‘I Got To Know In 17 Days That She Wears Khaki Underpants’: Azam Khan’s Lewd Comment On BJP Rival Jaya Prada

Plumbing to new depths of depravity in political discourse, senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and influential Muslim leader Azam Khan on Sunday (14 April) was caught on camera making a disgustingly lewd comment against his BJP rival Jaya Prada in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur constituency.

Azam Khan, who is a close associate of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and is widely regarded as the Muslim face of SP, said Jayapradha wears “Khaki underpants”.

Azam Khan, who has been fielded from Rampur, made these vulgar remark in the presence of former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and other senior party leaders.

"I brought her (Jaya Prada) to Rampur. You are a witness that I did not allow anyone to touch her body. It took you 17 years to identify her real face but I got to know in 17 days that she wears khaki underpants," said Khan while addressing an election rally.

The SP leader had said on Sunday (14 April), "I want to ask you, should politics stoop so low? 10 years the person sucked the blood of Rampur, I held that person's finger and brought the person to Rampur. I made her familiar with the streets of Rampur. I didn't let anyone touch her. No dirty words were used”.

“You made the person your representative for 10 years. But what is the difference between you and me. Rampur waalon, Hindustan waalon , uski asliyat samajhne main aapko 17 baras lag gaye (understanding the person's real face you took 17 years), I realised in 17 days, that the underwear beneath is of the khakhi colour".

Azam Khan has long been accused of running a smear campaign against Jaya Prada. Thanks to the huge clout wielded by then party general secretary Amar Singh (the actress has described him as her ‘godfather’), Jaya Prada was allocated the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009 on a Samajwadi Party ticket and won.

The actor-turned-politician had once alleged that Azam Khan was distributing nude pictures and CDs of hers. She also had said she was contemplating suicide when her morphed pictures went viral on the internet.

A year back, Jaya Prada had made several serious accusations against Azam Khan, including a claim that he "attempted an acid attack" on her.

The Muslim dominated Rampur constituency is considered a strong bastion of Azam Khan but despite Khan’s strong objection to her candidature, party founder Mulayam Singh overruled it.

For a brief while, Jaya Prada and Azam Khan enjoyed a good relationship. She had publicly addressed Azam Khan as her bhaiya (elder brother) and had even tied a Rakhi on his wrist.

Along with her mentor Amar Singh, Jayaprada was expelled for alleged anti-party activities in 2010.

"Even as a sitting MP from Samajwadi party, I wasn't spared. Azam Khan harassed me. He attempted an acid attack on me. I had no certainty if I would be alive the next day. I would tell mother while leaving the house that I wasn't sure if I would ever return home. I emerged out of it", Jaya Prada had said.

The National Commission for Women has sent a notice to the SP leader. "Absolutely disgraceful. Azam Khan is always abusive and disrespectful towards women...We are writing to the Election Commission to take strict action against him because he has to learn a lesson now. It's high time, he stops this. Women are not sex objects," said the panel's chairperson Rekha Sharma.

National Commission for Women Chairperson Rekha Sharma had earlier termed Azam Khan's alleged below-the-belt remarks against Jaya Prada as "extremely disgraceful" and said the women panel will be sending a show cause notice to him.

Reacting to Khan's remarks, she tweeted that the NCW would also be requesting the Election Commission to bar him from contesting elections.