Azam-Jawwad spat turns ugly

The ongoing war of words between senior Samajwadi Party leader and minister Azam Khan and well-known Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad turned ugly on Tuesday when the latter launched a vicious personal attack on the former.

The cleric alleged that Azam, who had been an alumni of the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University, had been expelled from the varsity for one year on charges of forcibly entering the female ward of the varsity medical college hospital way back in 1975.

Speaking to reporters in Kanpur, Jawwad showed some documents to substantiate his allegations. He alleged that Azam Khan had entered the female ward despite protests from the doctors.

“Khan also did not turn up at the disciplinary committee hearing. He was expelled for one year,” he claimed.

The cleric also alleged that a senior UP minister was behind the recurring communal violence in the state but chose not to elaborate.

Jawwad said the Shia community would hold a demonstration in Lucknow on August 23 to press the demand for elections to the Waqf Board at the earliest. Only recently, a demonstration by the Shia Muslims to protest alleged ‘corruption’ in nominations for the Shia Waqf Board members had turned violent and the protesters had clashed with police leaving one person dead and scores injured.

Jawwad, who had led the demonstrators, has alleged Khan wanted to pack the Shia Waqf Board with his ‘stooges’, many of whom were accused of corrupt practices, an allegation vehemently denied by Khan.

Azam too hit back at the cleric accusing the latter of creating rift between Shias and Sunnis in the state. He also charged Jawwad with ‘selling’ the properties of the Shia Waqf Board. Both Azam and Javaad have demanded a CBI probe into the allegations levelled against each other.

DH News Service