Azam Khan intensifies attack on Shia cleric Kalbe Jawwad,calls him 'blackmailer'

Apparently peeved at the postponement of Shia Central Waqf Board elections by the Uttar Pradesh government, Waqf Minister Mohd Azam Khan on Monday intensified his attack on prominent cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, terming him a "blackmailer" who did not have support of his own community.

"Instead of facing the elections, he is visiting those whom he used to rebuke during elections. Such a person, who incite 'rozedars' and try to put the entire state in trouble and arsoning cannot be a religious person but a blackmailer.

He is shying away from elections as he did not have support in his own community," Khan said in a statement issued in Lucknow. He alleged the Shia cleric and his family members are involved in selling Waqf properties and demanded a CBI probe into it.

Khan was also conspicuous by his absence at a programme at Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's residence. The programme, which was scheduled at 11 AM was delayed as Azam did not reach in time and later it was held about two hours late.

The postponment of Shia Waqf board elections came after Jawwad met Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday. On July 26, Jawwad led a protest in the city alleging conspiracy to place select people in the Waqf Board.

Jawwad had alleged Khan is trying to place his people for the post of Chairman of Shia Central Board of Waqfs (SCBW). The minister had on August 2 launched a veiled attack on Jawwad claiming that the language he used seems intended to please his masters in the BJP.

"The language this so-called cleric is using is intended to please the BJP government at the Centre," he said.