In a shockingly insensitive comment, senior Samajwadi Party leader and Minority Affairs minister Azam Khan said on Tuesday that the brutal gang rape of a mother-daughter duo in Bulandshahar, could be ‘a political conspiracy to malign the state government ahead of the Assembly polls.
“Gang rape is a heinous crime but what is the truth behind the incident. The state government must also probe whether this incident is a move by opposition parties to defame the SP government. People wanting to come to power may be stooping to any low for narrow political ends,” said Azam Khan in Rampur.
‘Jab vote ke liye Congress dange karwa sakti hai , vote ke liye Gujarat ho sakta hai, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli or Kairana ho sakta hai, toh ye kyu nahi IJ Bapu (Gandhi) zinda hote to shyad ye na hota, par in logo ne unko bhi marwa dia,” ( If Congress can engineer riots for votes , if vote grabbiongcould lead to Gujarat and Muzaffarnagr riots, and events like Shamli or Kairana can be created, then why not. Had Gandhiji been alive, such incidents would not have happened, but they too got him killed) said he asking the government to launch a probe.
Reiterating his political conspiracy allegation, Khan said, “Assembly polls are near and the motive behind the gang rape could be to malign the SP. A desperate opposition could stoop to any level,” said Khan.
“The state government has performed well. CM Akhilesh Yadav has a clean image and there is no charges of corruption and misconduct against any minister. In development, UP is head and shoulder above other states,” claimed Khan.
Justifying the action against policemen, the minister said that the government should also keep a tab on rivals too.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the BJP slammed Khan for making the insensitive statements.
Reacting to Khan’s allegations, state BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that it was shameful that a senior minister could make such outrageous comment. “If you cannot give relife to the victims, you should not add insult to injury,” he said and demanded that the CM should apologise for Khan’s (mis)conduct. Chairman of Congress media cell, Satyadeo Tripathi said, “Azam Khan is in the habit of making irresponsible statements in intemperate language. If the CM has any honour for women, he should immediately dismiss the errant minister from the cabinet.’’ Khan’s insensitive comment also drew a lot of flak on the social media particularly on Twitter. People overwhelmingly condemned the statement. One comment targeting Khan said ‘there is no bottom-line to stoop low, but the race for this is very disturbing’.