By Haider Abbas
Muhammed Azam Khan today, his political career spanning around 50 years, is a veteran of Muslim politics, has won UP Rampur City Assembly seat for ten times, held a Rampur Lok Sabha seat, Rajya Sabha seat, his wife Tazeen Fatima is a former MLA and Rajya Sabha member and his son Abdullah Azam has been twice MLA. MA Khan was Cabinet Minister for four-times in Samajwadi Party (SP) governments. He is the lone survivor of SP which he had founded with Janeshwar Mishra and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
MA Khan is on an all time low, to the worst ever political vendetta and vengeance, meted to any politician. His woes started soon after 2017, when SP government bowed out of power. By 2019, when he was MP he was heaped with around a 100 cases, was jailed along with his wife and son. He was released on bail in April 2022, but new cases were registered amore, finally he was convicted of hate-speech (of 2019), had to vacate his seat and was stripped of his voting rights. This necessitated by-elections in Rampur in which his party candidate Asim Raja was drubbed on December 8. Akash Saxena won it from BJP ticket. This seat has never been won by BJP owing to around 65% of Muslim votes. Mainpuri Lok Sabha by-elections seat, vacated after Mulayam Singh Yadav ‘passing-off’ to heavenly abode was won by Dimple Yadav, wife of SP President Akhilesh Yadav and Khatauli seat was won by SP backed RLD candidate Madan Bhaiyya.
The election result in Rampur was on the expected lines. Never in India such police brutality has been witnessed that ‘common voters’ were bundled into their homes, their door were broken, lathicharged, ankles and hands broken, irrespective of age and gender! MA Khan and his party cried hoarse but everything fell on deaf ears. Videos of a whole range of policemen ‘breaking’ into houses etc, instilling fear and dread, are widely available on social media, to substantiate the claim. This successfully stifled Muslim voters into their homes which resulted into one of the least polling ever! Perhaps, the only parallel which may be drawn is that of 1987 elections in Jammu and Kashmir which are alleged to have been rigged in favour of the ruling party. SP has complained to Election Commission but to no avail as yet.
MA Khan may be down but not-out, he is having a heart ailment too, but plans to approach the courts of law to set aside his conviction in the hate-speech case. But, what is all the more wonderful, is the utmost hateful atmosphere which had been ‘got-going’ after Babri Masjid locks were opened in 1986, and immediately in Hashimpura and Maliana (Meerut) 113 Muslims (in 1987) were gutted to death by police, and no one until today has been convicted. In fact the original First Information Report, after Maliana genocide of Muslims has gone missing from the government records. Why? Obviously for the sake that the martyrs were Muslims. Into towards the run-up to the Babri Masjid demolition in which LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Rithambra, Vinay Katiyar Giriraj Kishore etc were accused, have all been acquitted. They never engaged into any hate-speech ever. In fact no one demolished Babri Masjid, to put it on record.
Will MA get his voting rights back is what the time would tell, but he does deserve a recap of his political life, which I could observe in the last around three decades. I met him, in January 1993, and have since then observed his ‘persona’, ‘politics’ and his ‘political-life’ and have written dozens of articles on it. I also encapsulated his life-in-prison at Sitapur Jail, during the deadly COVID-19 phase and have written a series published under Sitapur Jail Diary. He is the founder Chancellor of Muhammed Ali Jauhar University in Rampur. Probably I am his unofficial biographer.
The man and his mission
I strongly feel that he deserves his rightful place as the most potent ‘Muslim Politician’ in post-independence India. He is the most powerful voice of Muslim masses and exercises an immense credibility and control over the voting patterns of Muslims, particularly, in Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Muradabad, Bareily, Shahjehanpur, Rampur, Bijnor, Najibabad, Pilibhit, Sitapur, Azamgarh etc. His image is pan-UP and he is what may be considered as the pioneer of Muslim experiment with democracy within the secular paradigm. As I write this article I reflect on the book written by Rajmohan Gandhi-‘Understanding the Muslim Mind’ in icons like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Allama Iqbal, Muhammed Ali Jauhar, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Liyaqat Ali Khan etc have been analyzed threadbare, and if this list is to be enhanced then he is the first to qualify to it. MA Khan at best today may be surmised as a vanquished victor. Reflections galore before me. He is the only Muslim, and perhaps, from amongst the very rarest of the few, who has been a ten -times Member of Legislative Assembly from UP -India’s most populated state and also, ironically, house to the largest number of Muslims((18.5% officially)). He has also been UP Assembly Leader of Opposition in 2002-03. MP in Rajya Sabha (Upper House 1997-2002) and MP Lok Sabha member in 2019.
