AMU Students Take Out March Demanding SP Leader Azam Khan’s Release

Students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) took out a march on Monday demanding the release of senior Samajwadi Party leader and varsity alumni Azam Khan on medical grounds. Lodged in Sitapur jail since 2019, the Member of Parliament had been admitted to a private hospital in Lucknow because of post-COVID-19 complications.

The march started from Duck Point to Bab-e-Syed was attended and joined by hundreds of students. Describing his arrest as “an act of political vengeance”, the students submitted a memorandum to the President of India, demanding a “fair probe” into the charges levelled against him and that cases against him be transferred outside Uttar Pradesh.

Former Vice President of AMU Students’ Union, Nadeem Ansari told The Cognate, “People in power have forgotten the meaning and existence of humanity. They know that one day they will be in opposition but they should be human enough to recognize the agony and plea of an extremely ill person.”

He said, “We don’t have very high hopes but we demand the centre and state government release him at the earliest so he can get adequate medical treatment.”

Huzaifa Amir Rashadi, outgoing honorary secretary of AMU Students’ Union blamed the establishment and recalled their attempt of intimidating Muslims, be it students, activists or political leaders.

He said, “Azam Khan’s leadership has been a great asset to the university and further for nation-building during his political span in parliament. He has served the nation for his entire political career and has been transparent like a mirror. But this continuous harassment, threatening and intimidating is nothing but a political vendetta against him and the community he represents, that is Muslims.”

“He is been given this brutal treatment to break his nerve and set an example for ordinary Muslims that see this is what we have done to you and we can do even worse to you”, he added.

He further said, “He is the only leader in North India who has been an educational reformer for the Muslims and on a noble mission to disseminate education among minority community, this is a targeted attack on this idea of educating and uplifting minorities, so they don’t question the establishment, about their discriminatory policies.”

“He is suffering from multiple diseases and requires serious treatment and hence he should be granted bail at the earliest, like any other citizen of the country”, he concluded.

Azam Khan pursued his Master of Law (LLM) from Aligarh Muslim University and also served the varsity as an elected secretary of the Students’ Union. Since 1993 he has been a member of the Samajwadi Party, a regional political party in Uttar Pradesh and has been elected to legislative assembly and Parliament many times and also served as a cabinet minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh.