UP Congress to bat for Azam Khan now

Lucknow: In an unexpected development, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has come out in support of senior Samajwadi leader Mohd Azam Khan, who is currently caught in the crosshairs of various investigating agencies.

"We will discuss growing atrocities against Muslims, including that of Azam Khan, under BJP rule at the forthcoming meeting of the party's minority committee in November. Our senior leaders would also be present and after that we would launch our outreach," UP Congress's minority wing chief Shahnawaz Alam said.

The move is being seen as an attempt by the Congress to reach out to Muslims who had gravitated towards the Samajwadi Party during the Ayodhya movement.

The Congress is subtly attempting to indicate to minorities that it is willing to raise its voice for all those who feel exploited under BJP, across party lines – a gesture driven by the realisation that to reclaim its lost glory nationally, it will have to win back its lost voter base in UP.

The initiative becomes even more significant since the Samajwadi Party has not stood up for Azam Khan as strongly as he would have liked it to.

UP Congress chief Ajay Rai said, "We will fight for Azam Khan. He may be with SP but we will bat for him."

In west UP, where Azam Khan once dominated, several Muslim leaders of influence have either joined the Congress or are tipped to cross over after the results of the Assembly elections in five states.

After the November meeting, the Congress plans to launch campaign to connect with Muslims and hold meetings with small groups of Muslims at tea shops, where the party cadres would also carry photocopies of the Constitution in a subtle attempt to play up their oft repeated, but unverified charge of BJP attempting to "change the Constitution."

Some Congress leaders admit that raising Azam Khan issue could help them connect with Muslim-majority Rampur as well as nearby regions of Sambhal and Moradabad too.

Political experts, however, feel that Congress would have to be careful to not antagonise SP, on the Azam Khan issue since it is a Congress's ally in the larger opposition alliance.

The Congress, which recently witnessed some uncomfortable moments when SP leadership targeted them over seat sharing issues in Madhya Pradesh, is perhaps aware of this aspect.

"We have always raised the voice of oppressed, minorities, women and marginalised. So be it case of Azam Khan or others, there is a growing view that Muslims are being targeted and hence all these aspects would be taken up by the party leadership," Alam said.

The BJP is unfazed by the development. "It is true that I have filed most of the cases against him (Azam) but I have not delivered the punishment or sentenced him. The court has and in case he feels he is wronged, he can go to court," BJP's Rampur (Sadar) lawmaker Akash Saxena said.