murdered in jail. We will continue to fight for him in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.”

On an earlier statement of an aide of Azam Khan that Akhilesh stayed away from Muslims, the SP MLA said, “This is wrong. It is Akhilesh Yadav who has sent us to meet Khan. Akhilesh has been speaking against the oppression of SP leaders by this government.”

A senior jail official said that Azam Khan “refused to meet anyone”, saying he was unwell. “When MLA Mehrotra came to the jail, we informed him that Khan was sleeping. The MLA asked us not to disturb Khan and left without meeting him,” said the official.

Of late, Khan has lent his weight to a growing disenchantment among Muslims with Akhilesh. Recently, his close aide Fasahat Ali Khan had accused Akhilesh of ignoring Azam since he was jailed and not raising Muslims’ concerns despite having done well in the recent Assembly elections “due to the Muslim vote”.

Also, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary recently visited Azam’s residence in Rampur and met his family members.

Speaking to reporters in Lucknow on Sunday, Akhilesh said the SP will give all “possible legal support” to Azam. “An injustice has been done to him by the BJP. They sent officials (to Rampur) who could lodge false cases against Khan,” said Akhilesh.