Kargil ‘hero’ Azam Khan now seeks ‘revenge’

LUCKNOW: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, still smarting from the storm created by his remarks that more Muslim soldiers died for India in Kargil than Hindus, found himself in the dock again on Thursday after reports that he had exhorted an audience in Western Uttar Pradesh to use their votes as revenge for the Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar riots.

“I urge you to cast your votes. Do not have breakfast or even tea till you cast your votes to seek revenge for the Muzaffarnagar riots and the Gujarat riots,” he told a predominantly Muslim gathering in Sambhal, on Wednesday evening.

Khan’s latest speech only added to the already vitiated atmosphere in these areas that is going to polls on April 17. The larger Muzaffarnagar area that was the horror theatre for the Jat-Muslim riots of 2013 saw its share of fresh controversy after BJP’s UP-in-charge Amit Shah had made a speech asking voters to seek revenge through the ballot box.

Shah had sought to invoke “izzat” and “badla” in a speech that was widely slammed for trying to polarise a society that was still nursing its wounds.

As for Khan, it is the second time that he is dominating the headlines for the wrong reasons. His speech on Kargil was taken up by the BJP whose charge was led by their Ghaziabad candidate General (Retd) VK Singh who said Indian Army had neither Hindus or Muslims, only Indians.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, trying to contain the damage, had told ET that Khan’s remarks were taken out of context. “He was not trying to polarise the electorate… he was merely trying to highlight the achievements of the Muslim community,” Yadav said.