His political stint begins
While he did his Law from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU-1975) he had become well-known for his fiery speeches, against the forces ( read Congress) which were hell-bent to stifle democracy in the country, and which thus, very understandably, made him to recoil in jail for 19 months under Maintenance of Internal Security Act, during the imposition of Emergency (1975-77) by Indira Gandhi-the Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi, would see that ‘gram-dried’ be the staple diet for Azam Khan, for all those 19 months, which thereby, made him loose his jaw-teeth. It still pains him. Indira Gandhi, had also made it a point to secretly, record his ‘talks with the inmates’ while during those days in jail. He was the general-secretary of student union AMU.
The star was born
The star, had thus, been born, as while during his AMU days, he had got 76% marks in his LLB and was only first-year-through his LLM, when the dreadful Emergency days came. He became an MLA for the first time in 1980, from Rampur, against the mighty Nawab of Rampur. Nawab was a blue-eyed boy of Indira Gandhi, as she ruled over the entire country with an iron fist. The resurgence of Indira Gandhi in 1980, after the disastrous Janta Party government (1997-79), brought the Eid-day Murabadad (UP) riots 1980, and MA Khan would thereafter exhaust himself in the camps at Muradabad 24X7. He would exhort ration and all daily-use objects for months together, from Rampur and other adjoining districts, and bludgeon them towards the riot victims of Muradabad. Nearly, once a policeman had missed a fire or else he was to have been shot dead much earlier. Almost on the heels, came the Nielle massacre of Muslims in Assam (1983) as supervised by Indira Gandhi. He would challenge the suzerainty of Indira Gandhi, in her most powerful bastion (UP) for orchestrating the worst Muslim massacre, in Nielle, in a single day, something which was much greater in propensity than what took place in 2002 in Gujarat.
Missing death or getting killed had long been a cat-and-a-mouse game for him. He was fired at multiple times, by country made pistols, at the behest of Nawab Rampur, but the fires missed. He yet again, almost narrowly, missed being killed again, as he missed a bullet fired on him by his sheer luck. It was in 2002, when SP, chief Mulayam Singh was protesting outside Governor House, in Lucknow, along with his more than a hundred MLAs that Governor invite him to form the government. Rajnath Singh, was UP CM then, and BJP had lost the 2002 assembly elections. BJP just could never fathom the rout. As the MLAs sat on the ground, a boy came from behind MM Khan and asked if he was Azam Khan, Manzoor Ahmed, another MLA, who sat adjacent, said instead, that he was Azam Khan, the boy took a revolver from his jacket and shot him dead!
The Babri Masjid scimitar
The story of Azam Khan would be incomplete if his role in Babri Masjid campaign is not to be delved-upon. The political situation in UP and later in whole of India, back in 1983-84, had then taken to a new challenge, as very soon after the victory of Indira Gandhi in 1980, a movement was launched to liberate Rama temple locked inside Babri Masjid, Ayodhya, Faizabad, UP. By 1983 Muslims of Ayodhya had started to feel the heat, as Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind under Maulana Asad Madani had submitted a memorandum to the then UP CM Shripat Misra in 1983. Dau Dayal Khanna, Nirmal Das Khatri, both tall-leaders of Congress party from Faizabad, along with Ramchander Paramhans and Mahant Avaidhnath had started to organise yatras (processions) for the liberation of Rama temple in Ayodhya. A yatra, was started from Sitamarhi (Bihar in 1983) which was supposed to reach Ayodhya via Delhi . The yatra was on its way to Delhi and had to be halted as Indira Gandhi was killed in 1984. It is no wonder, that had she not been killed, the locks of Babri Masjid, which were there since Dec 22/23 1949, were to have been made open in 1984 itself -on the very onset of parliamentary elections. This same yatra was further to be emulated by Lal Krishna Advani of (BJP).
