It would be worth mentioning here that Mohd Azam Khan had been one of the founders of Samajwadi Party, yet, had been expelled from the party before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. This ironical episode occurred when Khan openly criticized Mulayam Singh Yadav for having joined hands with Kalyan Singh, as the latter is considered a baddie by many Muslims for his failure to protect the Babri Mosque during Singh’s chiefministership of UP. The Babri Mosque demolition (in)famously happened on December 6, 1992.

Mohd Azam Khan, previously considered to be the Muslim face of the party by its senior member Mulayam Singh Yadav, was also very critical of Mr Amar Singh, and the Rampur MP Jaya Prada.

It was only after Mulayam Singh Yadav had dumped Kalyan Singh, and Mr Amar Singh and Ms Jaya Prada had exited from the party, that Mohd Azam Khan found his way to rejoin the party that had shunned him.

With the Samajwadi Party trying to win over support of the Muslims for the Assembly polls scheduled for 2012, the re-entry of Mohd Azam Khan in Samjwadi Party is very crucial and well-timed.

Interestingly, the SP had lost its traditional support of Muslims in the last Lok Sabha polls, which resulted in a marked fall in the number of seats. It should also be noted that the party could not ensure victory of any Muslim candidate on its ticket during the last Lok Sabha polls.

At a function held in Lucknow on December 4, Yadav and Khan shed few tears openly to give an emotional touch to the ceremony, in the presence of party office-bearers, MPs and legislators.

Mulayam Singh Yadav welcomed Mohd Azam Khan with open arms and promised that he had learnt his lesson and would never join hand with any communal persons.

Yadav further said that the political scenario was furiously changing, and that he could do nothing without support of Khan. Yadav appeared confident and declared that with the entry of Khan, the party would be definitely strengthened.

On the occasion, Mulayam Singh Yadav asked the party workers to drown their differences and work together for capturing power in Uttar Pradesh by dislodging the Mayawati government, which he indicated, was involved in corruption more massive in scale than the current 2G spectrum.

The Samajwadi Party supremo directed his party leaders and workers to prepare for assembly polls to capture power in the state of UP and then New Delhi in the next Lok Sabha polls.

For his part, Mohd Azam Khan said that since party leadership had accepted its mistake about associating with Kalyan Singh and some other elements, (read Amar Singh and Jaya Prada) who, in fact, did more harm than good to the party, he would be happy now to aid in strengthening the party.

Political analysts feel that the re-entry of Mohd Azam Khan would certainly help Samajwadi Party in the next assembly polls, as the minority community is feeling hurt with High Court judgment on Ayodhya-Babri Mosque issue, and are annoyed with Congress for not opposing it enough.

That is why Mulayam Singh Yadav was the first leader to speak in favour of the Muslim community the very next day.

Earlier Mulayam had asked the Muslim community to pardon him for having joined hands with Kalyan Singh, a decision that had resulted in loss of Muslim support for Samajwadi Party in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

It was then, Mohd Azam Khan, along with several other prominent Muslim leaders, had deserted Samajwadi Party, including Mohd Shafiqur Rehman Warq and Salim Sherwani.

Now it is to be seen whether the home-coming of Mohd Azam Khan would also pave way for other Muslim leaders to return to the party fold. There are leaders like former Union Minister and former close associate of Samajwadi Party supremo, Beni Prasad Verma – the MP who is currently sulking in Congress and is also likely to be roped in by Mulayam Singh Yadav. (IPA Service)