I am the item girl of BJP, says Azam Khan after 2 FIRs against him in 1 week

The police have registered the second FIR in a week against SP leader Azam Khan, this time for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Dalit icon B R Ambedkar two years ago.

Image: Azam Khan/PTI (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: Former Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Wednesday blamed the ruling BJP for the filing of two FIRs against him in the last seven days. He said the saffron party was using his name to fight elections. He said this after the police registered the second FIR in a week against him, this time for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Dalit icon B R Ambedkar two years ago. The FIR was registered on a complaint by Ambedkar Mahasabha general secretary Amarnath Prajapati at Lucknow's Hazratganj police station Tuesday. Reacting to it, Khan said the BJP was playing politics as elections are approaching. "I am the item girl of the BJP. They contest all the elections on my name. The last assembly election was fought on my name and the same is the case with the coming Lok Sabha elections," he said in Badaun. "The present state of affairs is such that I do not remember how many cases have been filed against me and where. I keep getting summons and warrants," he said, adding that he has no property in his name and only one bank account. Azam Khan was in Badaun district to attend a function organised by a Muslim organisation. He urged bringing the Dalits, the backwards and the deprived together to defeat communal forces. Khan also mocked the BJP over the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site. 'Do whatever you want but don't misguide the country," he said. The fresh FIR against Khan alleged that during the inauguration of Haj House in Ghaziabad in 2016 Khan made an objectionable statement against Ambedkar, terming him someone who "grabs land". "All over the state, there are statues of a person whose finger seems to say that it owns not only the plot in which it stands but also the plot towards which it is pointing," the SP leader allegedly said. Earlier, on October 17, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh lodged an FIR against the controversial SP leader at the Gomti Nagar police station for allegedly threatening his daughters with acid attack. Singh claimed Khan made the threat against him and his 17-year-old twins during an interview to a television channel. (With inputs from PTI)