Azam’s remark on Paris attack sparks row

UP Minister Azam Khan has stoked a controversy with his remarks on Paris terror attacks saying the “superpowers” should think whether it was a “reaction” to the “killing of innocents” in Arab countries, drawing flak from BJP which demanded action against him.

Khan, a senior Samjawadi Party leader, condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris but simultaneously raked up the issue of action by the US and Russia in Arab countries, saying “killing of innocents” anywhere is “not justified”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party   (BJP) has condemned Khan and has demanded that UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav should take a stern action against him. “Azam Khan’s reaction is the most unwanted and condemnable because it puts India in a bad light. It puts India’s fight against terror in a bad light and therefore it weakens India’s resolve against terrorism,” BJP spokesperson Siddharthnath Singh said.

“Akhilesh Yadav should put a check on Khan and come up with a statement condemning what he has said,” Singh added. State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayi also criticised Khan.