Azam Khan refuses to apologise for anti-army tirade, wants govt to 'pick ballot over bullet'

Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who grabbed the headlines with his allegations of rape against the Indian Army on Wednesday has refused to apologise. The Samajwadi leader instead said, “I just want the government to pick ballot over bullet.” Speaking about incidents of violence in Kashmir, the Samajwadi leader had said on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur that the Indian Army could be misbehaving with people in the Kashmir Valley. [caption id=“attachment_3157380” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of Azam Khan. PTI[/caption] “Generally heads or hands are cut off. But on this occasion, the female terrorists cut off the private parts of the men. They didn’t have complaints against the hands, heads or feet. They had complaints specifically against the private parts so they cut and took them off. It is a huge message for which the entire country should be ashamed and think how we’ll face the world,” Khan was caught saying in a video recording at an iftar party. Khan is a close aide of the Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and has held the position of general secretary in the Samajwadi Party. He is a nine-time MLA from Rampur and is an influential leader in Uttar Pradesh. Khan, is also no stranger to controversies as he has made many statements which have led to angry reactions. In May, while reacting to a molestation case in Rampur, he told people to “keep their daughters inside the houses under strict vigil”. Then in December, he was forced to apologise for saying that the Bulandshahr gangrape may have been a political conspiracy. In 2015, he  told a rape victim not to try and find “popularity in such a thing of infamy and shame”. His latest statement too has drawn criticism. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Khan, who often politicises the issues of defence has yet again “demeaned the Indian Army”.