SP hits back at saffron party over Azam Khan remarks, alleges mafias linked to BJP

The Samajwadi Party strongly countered BJP state president Nitin Nabin's criticism linking SP with criminal elements, alleging instead that "mafias and goons" are associated with the BJP and are seen alongside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) President Nitin Nabin’s remarks on SP leader Azam Khan, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case, saying all “mafias and goons” are associated with the BJP and are seen “alongside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath”.

This comes after Nabin, during an exclusive interview with IANS, accused the SP leadership of pursuing vote-bank politics by standing with people associated with criminal elements.

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“These are the same people who gave Uttar Pradesh the identity of ‘One District, One Mafia’. During the Samajwadi Party government, every district had a strongman, and they used these figures to gain and maintain power,” Nabin said, responding to SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav’s claims of injustice against Azam Khan.

Reacting to Nabin’s remarks, SP MLA Sangram Yadav said: “All the mafias are associated with the BJP and are seen alongside CM Yogi Adityanath. Can’t you see who the mafia from Varanasi is sitting with? Who the mafias from Jaunpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Deoria and Allahabad are associated with? Do you only see PDA members as mafias? Can’t you see people from Yogi Adityanath ji’s own community as mafias?”

He questioned the BJP about who is a mafia, and what are the criteria for identifying one.

“The Allahabad High Court questioned how these people obtained licences. One of them even displayed 500 weapons on Dussehra. Did the Chief Minister not notice it?…It is the BJP which is the party of mafias, goons and corruption,” Sangram Yadav remarked while speaking to IANS.

Citing the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, SP MLA Jai Kishan Sahu asserted that the people of Uttar Pradesh will respond to all such statements in the 2027 elections by bringing the Samajwadi Party to power.

While maintaining that everyone is entitled to their opinion, Sahu told IANS, “The people of Uttar Pradesh are watching everything closely. Voters would give a strong reply in the 2027 Assembly elections and elect an Akhilesh Yadav-led government…under both the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments, young people are roaming in search of jobs, while students demanding employment opportunities are being met with police batons.”

Meanwhile, BJP MP Prakash Pal backed the BJP Chief Nabin over his criticism of the Samajwadi Party.

Speaking to IANS, Pal said: “There were people like Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari, Azam Khan and countless others. There used to be at least one mafia in every district, whose muscle power was used to illegally occupy people’s land and properties.”

“Look at their old photographs and records. Judges would refuse to hear cases involving Atiq Ahmed, and he would even hold police personnel hostage. In Mukhtar Ansari’s case, a pond was reportedly built inside the jail so he could eat fresh fish, and the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police would visit him in jail to play badminton. That was the kind of influence these mafias enjoyed,” he claimed, adding that under CM Adityanath’s government such mafias have been completely eliminated.