Azam Khan Meets Akhilesh Yadav To Convey "Message Of Resilience"

Samajwadi Party veteran Azam Khan on Friday met with Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and said his meeting with the party president was intended to convey a message of resilience and the need for justice and political change in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Khan said, "The real intent of our meeting was to show that despite the oppression and historic injustice we faced, there still exist people whose endurance is stronger than stone or mountain." "Many of our people are still in jail. When we meet, we remind each other of those painful times so that future generations remember that such injustice once took place," said Khan, who was accompanied by his son and former MLA Abdullah Azam.

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 realise that great injustice was done to us," he said.

Khan recalled the Income Tax raids at his residence and Jauhar University in Rampur, saying officials "used words that could make any decent person bow his head in shame." 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 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 is no other reason. I came to meet Akhilesh Yadav and to send a message through you that we 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 late party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, was once among the most influential ministers in the SP governments of Uttar Pradesh.

During the period of his incarceration and upon his release from the Sitapur jail, speculations were abuzz that Khan would leave the SP due to tensions between him and Akhilesh Yadav. Khan, however, has categorically declined to make any such move.

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