The killing of Indira Gandhi brought unprecedented dividends for Congress as it strode on the sympathy wave and turned out to win 415/543 seats in 1984 with the same success rate in UP assembly too (269/425 in 1985). Rajiv Gandhi- the son of Indira Gandhi became the PM, and later, obliged with his responsibility by getting the locks of Babri Masjid be opened on Feb 1, 1986. Congress apologists say that this had happened to balance Muslim appeasement, as in Shah Bano case, the Parliament had over-ruled a Supreme Court order (1985) in favour of Muslims. Congress had therefore been forced to placate the Hindu constituency. Only a naïve would buy the argument.
The political history is all so full of evidences, the Congress government finally, paved way for the inevitable Feb 1, 1986-the day when Babri Masjid locks were opened. Arun Nehru, a close confidant of Rajiv Gandhi was explicitly involved with the Ram temple movement. He was the Union State Minister for internal security then. The result made Muslims restless. MA Khan, who was MLA with Lok Dal then, took up the cudgels and organized a meeting at his 34-B Darul Shifa residence, which included Abdul Mannan, a lawyer of great repute, Zafaryab Jilani, Maulana MH Kichchauvi and Fazlul Bari-a Muslim Majlis MLA and Mushtaq Ahmed Siddiqui-a counsel in the Babri Masjid case, and it was decided, thence, that all Muslim MLAs (from all parties) would be groomed for the cause of Babri Masjid. On Feb 6, 1986 Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) was formed. MA Khan was its co-convenor along with Zafaryab Jilani and MH Kichchauvi its President.
On Feb 14, 1986 MA Khan gave a call for a bandh. The success was great as not only UP observed bandh but it was felt in far-off Kolkata-West Bengal too. MA Khan announced its first public meeting on Feb 26, 1986. Four days prior to it MA Khan was picked up and put in Unnao jail. Mulayam Singh on the night of Feb 23/24 came to meet him in jail to offer his solidarity. The next day Mulayam would register his protest in UP Assembly. MA Khan and Mulayam were thus slated for a long-time partnership.
On Feb 26, all roads to Lucknow were sealed. There was virtually a curfew in the city. The meeting did take place as thousands had gathered, in the lawns of Darul Shifa A-Block along with Shafiq-ur-Rehman Barq-who is right now SP Lok Sabha MP. All were arrested. Thus, began the Babri Masjid campaign primarily aimed against Congress. There was a surcharged communal atmosphere in UP. MA Khan along with members of BMAC became most instrumental into charting the doom for Congress, as in 1989 general parliamentary elections Congress was winded-up to a tally of just 196 out of 543 seats- a loss of 219 seats. The same year Mulayam Singh formed government in UP too and MA Khan was a high profile Cabinet Minister. But, the voices for temple movement kept on to increase, both in UP as well as across the nation.
Barely two months of after taking oath to office Mulayam had sent Shankaracharya to jail in 1990. Mulayam Singh did not blink and ordered the firing on the Hindu karsevaks (a term borrowed by the Sikhs) who had scaled atop Babri Masjid on October 30, 1990 and the whole of UP, with around 80 of its districts, was either under complete or partial curfew. The riots spread to neighboring state of Bihar too, as Bhagalpur riots of 1989 took place. They were-in as a direct consequence of the issue of Babri Masjid, and which later spelt a total-wipeout of Congress. Congress has not since then able to recuperate itself, since those fateful days of 1986.
The Congress in dire-straits is solely for the Babri Masjid campaign as spearheaded by MA Khan and his comrades. MA Khan considers himself to be the force behind Mulayam Singh ordering fire on rampaging Karsevaks. By 1991, a new political beginning had also thus made a head-start under Mulayam Singh, who became the President of Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party) and MA Khan its founding general secretary. When Babri Majid fell, on Dec 6, 1992, owing to the complicity of the then Congress PM PV Narsimha Rao, MA Khan was the first to send his resignation from Assembly and only hours later President’s Rule had been imposed in UP.
The political musical chair
The next whole decade would find MA Khan, always on his feet as he went across the spectrum to become the star-campaigner for SP. SP formed its government (with BSP) in 1993. BSP later turned towards BJP and SP played the Opposition. BJP usurped the seat from BSP CM Mayawati and Babri Masjid demolition convict became Kalyan Singh became CM again in 1997, He was at the helm when Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992. Later Ramprakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh succeeded him until 2002, when BJP was ousted from power. Political expediency of Mulayam Singh, however, courted Sakshi Maharaj, a Backward Caste leader and a Babri Masjid demolition accused, be sent to Rajya Sabha, ironically with MA Khan , but MA Khan took it in his stride as induction of Sakshi Maharaj (now MP from BJP) had not however changed the ideology of SP-towards its conviction for secularism.
