Azam Khan changed poll equations in Rampur, which shot to fame after the Samajwadi Party's Muslim leader rebelled against the induction of Kalyan Singh into the party. When I toured the city, people shouted Azam Khan's name, called him the "true leader" and that they would teach Mulayam Singh a lesson for sidelining Azam Khan.
When I met Azam Khan in his office on election day, he seemed to be in control, happily giving interviews. He had already caused damage to Jayaprada so much so that she never entered the city limits.
An edited version of the article appeared in the Indian Express on May 14, 2009.
Chinki Sinha
Rampur, May 13, 2009
In Rampur, Azam Khan, the rebel leader, called the shots on polling day.
As he sat in his office giving interviews to the media, supporters walked past his house chanting “Azam Khan ki baat par, mohar lagegi haath par.”
No pretensions. No fear. After all they were only showing their allegiance to their leader.
But the rebel leader and the Muslim face of Samajwadi Party only smiled, dismissing speculations that he would quit and join Congress. No, he wasn’t leaving the party he had founded. He was just upset over the betrayal, he said.
But his anger, which he hid under his calm demeanour, calling Jayaprada a senior leader, spilled over on to the streets, where young and old, congregated at street corners, at the chai stalls, and talked about how Azam Khan, their true leader, had been sidelined. And they would not take the betrayal easy.
And as they showed the ink mark on their fingers, they also said how they vindicated themselves by voting for the Congress, because Mulayam Singh must know that it wasn’t about the party ideology, or about the star factor in Rampur, it was all about their Muslim leader, who had done so much for them, and now was betrayed by his own friends.
“We aren’t Congresswadi or Samajwadi. We are Azamwadi. Azam Khan is the poor people’s saviour,” Faraz Khan, a local, said. “How can you insult out own leader on his turf? We will not tolerate it. Kalyan Singh is a murderer, he demolished the house of Allah.”
Another local, Irfan Khan, said they voted for Jayaprada because Azam Khan was with her.
"She is an actress. She should go back to that," he said. "We only tolerated her because of Azam Khan."
Inside his office, surrounded by the television crew, and party workers, Khan looked as if he was in control. He adjusted his hair often, gestured quite a bit but never raised his voice once. Over the phone, he chided his supporters for taking too many chai and cigarette breaks.
“You should get the people to vote,” he said.
All day, he kept to his house, with police vans parked outside, fielding questions. A bronze-colored cycle, the SP’s election symbol, lied on the floor, near his legs rested.
“I am just upset. But I am not leaving the party. Par man nahi lag raha hai ab,” he said. “They have called me names, they asked for my house arrest. What wrong did I do?”
Khan said his issue was with the party ideology. When Mulayam Singh took Kalyan Singh in, that’s when the fissures started to erupt. It was about his own faith, and his community’s sentiments.
“I have done a lot for the party. Twenty-five years I have worked for it and now they ban me from campaigning,” Khan said, his eyes scanning the room, straying outside the window, taking in the scene on the narrow street outside his office.
“No, I haven’t asked anyone to vote for the Congress. I am sitting here. How can I?,” Khan said. “But how can we vote for Kalyan?”
And while he sat, and played down his role, in Rampur on Wednesday, the poll equations had changed.
SP candidate Jayaprada toured the outskirts, remaining on the fringes of the town, asking her supporters to stand by her, using the glamour to the hilt, and evoking sympathy. But like the lipstick on her lips towards the evening, her appeal as a film star had sort of faded.
The polarization of votes in Rampur on religious lines
In 2004, Azam Khan and Jayaprada campaigned together in an open jeep. Emotions ran high then. Khan was the one who introduced Jayaprada to the town, and all welcomed her, even voted her to power. Extravagant road shows, and movie screenings of old Jayaprada’s hits like Sharabi were part of the strategy. People still remember those days when crowds lined the streets to have a glimpse of the famous star. But that was five years ago.
So much stands changed now.
This time around, theatres didn’t run Jayaprada’s films.
This time around, Azam Khan didn’t pose for the shutterbugs with her.
This time around, she was fighting alone to keep her seat, desperate and tired. And this time, they were pitched in a battle. Jayaprada referred to Khan as her rakhi brother, perhaps trying to undo the wrong. But Khan called her a “guest”, indicating she was an outsider.
In Western Uttar Pradesh, the elections have always been fought on caste and religion lines. But the fissures along the religious lines were never so apparent as on Wednesday. The voter turnout was about 52 percent.
As the Muslims united, hurt at their leader’s betrayal, angered by the induction of Kalyan Singh, the Hindus mobilized too. Much of the BJP votes went to Jayaprada. It didn’t remain an issue of candidates, or parties, or local problems. On the polling day, it was all about Hindu and Muslim votes even though many locals didn’t want it to go that way.
In Milak, minutes before Jayaprada’s cavalcade arrived, Matin Nawaz ruminated over the sad reality of the elections in Rampur.
There are more than 13 lakh voters in the five constituencies that make up the Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Incidentally, Rampur also has the largest percent of Muslim voters – about 55 percent as against the 45 percent Hindus and Sikhs combined - in the whole of Uttar Pradesh, which is also why Azam Khan can tilt equations.
“Now, when Azam Khan has the Muslim vote, the Hindus too got polarized. We don’t like it but it is the reality,” Nawaz said. “Last time, they played her songs. This time Azam Khan didn’t give her the naulakha.”
Across the street, Rakesh Kumar Goswami, starined his neck to catch a glimpse of the 1970-80s Bollywood star.
“Hindu will vote for the cycle,” he said. “I am a BJP supporter but when BJP has no chance here and when the fight is between SP and Congress, we will support Jayaprada.”
But in his car, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, was fuming.
“Jayaprada is a terrorist,” he roared, as his SUV rolled out of sight.
And all this while, Khan sat in his office, going out to cast his vote only an hour before the polling closed.
Meanwhile the ladies of Rampur kept to their turfs, never venturing into the marked territory of the other. Only Azam Khan crossed over.
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