‘Came For Your Father’s Death’: Azam Khan to Media When Questioned

A day after controversy over Azam Khan’s purported comments against Jaya Prada broke out, the Samajwadi Party leader, when questioned by the media about the remark on Monday, 15 April, said, “Aapke vaalid ki maut mein aaya tha” (I have come here for your father’s death).

Khan was in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha for the last rites of former Rajya Sabha MP and SP leader Munavvar Saleem, when he was questioned by reporters. Saleem had passed away earlier on Monday, reported ANI.

An FIR has been filed against Azam Khan for his “underwear jibe”, purportedly against actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who is fighting the Lok Sabha polls from Rampur against Khan as a BJP candidate.

Without naming the actor, Khan told the gathering in an election rally, “... you got represented (by her) for 10 years (aapne das saal apna pratinidhitwa karwaya).”

“People of Rampur, people of Uttar Pradesh and people of India, it took you 17 years to understand her reality. But, I could recognise it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear, (Rampur waalo, Uttar Pradesh waalo, Hindustan waalo, usski asliyat samajhne mein aapko 17 baras lag gaye. Main 17 dinon mein pehchaan gaya ki inke neeche kaa jo underwear hai, woh khaki rang kaa hai),” said Khan.

Akhilesh Defends Remark

Meanwhile, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav sought to defend Khan’s comment during a rally in Moradabad on Monday, saying:

“Azam Khan sahab said some people wear the clothes of RSS, he said this about someone else. We are Samajwadi people, we cannot use any bad language for women or for our daughters.” (Azam Khan sahab ne kaha kuchh log RSS ke kapde pehen ke rehte hain, unhone kisi aur ke baare mein kaha tha, hum samajwadi log hain, kabhi hum mahilaon ke prati aur betiyon ke prati koi galat bhasha istemaal nahi kar sakte.)

Akhilesh Yadav, as quoted by ANI

Speaking to ANI, Khan too had attempted to clarify his controversial remark on Monday, claiming that his statement was aimed at a “person in Delhi,” and that he would not contest the elections if he was “proven guilty”.

“I was referring to a person in Delhi who is unwell, who had said, ‘I came with 150 rifles and I would have shot Azam if I had seen him.’ Talking about him, I said, it took a long time to know people and later it was found that he was wearing RSS shorts.”

Azam Khan, SP leader

(With inputs from ANI.)