Amar Singh Blames Azam Khan For Muzaffarnagar Riots, Takes A Dig At SP Leadership

Former general secretary of Samajwadi Party (SP) Amar Singh launched a scathing attack on senior SP leader Azam Khan. Singh called Khan a 'rogue' element who allegedly threatened to throw acid on his two minor daughters and kill his wife, the Indian Express reported.

The report mentions that commenting on the situation in western Uttar Pradesh districts in 2013, Singh said that the region had not seen riots even during partition. "...but when Azam Khan was made minister in-charge of western UP districts, Muzaffarnagar had to bear the brunt of communal conflagration killing hundreds and rendering scores shelterless".

On the reference to "Namazwadi Party" popping up in Singh's sarcasm towards Khan, the report says that Singh "held Rampur MLA responsible for Muzaffarnagar riots calling Samajwadi Party 'Namazwadi' in a bid to resurrect the 'Muslim appeasement' narrative in UP's political arena."

But his ire, mainly, was directed at Mulayam Singh Yadav. Singh's comments perhaps indicate that former SP party supremo, in giving attention to Khan, ignored or missed a few developments that were building up, and that the changes in SP leadership did not help either.

The report says, "Training his guns at SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav for fostering Azam Khan as his Dattak Putra (fostered son) and not pulling him up for his mindless diatribes, Amar Singh also fired a salvo at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for patronising communalists and fundamentalists like Khan."

Singh's comments have added spark to Uttar Pradesh politics, where SP and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), together, are trying to weave a strong opposition to the "saffron party."

Also Read: Watch: Amar Singh Calls Samajwadi Party ‘Namazwadi’, Asks How It Plans To Build A Vishnu Temple