“This is not unusual. It is not happening for the first time. Even Madhavrao Scindia was in the Congress, while his mother and sisters were in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when he went on to become the chief minister. Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law, too, has joined the BJP,” Nawab Kazim Ali Khan tells News18, when asked how his son, Haider Ali, and he are managing political contradictions this election.
Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, known as Naved Mian in Rampur, is contesting on a Congress ticket, while Haider Ali Khan is the only Muslim candidate fielded by Apna Dal, a constituent of the NDA, in Uttar Pradesh. “I was a minister in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and my mother [former Rampur MP Begum Noor Bano], was in the Congress. It is not about political parties, it is about addressing people’s issues, local issues,” says Khan, as he talks to News18 at Noor Mahal.
The location is significant, as it was formerly the palace of Viceroy’s representative before being turned into a haveli in the 1960s. Noor Mahal is buzzing with political activities.
Khan is meeting a group of women from the Muslim community in the lawns of the house and in another part of the haveli, while Haider meets his supporters before heading out to his constituency in Swar Tanda. In 2017, Abdullah Azam, SP strongman Azam Khan |’s son, had defeated Kazim Ali Khan from this assembly seat.
Haider, a graduate from the University of Essex in the UK, returned to India in 2013. In 2014, he also managed his father’s campaign, when he was contesting from Rampur.
Khan, a five-term MLA and a minister during BSP tenure, joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “We don’t have much time to discuss politics. This is my election. I am going to do what I think is right. He is my father, he will do what he thinks is right.” Haider tells News18.
While defending the controversial 80 vs 20 remark of Yogi Adityanath, Haider says, “80 vs 20 means that 80% people are with development and 20% people, like Azam Khan, are opposed to development and want to create disturbance in the state, like we saw in Muzaffarnagar in 2013. There was no rule of law in Rampur before 2017. Azam Khan was a terror.”
Calling Azam Khan | an outsider, Haider strongly bats for development. “My goal is development. I want to work for the people of my constituency, create job opportunities. Rampur was next to Kanpur in number of factories, but when Azam Khan came, he started shutting down factories one after another,” he explains.
Rampur, which for two decades has been synonymous with Azam Khan, is witnessing another son rise. This time of his political and family rivals. No wonder then that political parties here go for personalities rather than issues or cadre. “In Rampur, it is about candidates (shakhsiyat ka chunav hai), it is not about parties. People talk about parties only when there are elections. The Congress may be number four in UP, but here I am. The Congress is important only to the extent of extending a symbol for the elections,” says Khan.
The fight in Rampur in some sense represents a class contest between a former Nawab and his foreign-educated son, who are up against each other, and a local strongman in Azam Khan as their opponent, each professing to bring about a change and help the poor.
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