Azam Khan stirs up controversy; says Paris attacks a reaction to US actions in Syria, Iraq

NEW DELHI: Stirring yet another controversy, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan has said that global superpowers must realize that the Paris terror attack was a 'reaction' to their 'action' in Syria and Iraq.

Khan, who condemned the terror attack as unfortunate, however, added that European cities "cannot be lit up with the ill-gotten wealth from the oil reserves of Middle East".

Maintaining that the root cause of the recent global crisis is economic interests of US and its allies in West Asia, Khan said, "Do you want to light up cities like Paris, known for their wine and party culture, with the money earned through illegally occupying oil reserves in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Iran? The bombardments in Iraq and Syria on suspected IS strongholds apart from killing innocent civilians are also rendering thousands homeless. What justification do they have for this?"


Blaming the US and Russia for precipitating crisis in the troubled region, Khan said, "Western powers have already destroyed countries, like Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and to some extent, Iran. The reason is simple: they want to acquire oil reserves in these countries by brute force and deck up their own cities which is totally unjustified."

Denouncing the controversial remark made by senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and minister Azam Khan on the horrific terror attacks in Paris, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it is an incorrect and wrong statement and every organization should condemn this. "His statement is incorrect and very wrong. Be it political parties, social or religious organization within the society, everyone is condemning his statement," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

Another BJP leader, Siddharthnath Singh condemned Khan's statement and said that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav should take action against Khan and come up with a statement.