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Tauqeer Raza: A cleric known for fiery speeches, brush with law
The first case against him was registered in 1982 at Kotwali police station for allegedly instigating riots
Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, a prominent cleric in western Uttar Pradesh, has long been a controversial name in the region. He is known for his fiery speeches and political posturing. Police records show that a total of 17 criminal cases have been filed against him, including multiple FIRs linked to riots.
Over the years, he has tried to position himself as a community leader while maintaining ties with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Born in the 1970s in Bareilly into a family of Islamic scholars, Raza is a great-grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan, founder of the Barelvi movement within Sunni Islam.
He is the younger brother of Maulana Subhan Raza Khan, the custodian of the Ala Hazrat Dargah in Bareilly, and the son of Rehan Raza Khan, a former Congress MLC. Raza himself briefly served as a Congress MLC earlier in his career, leveraging his religious influence to enter mainstream politics.
Raza’s political journey began in 2001, when he founded the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, a regional political outfit aimed at advocating for Muslim interests and communal solidarity in Uttar Pradesh.
Over the years, he demonstrated alliances with major parties to amplify his influence. In the 2007 UP assembly elections, he backed the Congress. His support proved pivotal in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections where IMC’s support helped Congress candidate Praveen Singh Aron defeat BJP’s six-time MP Santosh Gangwar in Bareilly.
Khan pledged support to the Samajwadi Party in the 2012 UP assembly polls, where he again appealed to minority voters on religious grounds. In 2013, under the SP government, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Handloom Corporation. By 2014, he had switched to supporting the BSP in the Lok Sabha polls.
The first case against him was registered in 1982 at Kotwali police station for allegedly instigating riots. More cases followed in 1987, 1988, and 1996, again for inciting violence. Further FIRs were lodged in 2000, 2007, and 2010—the last one in connection with communal clashes at Premnagar. His name resurfaced in police files with cases registered in 2019 at Kotwali, in 2020 at Sambhal and in 2023 at Faridpur.
Despite this, Raza largely avoided jail during previous governments, which, police officials believe, emboldened him to continue issuing provocative statements. He was briefly detained in 2010 over alleged incitement during Hindu-Muslim clashes but released within months.
Officials now say preparations are underway to take stronger legal measures. These include opening his history-sheet as well as proceedings under the Gangsters Act.
