Rampur, the bastion of tall Muslim leader of Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan in election mode. Even in Khan’s absence, the royal rivalry between him and Kazim Ali is in full swing. A walk in the market observing the routine bustle, and election chirping indicate that Khan’s supporters believe in him, even when he is in Jail. That is why he is known as ‘King Khan of Rampur’.
Kazim Ali, who is a descendant of the Nawab of Rampur is the congress candidate against Khan. An old rival of Khan, Ali has been a member of the legislative assembly of UP on the tickets of BSP, SP and Congress. He has briefly served as the state minister for Minority Welfare and Hajj Affairs.
Rampur is a Muslim majority constituency with over 60 per cent Muslim voters, and Azam Khan has a stronghold in here. Shadab Khan, a local said, “a wave of change will come in UP, but not in Rampur, only Azam Khan will win. There was no development in Rampur before Azam Khan, only he built schools, colleges, hospitals.” Another local, 75- year- old Nazir Ahmad agreed, “my life spent among them. I saw it all happen in the reign of Azam Khan, and he will win.”
But, this is not it. The equation is complicated in Rampur. Kazim Ali also known as Naved Miyan is also a strong candidate, who has a family legacy, and is now gaining ground in the absence of Khan.
Gulshan, who runs a Paan Shop, said, “Nawab has lost some appeal because he keeps changing parties, but he is popular among Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike.” Gulshan further says, “In rural areas of Rampur, Azam has not much popularity even among Muslims. While Nawab has been reaching people.”
Speaking to Outlook, Ali said, “I have gone in this election on local issues.” “Rampur has the highest number of unemployment. My grandfather established 52 factories here. On the condition that Rampur people will work here. The moment Azam became labour minister for the first time, he organised a strike in Raza textile, which employed about 1800 people, and now only two factories are there. So, people want change.”
In this fight, another candidate, who is making this fight interesting is Akash Saxena, son of a four-time BJP MLA Shiv Bahadur Saxena. But interestingly, BJP is not campaigning as much as it was doing before the SP candidate was announced. Shiv Kumar, a local said, “We used to see hoardings, and door to door campaigns of BJP. But now, one lone e-rickshaw would keep roaming around with BJP banners.” There is a sense that BJP is deliberately doing it.
Saxena claims that he is behind 30 FIRs lodged against Azam Khan and continuously opposing him. Locals believe that he is awarded for that, otherwise, he has not much ground here. Khan is facing around 103 FIRs. In over 81 cases, Khan’s wife Tanzeen Fatima, and their son Abdullah are co-accused. Fatima was released on bail in December 2020. Abdullah also got bail on January 15 and is contesting from the Suar constituency.
Chiranjiv Guddu, a local Journalist, said, “there is a tight fight. Since Khan is in Jail, and the way he could have led the campaign, had he been free, is totally different.”
“There are over 60 per cent Muslim votes, and Hindus, Sikhs are showing an inclination towards Nawab. If Nawab gets even 15-20 per cent votes from Muslims, he will win this election.”
Guddu thinks that Ali has some loyal votes among Muslims as well. And Khan’s absence is helping him hugely. “Naved Miyan is meeting people, listening to their issues and making promises, which Khan is not able to do.”
Outlook visited the rally of Akhilesh Yadav in Rampur. A sense of anxiety, and chirps among top leaders who came in the rally that constituency is seeing a tough fight was visible. Abdullah Azam, though, told us, that “we are winning, the people of Rampur are with us.” But, his way of speaking clearly suggested that he is also anxious.
However, a wave of sympathy among the Muslim community of the city is with Azam. Shaib Khan, who runs a tea shop told us, “Azam Khan is falsely implicated in these cases by the BJP. It is a very planned strategy by the BJP to defeat him. And Media is also involved in it.”
Khan thinks that everyone in Rampur trusts Azam. “Azam Khan is a respected figure; he was jailed for doing good work for us. This shouldn't happen to even with our enemy.”
