No 'law', only 'order' left in Uttar Pradesh's law and order: Azam Khan

Lucknow, Nov 6 (PTI) Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan on Thursday took a swipe at the law and order situation under the Yogi Adityanath government, quipping that only "order" remains while "law" has gone missing.

Referring to the NDA's repeated reference to 'jungle raj' under the past RJD rule in Bihar, he said that such rhetoric ignores the current ground realities.

During an interaction with PTI Videos in Lucknow, Khan said that in Uttar Pradesh, "Law and order se 'law' gayab hai, yahan sirf 'order' chal raha hai (In law and order, the 'law' has gone missing, only order remains).

"I am standing here before you (as an example)," he said, hinting at his legal troubles and multiple pending cases.

On Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling opposition party leaders as "Ram drohi" (opposers of Lord Ram) during a recent election campaign in Bihar, Khan said such judgments should be left to faith, not politics.

"Now, it is for Lord Ram's devotees to decide who is Ram-drohi. If others (politicians) have to decide that, then religion itself will suffer a great loss," he remarked.

Khan said he would like to campaign in Bihar polls but could not do so in the first phase due to personal reasons and lack of security.

"I have no security at the moment. I came to Lucknow today all by myself," he said, adding rather wryly, "They talk about Bihar's jungle raj. I am scared to go into such a jungle because people there might have powerful weapons which, unfortunately, I don't." The Samajwadi Party leader also took a dig at NDA's repeated references to "jungle raj" in Bihar under the past RJD rule, saying that such rhetoric ignores today's ground realities.

Referring to the criminal cases pending against him, Khan said the credibility of constitutional institutions has eroded so much so that even the Supreme Court had to intervene in his matters.

He also ridiculed some of the charges against him, including one of allegedly stealing a goat. "I was sentenced to 21 years and fined Rs 36 lakh for stealing a goat. And I didn't even get the goat!" he said sarcastically.

He claimed that the land grabbing allegations against him were politically motivated.

"The houses built under the Aasra Yojana on that land were allotted in 2016 and the construction continued for over a year and a half. Three years later, they began registering cases saying that Azam Khan grabbed the land, stole a goat," he said.

Asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations of "vote theft" in Haryana polls, Khan said, "Rahul ji is a very big leader. I don't have the stature to contradict him. If people are saying this (votes were stolen), they must be right." Khan, a former influential minister in Uttar Pradesh, was recently released from jail after spending almost two years behind bars in multiple criminal cases. PTI COR KIS RUK RUK