The SP had staked to form the government but UP Governor VK Shastri looked the other way, as BSP-BJP formed the government yet again (2002-03). Mayawati took to a tour to Gujarat to campaign for BJP despite the Muslim holocaust of 2002, and when Congress brought a ‘no-confidence motion’ against BJP in Parliament, Mayawati made her MPs to vote for BJP and saved the AB Vajpayee led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. She did not issue a fresh notification against LK Advani, as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had dropped the conspiracy charge against him in the Babri Masjid demolition case. MA Khan, as Leader of Opposition, protested to his limits, his images thronging the ‘Well of the House’ are still etched on peoples’ mind.
Mellowed down in 2003
After the advent of SP government in 2003, and the miraculous escape of the life- attempt, he became a Cabinet Minister, tendered his Rajya Sabha resignation and was extremely battered by the Gujarat riots of 2002. He planned for rehabilitation of riot-affected populace in UP-something which could not pick-up. But, during this government MA Khan was a bit mellowed down, as BJP led NDA national convener George Fernandez was present at the oath-ceremony of Mulayam Singh Yadav. But, MA Khan was at his vocal best as SP notched-up its best ever performance to win 40 MPs in the 2004 general elections from UP. However, by that time, (late) Amar Singh, who was later expelled too, had started to grow in influence inside SP. He later brought into SP, the entry of Kalyan Singh, the convict of Babri Masjid demolition which had made MA Khan to leave SP.
During this tenure, many in his own party had started to feel ‘heart-burns’ on his growing influence. MA Khan was therefore roughed-up and frisked on his visit to the inauguration of Ghaziabad Hajj House, a move which made him to contemplate to resign from the party. The policemen involved were later sacked. But, on an almost similar occasion, due to MA Khan political probity and his knack for ‘no corruption’, made him earn kudos by his party chief Mulayam Singh in 2006, when the latter vouched that not a single rupee was passed as ‘commission’ in the making of the Lucknow Hajj House, on its inauguration day.
The dream of Mohammad Ali Jauhar
MA Khan would then concentrate on his dream-project Jauhar University. Jauhar, as the name suggests, is derived from the name of Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar, MA Khan’s political inspiration, the one who weathered the atrocities of the Nawabs, during the British times, and had represented India at Round Table Conference in Britain. The university became a bone of contention for both his ‘friends and foes’. There were many inside his party who never wanted the university bill to be passed. When it was passed the UP Governor TV Rajeshwar objected and instead sent it to President APJ Abdul Kalam. The bill was redrafted and later passed again with Jauhar University as a private university. But, the final ascent could not come from the Governor BL Joshi, who made it remain frozen for seven years, until UP Governor Aziz Qureshi in 2014, finally gave a clearance to it. The way MA Khan relentlessly pursued his cause for all the last ten years,(the bill was passed on Dec 2, 2004) for the realization of Jauhar University is certainly a feat worthy to emulate, particularly, against all odds, so full of vitiating political atmosphere.
A second La Sir Syed
MA Khan at Muhammed Ali Jauhar University site.
It would be no exaggeration that MA Khan achieved a feat, much higher than Sir Syed, although he is today referred as Sir Syed-the second. The comparison become inevitable, for the fact that Sir Syed made Aligarh Muslim University by the support of British and MA Khan made Jauhar university, fighting against the government of the yore. Between 2004-14 Congress was in Center but why ever would Congress flirt with a Jauhar University idea? Moreover, the landlords and Zamidars, during the times of Sir Syed, gave sumptuous donations towards AMU, something which went missing towards Jauhar University. And last but not the least is MA Khan realised his dream during his life while Sir Syed could not in his lifetime. There is also a stark contrast between MA Khan and Sir Syed, as MA Khan wants to teach masses in his university unlike the classes which preferred by Sir Syed. This university is in the eye of storm at BJP’s understandable contempt for it, is all on display, since at least 2017.
