In a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party leader and UP minister Azam Khan on Monday said the saffron party’s UP in-charge and general secretary Amit Shah was a person who had arrived “to spread terror and goonda number one”.
Addressing an election rally at Muslim-dominated Masuri in Ghaziabad, Khan — an influential Muslim leader of Uttar Pradesh — criticised the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid for supporting the Congress and said his move would benefit the BJP.
“Imam ul Hind sahib could not even save the deposit of his son-in-law. When he could not get a better deal with the cycle, he sided with the Congress.
They are trying to open our fists just to benefit the BJP. The Congress lost MLAs in the recent assembly elections. How can they perform in the LS polls?” Khan said.
Large-scale violence and police firing in 2012 in Masuri over the alleged desecration of a religious book had left six people dead.
Khan, whose rally was held barely 400 metres away from the Masuri police station where the violence took place, said a “murderer, rapist and one who burnt children in acid cannot be termed as gentlemen... This is why we cannot term him (Shah) anything else but goonda,” Khan said.
Taking on Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots, Khan referred to Modi’s reply to a question on whether he regretted the killings.
“Modi replied that even if a dog’s pup comes under the wheels, it feels sad. Who termed us dog’s pup? It was Narendra Modi. One who termed us ‘kutte ka baccha’ is chief minister and is dreaming to become prime minister But media did not feel bad about this…” he said.
Taking on Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots, Khan referred to Modi’s reply to a question on whether he regretted the killings.
“Modi replied that even if a dog’s pup comes under the wheels, it feels sad. Who termed us dog’s pup? It was Narendra Modi. One who termed us ‘kutte ka baccha’ is chief minister and is dreaming to become prime minister But media did not feel bad about this…” he said.
Reacting to the alleged remarks made by Amit Shah in Western UP, Khan said: “You cannot avenge the ones who tried to put you in trouble.
You cannot avenge in Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Bhiwandi, Meerut or Maliyana. You should not take revenge. But a day comes when you can avenge and communal forces can be wiped out,” he said.