Azam Khan meets Akhilesh Yadav, sends message of resilience and justice

LUCKNOW: Calling it a meeting aimed at sending a message of resilience, justice, and change, Samajwadi Party veteran leader Azam Khan met with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav here on Friday. He said the purpose of the meeting was to convey the importance of resilience and the need for justice and political change in Uttar Pradesh. Interacting with the media after the meeting, Khan said, The real intent of our meeting was to show that despite the oppression and historic injustices we faced, there are still people whose endurance is stronger than stone or mountain. Many of our people are still in jail. During our meeting, we reminded each other of those painful times so that future generations remember that such injustice once took place, Khan added. He was accompanied by his son and former MLA Abdullah Azam at the SP headquarters in Lucknow. The senior SP leader, who was recently released after spending nearly two years in jail on multiple charges, including land grabbing and intimidation, expressed gratitude to sections of the media for what he described as a change of perception. Those who once misunderstood me now seem to realize that great injustice was done to us, he said. Recalling the Income Tax raids at his residence and at Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, Khan said officials used words that could make any decent person bow his head in shame. Jauhar University was built by Azam Khan in Rampur when he served as Urban Development Minister in the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet from 2012 to 2017. He added, Such misuse of agencies must not happen again. Until the political system improves and people understand what is truly happening, injustice will continue. But I can sense change. Those who once opposed me now come to meet me, embrace me, and weep. That is a sign of transformation. Rejecting speculation that his visit to Lucknow was linked to any court case, Khan said there was no other reason for his visit but to meet Akhilesh Yadav and send a message that they stand for change. The meeting marks the second major interaction between the two leaders in a month. On October 8, Akhilesh Yadav visited Rampur to meet Khan, describing him as a strong pillar of the Samajwadi Party and promising that, if voted to power, a future SP government would withdraw all false cases against Khan and others similarly targeted. The 77-year-old Azam Khan, a founding member of the Samajwadi Party and a close aide of the party patriarch, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, was once among the most influential ministers in the SP governments of Uttar Pradesh.