Azam Khan (politician)

Mohammad Azam Khan (born 14 August 1948) is an Indian politician, lawyer and elected representative who has served as the Member of Parliament from Rampur. He is one of the founding members of the Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. He was also the senior most Cabinet Minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh and has been elected member of the legislative assembly ten times from Rampur assembly constituency. He was disqualified from his elected seat when he received a two-year prison sentence from the court.

Life and education
Azam Khan was born in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India to Mumtaz Khan. He attended Aligarh Muslim University and attained Bachelor of Laws degree in 1974. Khan married Tazeen Fatma in 1981 and has two sons. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a lawyer. His son Abdullah Azam Khan was an MLA from Suar Assembly Constituency from 2017 to 2019.

Political career
Azam Khan hailed from an ordinary family. He forged unions of bidi and textile workers and rickshaw pullers in order to take on Nawab of Rampur in 1980's. Azam Khan ended the political domination of the Nawab family in Rampur. Since then, Azam Khan has been an MLA for ten terms; all from Rampur assembly constituency. He was also a cabinet minister in the government of Uttar Pradesh. Khan is currently a member of the Samajwadi Party but has been a member of four other political parties between 1980 and 1992. During his first term (8th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh), he was a member of Janata Party (Secular). During his second term (9th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh), he was a member of the Lok Dal. Khan was a member of Janata Dal during his third term (10th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh). In his fourth term (11th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh), Azam Khan was a member of Samajwadi Janata Party. Since 1993 (his fifth term and 12th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh), he has been a member of the Samajwadi Party.

Azam Khan also held a post of General Secretary in Samajwadi Party. However on 17 May 2009 he resigned from the post of the party. During the 15th Loksabha elections, he became involved in a controversy with Jaya Prada, who was contesting from BJP ticket and the surrounding controversies resulted in party crisis. On 24 May 2009, he claimed to have been expelled for six years although the party chief claimed he himself resigned. The Samajwadi Party later revoked his expulsion and he rejoined on 4 December 2010. After his successful win in 2014, Khan has been given ticket from Rampur constituency by the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.

During his career as a lawmaker and minister, there were many instances of Khan engaging in profanity. He allegedly made provocative and objectionable comments against bureaucrats, government officials and even abused his staff.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Khan was prohibited from campaigning by twice after Election Commission of India found him guilty of making objectionable comments in six of his speeches, including foul comments for his opponent Jaya Prada, and violating the Model Code of Conduct. Khan was accused of making sexist remarks again, while addressing his electorate for the first time after winning the Lok Sabha election, and a case was filed against him. The National Commission for Women (NCW) reacted to the incident by calling for his disqualification.

In 2023, Azam Khan was sentenced a two-year imprisonment by the court for using “criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty” and inciting violence. This incident occurred in 2008 when the police stopped his vehicle for a search after an attack on CRPF camp in his constituency, Khan obstructed traffic on the road and caused inconvenience to the public on the highway. After this conviction, he was disqualified as Member of Legislative Assembly in accordance with Representation of the People Act, 1951 which mandates any elected leader who receive a jail sentence of two years or more will be disqualified from holding office. Following their conviction, they will be ineligible to vote for six years, rendering them unable to run for any elections during this time. He lost his seat from Rampur constituency which he held for about three decades.

Legal cases
Khan has been accused in almost 80 legal and criminal cases against him related to land encroachment and criminal intimidation, most of the registered after 2017 in connection with land-grabbing for Muhammad Ali Jauhar University.

Rampur Police has been investigating one of the cases of land acquisition. There are several cases of land grab registered against the NGO ‘Jauhar Trust’ founded by Khan.

In January 2019, a case of forgery was lodged against Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma and son with respect to the birth certificate of his son Abdullah at a local police station in Uttar Pradesh. However in March 2019, the Allahabad High Court stayed their arrest until the probe was completed by the police. Khan was supported by party leader Akhilesh Yadav who claimed the cases were politically motivated, however in January 2020, the court declared the three, Abdullah and his parents, to be absconders for failing to appear in the court during case hearings. Following this, the Enforcement Directorate will be attaching the properties of Khan from the first week of February onward. On 26 February 2020, Khan was sentenced to imprisonment along with his wife and son for forging a fake birth certificate for his son. The Supreme Court granted interim bail on 19 May 2022 in an alleged cheating case. The interim bail will continue till his regular bail plea is decided, clearing the way for his release. On 27 October 2022, an MP-MLA magistrate court Sentenced three-year jail term to Khan finding him guilty of hate speech in a 2019 case. On 24 May 2023, a UP court acquitted Khan in a hate speech case.