Muslim religious leader flays Akhilesh support to Azam Khan

Rampur, Sep 14 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav who reached Rampur on Saturday to express solidarity with senior party leader Azam Khan, is facing criticism from Muslim religious leaders. Preacher Mohabbe Ali has appealed that no Muslim should meet Yadav and also described Khan as an enemy of the Muslim community.

"Azam Khan, who was a cabinet minister under Samajwadi Party rule, had persecuted Muslims more than the British by imposing an undisclosed Emergency here. There is an appeal to religious leaders not to meet former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav coming in support of such a man," Maulana Mohabbe Ali, president of Tanjim Awame Ahle Sunnah, said in a statement.

"The religious leaders should remember the time when Azam Khan destroyed the shops, houses and businesses of the Muslims here. Apart from this, they were also sent to jail by filing fake cases," Maulana said.

"Muslims are not against education but are against converting the university into private property. The religious leaders here are requested to cancel their programme of meeting former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Don't be afraid of Azam Khan, but of Allah," he said.

"Azam also grabbed all the money received from the central government for the advancement of the Muslims. He destroyed the Madrassa and captured it illegally. He stole thousands of books from the Madrassa library and took them to his university. He is an enemy of the Muslim community. He did not even spare religious places. He dug up the cemeteries for roads and demolished many minarets," he added.

There are more than 81 cases of power theft, encroachment, buffalo theft and using indecent language against Samajwadi Party's Rampur MP Azam Khan. He has also been accused of illegally occupying government and farmers' land.

An arrest warrant has also been issued against him in three such cases.