The expulsion and the embrace
Notwithstanding the political vicissitudes, his story would never be complete until chapter of his expulsion from the party he founded is not given a mention. There is no dearth of an example, that Muslim politicians, in their respective parties, have never displayed dissent with their political masters. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had laid such foundational-lines. When Lord Rama idols were kept inside Babri Masjid in 1949, Maulana Azad kept mum. There as many fresh examples too. The Ex. CM of Maharashtra Abdur Rehman Antulay, who was also Ex. Union Minister of Minority Affairs and had raised questions on the veracity of the killing of Hemant Karkare- the Anti Terrorism Squad chief, in the wake of November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, and later, withdrew his stand like a small fry. But, MA Khan disagreed with Mulayam Singh for inducting Kalyan Singh, on the eve of 2009 parliamentary elections in 2009. He was expelled. The result were disastrous for SP, as none of its 11 Muslim candidates could win in 2009. SP had seven Muslim MPs in 2004.
Azam, during those days, was yet again saved from the jaws of death. For on Feb 15, 2009, as yet again, he had miraculous escape, in an accident, or else he was dead. His Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) was smashed beyond recognition. Mulayam Singh, after Babri Masjid case order of September 30, 2010, stated that Muslim felt betrayed, and was accused of contempt of court, found his rapport again with MA Khan, and SP strode to a thumping majority in UP 2012 elections. SP was routed in 2017 by BJP and BJP has taken to a re-run in 2022 as well. The woes of MA Khan are therefore to stay.
The brush of an anti-Shiite tag
The banquet dinner by UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.
Shiites make around 10% of the overall Muslim populace. Since, the advent of Narendra Modi in 2014, there is hardly a Shiite worth his or her salt and not associated with BJP. Anyone with any influence i.e. Political, religious, social, financial, journalism, lawyer, contractor or builder etc with a Shiite denomination, with one or two exceptions, is today with BJP. Apart from this, a common refrain from inside Shiite society is that MA Khan is anti-Shiite, which is like ‘building a paranoia of its worst kind’, as MA Khan could never be anti-Shiite. Ironically, he had been evoking the symbol of resistance of Kerbala, against tyranny, throughout the just concluded elections in Rampur. This is not to discount that every part of his polity is against the Nawabs of Rampur, who happens to profess the Shiite faith.
The Iranian delegation led by Maulana Hasan Akhteri with MA Khan in Lucknow.
MA Khan in all these years has vouched for Ayatullah Khomeni’s struggle against the Shah of Iran. He was invited to visit Iran, on personal invitation from daughter of Ayatullah Khomeni when she had visited Bhopal in 2009. MA Khan did visit Iran and was accorded a protocol usually given to the head of the states, and on reciprocation Maulana Muhammed Akhteri President of World Ahlebait Council visited Lucknow in March 2014. UP CM Akhilesh had thrown a banquet dinner for him. I was then the part of the welcome team.
Courting controversies
It would need an almost full chapter of MA Khan’s penchant for courting controversies. This is yet again a sobriquet as perhaps he has been the most misunderstood and misconstrued politician in India. Some major controversies deserve a mention. It was during the heightened tension days of Batla House encounter, that MA Khan visited Badaun, UP, on December 22, 2010, and is credited (sic) to have called that Kashmir is not an integral part of India, whereas, he considers it as an inalienable part of India. In actuality, while talking to media, he had referred to Rahul Gandhi who had said that a Muslim too can become the Prime Minister of the country. In that context he had sought to know that Congress led United Progressive Alliance-II (2009-14) government, which had come on the Muslim and secular vote, should have had about a dozen Muslim ministers from each state of India unlike only Ghulam Nabi Azad as its Cabinet Minister. He had satired that only one Muslim minister (Azad) was there in the (Union) Cabinet and that too not from India, but from Kashmir!
He was slapped with a sedition-charge under Section 124(A) of IPC and had to seek bail on it. The reality is that he had used Kashmir not as an object of speech but for symbolism against Congress, which he considered was playing second fiddle, to Muslims of Kashmir as well as for Muslims of India. He wanted to expose Congress hypocrisy on it and wanted to know if GN Azad, in reality ever represented Muslims or even Muslims of Kashmir? It is now an altogether different story, post August 2019, that the Special Status given to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh under Article 370 of Constitution of India has been annulled by BJP led NDA-II government. GN Azad has also deserted Congress.
