LUCKNOW: Claiming that there was a threat to the life of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in Dasna jail, SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP government in the state of targeting the veteran leader and his family.
After meeting Azam Khan at Dasna jail on Thursday, Shivpal said the senior SP leader's only crime was that he had built a university for poor and deprived children and that he happened to be a Muslim.
Azam Khan is lodged in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad under 14-day judicial remand in connection with a money laundering case related to Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.
Azam's family had engaged Kapil Sibal and approached the Supreme Court, challenging his arrest, only to be directed to approach the Allahabad High Court for relief.
Talking to the media outside the gates of Ghaziabad's Dasna jail after meeting Azam, Shivpal launched a broadside against the BJP government for allegedly tormenting the veteran leader and his family.
“Azam Khan's only crime is that he made the Jauhar University in Rampur where poor children could get good education. Another thing is that he is a Muslim,” Shivpal said, questioning the basis for the state government's decision to lodge over 100 criminal cases against the Khan family since the BJP assumed power at the Centre in 2014. Azam has spent most of his time in jail since then.
Having worked closely with him in the party organisation for decades, Shivpal claimed that proper protocol was not being followed in jail despite Azam being a 10-time MLA, four-time minister and two-time MP.
“He is not being allowed what all he was entitled to. He is being humiliated and mistreated, be it anything right from the food that he is being served to the medicines and health care,” Shivpal said, claiming to have witnessed the 80-year-old's ordeal firsthand.
Shivpal alleged that repeated attempts had been made to fatally harm Azam by lacing his food, but the veteran politician had braved every adversity.
“He is facing everything bravely. He is with the Samajwadi Party and will always remain in SP,” Shivpal asserted.
The SP national general secretary's meeting with Azam comes weeks after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called on the veteran leader in Rampur jail and described the cases against him as politically motivated.
Meanwhile, political observers view Shivpal Yadav's visit as part of the SP's efforts to maintain close ties with the senior Muslim leader, who continues to wield influence in western Uttar Pradesh.
