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Known for making controversial remarks, senior Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan outdid himself when he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Lahore at the residence of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last December. Sharat Pradhan/ Rediff.com reports from Lucknow.
Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister Azam Khan, who is also the most prominent Muslim face of the ruling Samajwadi Party, on Saturday accused Prime Minster Narendra Modi of having a ‘secret meeting’ with India's most wanted fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim, during his visit to Pakistan in December 2015.
Referring to Modi as the badshah (king), Khan claimed, “I have photographs to prove that Modi did have a meeting with India’s most-wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim during his visit to Pakistan where he went to meet Pakstan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.” Khan was addressing a gathering at the annual function of a college in Ghazipur.
“When Modi went to call on Prime Minister Sharif’s mother, he was accompanied by two prominent Indian business magnets, (Gautam) Adani and (Sajjan) Jindal,” Khan added.
"Prime Minister Modi visited Pakistan by breaking international laws. He also met Dawood there. Let him (Modi) deny, I will give evidence. Who all did he meet behind closed doors?" Khan said.
He said besides Dawood, Sharif’s mother, his wife and daughters were also present when Modi met them at the Pakistan prime minister's residence when he went there on December 25 last year.
Azam Khan, who is widely known for his acerbic and sharp comments, further charged Modi with giving away expensive pashmina shawls to Nawaz Sharif and getting seekh kebabs in return.
“Mind you, the kebabs were not made of lauki (gourd),” Khan quipped making a curt reference to Modi’s famously vegetarian food habits.
Khan also referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Varanasi as a “fruitless” one which only served the interests of Japan.
“While Varanasi could not become a Kyoto, the Japanese prime minister managed to get deals struck worth thousands of crores,” Khan alleged.
He further blamed the Narendra Modi government of deliberately excluding Lucknow from the list of smart cities, since UP is not a BJP-ruled state.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party attacked him, even a Congress spokesperson said the party attached no importance to it, saying it cannot be believed.
BJP's Sudhanshu Mittal asked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to "immediately" dismiss the minister.
"If Akhilesh means business, he should immediately dismiss him for disturbing communal harmony and bringing shame to the nation. I am shocked," he said.
Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said Khan has been in public life for a long time and he should not have made the statement without substantiating it.
"We may have differences with a lot of personalities but that does not mean we believe in whatever is said," he said, adding that Khan is the same person who asked UP policemen to trace his buffalo.
With inputs from PTI