It was in 2014, at the height of electioneering during the general elections that he was debarred from campaigning. He had spoken then that it were the Muslim soldiers who had won the Kargil war (1999) as it was the strategy of Indian army to trick the Pakistan army, as cry of Allah-o-Akbar, was resonating from the Indian side. This made the communal Hindus toil as acknowledging Muslim’s contribution, towards motherland, is always to be the last on the pedestal. MA Khan lamented and referred about Captain Haneef-ud-Din (Veer Chakra Posthumously ) who was less than 25 years, from Rajputana Rifles, and had laid down his life for the country, alongside Lance Naik Ahmed Ali, Lance Naik Ghulam Mohammed Khan, Havaldar Abdul Karim, Rifleman Mohamad Farid, Rifleman Mohamad Aslam etc. What MA Khan wanted to convey that Muslims ought to be given an equal chance to serve the nation, whereas, the reality is that Muslims make a very miniscule presence in Indian army.
Defending his statement, Khan said if a Muslim could not say he would be the first to sacrifice his life for the motherland, what was wrong in it. Courtesy: India Today and Twitter, ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY
The second major storm erupted in 2017, when MA Khan called that Naxal women cut the private-parts of our army men, and BJP bayed for his blood, saying that MA Khan was painting a bad picture of our army, MA Khan had to prove that his was not a ‘figment of imagination’ but based on news reports published in mainstream news outlets. The controversy died-out.
Courtesy: India Today
In 2019 general elections campaign, he referred to BJP candidate Jaya Prada, twice MP from Rampur, to be putting on a khaki underwear, and made him be accused of misogyny, whereas, what he had used was a political phrase, signaling towards anyone having rightist leanings.. During a debate in Parliament in 2019, he tended to ‘look into the eyes’ of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Rama Devi, only when she had specifically sought for it, but humour was discounted and BJP stood to it, particularly Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, and MA Khan has to apologise for it on the floor.
The coming days
Today, MA Khan, the otherwise name for zero-tolerance for corruption is accused of swindling lands and accorded with a ‘land-mafia’ acronym. He is accused of theft of books and furniture etc, the charges he denies. Many of these politically motivated cases are reaching the decision-level. His days are now to be exhausted in trials etc. No recoup as such is in any near future. BJP government did not relent even when SP stalwart Mata Prasad Pandey, appealed from the floor of the UP Assembly to stop the witch-hunt against MA Khan. Why does BJP wants to annihilate him? Is it because for the sake that he has been the voice of Muslims? The one who had peddled the cause of Babri Masjid on streets, in Assembly and in Parliament? Is this what democracy, under BJP, is paying him back? In any foreseeable future, there does not seem to be any reprieve for him. Even his elder brother and age old sister were named in cases and had to seek bails.
“I don’t have time”
During the last campaign, on November 29, 2022, MA Khan was brilliant. To not to exaggerate, he was the proverbial ‘Mark Antony on the funeral pyre of Julius Caesar’. There was hardly anyone not sobbing, something akin to what I would witness in Sitapur Jail when people visited him. He was emotional, dominant, reflective, victimized, battered but ‘raging and relentless’. The rapport he enjoyed was still the ‘same-rejuvenated’ as he related like a ‘father-to-his-children’ that he doesn’t have much time! The political opponents, merciless and marauding-as what they can be, construed that MA Khan was speculating his next term in jail, which is not. MA Khan had referred to his deteriorating health. There are no qualms about it. No one is indispensable, everyone who has come to earth will leave it, but MA Khan strode into a polity where every iota was against him, yet the niche he carved out of it, would be for the generations to realize.
The highest grouse against him, since decades, is the accusation that he had called Bharat Mata (Mother-India) a ‘vampire’. Whereas the fact is that he had said that only a vampire eats on her children and that cannot be a Bharat-Mata. This was when Hashimpura and Maliana genocide of Muslims was fresh, in togetherness to the Muradabad massacre of 1980, when 75,000 Muslims had gathered to offer Eid prayers and were showered with police bullets. How many died is not known as yet. Of course no one has been convicted. Considering the political tide, it can easily be deduced that MA Khan days ahead are to be strewn with more anguish and rancor as the political establishment does not want to see any Muslim voice survive for that long?
Will he be able to regain his voting rights, only time would tell.
***
The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner and writes on politics.
RSS can not digest Muslim’s empowerment. So RSS is against leader or an organization or an individual who intend on Muslim’s empowerment.
This article is full of bullshit that eulogies the acts of a Rouge as noble one just becuase he happens to be a Muslim. But what better can be expected from a bunch of thugs that reveres a fake pedophillic charlatan as the messenger of God? Perhaps MA Khan and his cohorts should try their luck in Pak or Afgan!