The UP government has said it stands with the oppressed whose land was forcibly occupied by Samajwadi Party MP from Rampur Azam Khan and included in his private property at Jauhar University. 

The government said that law would take its own course and there was no element of political vendetta in the action taken by the Rampur district administration to list Khan as a ‘land mafia’ on the UP government’s anti-land mafia portal. “Azam Khan, as Cabinet minister during the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government, usurped the land of poor Muslim farmers and Dalits and included it in the Jauhar University campus spread across 1,100 acres. What is the government expected to do? Side with the oppressed or with those who tortured the poor farmers and booked them in fake cases and snatched their land in a fraudulent manner?’’Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna asked while replying to an adjournment notice tabled by the SP in UP Assembly on Tuesday.

The SP, in its adjournment notice, alleged that the government action against Khan was inspired by political vendetta and he was being persecuted for narrow political objective of the BJP government for communal polarisation in the state. 

Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary alleged that the government was preparing grounds to send Khan to jail and eliminate opposition from the state.

Rebutting the charges of political vendetta, Khanna said: “FIRs were lodged against Khan and others after due investigation and he has been listed as land mafia on the UP government portal. Khan has been enlisted as land mafia as per a government order issued on May 1, 2017.

Quoting from the report submitted to the state government by the DM of Rampur, Khanna said: “Over 30 acre of lands of Dalit families were allegedly purchased by Jauhar University without the permission of competent authority (DM). Title ownership of the land belonging to Schedule Caste community cannot be changed without permission of the competent authority.”

The minister said that the Rampur District Magistrate had also annexed certificate issued by the sub-registrar of Rampur certifying that the land of over 50 Muslim farmers and some Dalit families was forcibly occupied by Khan and his musclemen Aale Ahmed and no registration of the land in question was executed at the office of the sub-registrar for purchase.’’ Besides Khan, FIRs have also been lodged against former Deputy SP of Rampur Aale Hasan and current chief security officer of Jauhar University.

Khanna said that Muslim and Dalit farmers in their affidavits had said they were terrorised, tortured and booked in false cases like NDPS, and many were sent to jail, forcing them to part with their land. 

The minister said that then circle officer (City) of Rampur Aale Hasan supervised the “terror campaign” to force the poor farmers to give up their land to the private university and promoted by Khan.

After hearing both sides, Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit rejected the notice. Unhappy with the government reply, the SP members reached the Well of the House. The House was later adjourned for the day.