Azam Khan asks why RSS compromised on Article 370

Rampur: UP Minister Azam Khan on Tuesday posed a question to RSS as to why it had compromised with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed on the issue of Article 370, which the outfit had kept alive since independence.

"Why and how has RSS compromised with PDP chief Mufti Mohd Sayeed on the issue of prevalence of Article 370 in Jammu and Kasmir?" Khan asked, adding that it was this contentious topic which "RSS had kept alive since attainment of independence".

Article 370 of the Constitution grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir. RSS and BJP have for long raised voices against the provision, seeking abrogation of the Article. However, with the formation of Sayeed-led PDP-BJP government in the state, it was agreed to maintain status quo on the issue.

Azam Khan who was interacting with reporters at Mohd Ali Jauhar University here yesterday evening, lashed out at leaders of saffron outfits for vitiating peaceful atmosphere by raising the issue of conversion.

"Hindus were never converted to Islam at the point of sword," he claimed, adding that those who talk of "conversions through the said mode (at the point of sword) are hurling insults on the Hindus," and called for a check on such persons.

Khan also hit out at leaders who were allegedly causing disrepute to the "pious relationship" of a couple by terming it "Love Jihad".

"They do not know the definition of love. In the name of 'Love Jihad', they are trying to bring bad name to the pious relationship between a man and a woman," he said.

Taking a dig at BJP leader Sadhvi Prachi for her appeal to youth to not idolise the Khan triumvirate (Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan), the Minister, naming himself, said there was another Khan in the list.

"They (saffron outfit leaders) have been criticising the triumvirate of Khans. But now they have added one more Khan, Azam Khan, for various purposes," he said.

Earlier, he inaugurated city bus service from Rampur to tehsil centres.