There is a popular saying in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur – ‘Agar Nawabon Ke Baad Kisi Ne Raj Kiya Hai to Wo Azam Khan Sahab Ne (After Nawabs of Rampur, it’s only Azam Khan who has ruled the city)’. Locals used to draw comparison between the Nawabs of Rampur and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, while calling the latter’s family the “mightiest” in Rampur. Some even referred to him as the “mini Chief Minister” during the Samajwadi Party (SP) government’s rule (2012 to 2017) in UP.
The Rampur strongman, however, on Wednesday was convicted for seven years in jail along with his wife, Tanzeen Fatima, and son and former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan in connection with a four-year-old fake birth certificate case.
A Big Mouth
Political observers say being SP’s firebrand Muslim face, Khan has a big mouth and this “shortcoming” cost him his political career. Some locals of Rampur also say Khan’s story of rise and fall is no less than a Bollywood movie script. “I have seen the days when the roads leading to Ghair Meer Baz Khan, the ‘Mohalla’ where Khan resides, used to be packed with his supporters and security. But now, there is hardly anybody around. I have also seen the days during the regime of the SP government when the entire cabinet was present in Rampur during the inauguration of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, which was Khan’s dream project,” said Izzat Hussain, an old-timer who hails from Rampur.
The Beginning of Khan’s Downfall
When Yogi Adityanath took charge as Chief Minister in 2017, it became more evident in 2019 that Khan’s downfall is imminent. “In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, despite the Modi wave, Khan won from Rampur parliamentary seat, which is one of the minority dominated regions. Indeed, it was a good show of strength as an SP leader won by defeating BJP candidate Jaya Prada with a margin of 1,09,997 votes. Khan secured 5,59,177 votes. While contesting elections, Khan committed some grave mistakes that landed him in some serious trouble,” said Shashikant Pandey, head of political science department, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
2019 – The Countdown Begins
The year 2019 saw a series of cases against the SP leader. One of them was of hate speech in which Khan targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In his speech, Khan, while making an appeal to the public to not vote for the Congress candidate, accused PM of dividing Muslims. In the same year, a case of forgery was registered against Khan and his wife for making a birth certificate for their son and many others. “And it was then, the family began to fall brick by brick,” explained Pandey.
In October 2022, a special court in Rampur found the senior SP leader guilty in the 2019 hate speech case, which led to his disqualification from the UP assembly. Khan was removed from the assembly following the provisions under Representation of People Act, 1951, in accordance with the 2013 Supreme Court judgment that held that legislators convicted for two years and more should be disqualified from office immediately. Khan’s disqualification led to the bye-elections in Rampur Sadar seat, from where BJP’s Akash Saxena’s won defeating SP’s Asim Raza.
A few months later, in February 2023, a Moradabad court sentenced Khan and his son Abdullah for two years in jail in a 15-year-old case in which they were booked for blocking traffic. This led to Abdullah’s disqualification from the assembly, which gave BJP another opportunity to leave a dent on his family’s political might. In Suar by-poll, BJP-backed Apna Dal (S) candidate Safiq Ansari won, defeating SP’s Anuradha Chauhan.
‘Azam Khan Suffering Because He is a Muslim’
Before the latest sentence in the 2019 birth certificate forgery, the 10-time MLA, his wife and son had to surrender in 2020 before the Rampur court in the same case, which had declared them “absconding”. Azam Khan’s wife was released on bail after 10 months while son Abdullah was let off after 23 months. Khan got bail by the Supreme Court in May 2022 after almost 27 months of imprisonment.
Azam Khan, while addressing the media prior to being taken to jail on Wednesday, said, “Insaaf aur faisley mein fark hota hai, yen faisla hua hai, insaaf nahi hua (There is a difference between justice and verdict. This is a verdict but there is no justice’”.
This was Khan’s fourth conviction and son Abdullah’s second in the last 12 months. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called the development a conspiracy against Azam Khan, and said “he is suffering because he belongs to the Muslim community”. “I assure that justice would be done with Azam Khan Sahab and his family. This is purely a conspiracy against him. I am told by the BJP insiders that the action he is facing is because of his community,” said Yadav.
104 Cases So Far
Since the Yogi government came to power, more than 81 cases have been registered against Azam Khan, taking the total to 104. These cases include petty crimes, thefts, land grabbing, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, dacoity, goat and buffalo theft and others. There are more than two dozen cases registered against Khan’s elder son Adeeb Azam, and around 40 cases against his younger son Abdullah while Azam Khan’s wife is accused in 30 cases.
Khan, one of the founding members of the Samajwadi Party, has an extensive political career starting from the Janata Dal (S) in the 1980s. In 1993, he joined the SP being the party’s lone Muslim face and soon found a place in the cabinet. He was expelled after the 2009 General Elections on charges of anti-party politics, but made a comeback later.
Now, with the latest conviction and hundreds of cases registered against him, Khan’s return to the mainstream politics this time is doubtful, believe political observers.