Akhilesh Yadav backs Azam Khan as the ED arrests him again. Can the Samajwadi Party keep its Muslim base and Azam’s legacy intact for the 2027 UP election?

“Azam the, Azam hain aur Azam rahenge.” With that line, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tried to end talk about his equation with one of the party’s tallest Muslim leaders. The politics around Mohammad Azam Khan is far messier than the slogan suggests.

Nine days after Akhilesh visited Azam in Rampur jail on October 22, the veteran leader walked out with his son Abdullah Azam. The Allahabad high court had granted them bail in the dual PAN card case. The freedom lasted minutes. The Enforcement Directorate arrested Azam in a separate money laundering case linked to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, and a court sent him to 14 days of judicial custody.

As Uttar Pradesh heads towards the 2027 assembly election, Akhilesh faces a question beyond personal loyalty. Can he hold on to Azam’s legacy without becoming hostage to its baggage?

Azam and Abdullah had been in custody since November 2025 after their conviction in the dual PAN card case. The high court suspended their ten year sentences and granted bail. But the ED had another case ready. It arrested Azam soon after his release, while Abdullah went home.

The agency alleges that government funds were diverted to build the university in Rampur. Azam founded it and heads the trust that runs it. These are allegations under investigation, not findings of guilt. Azam told reporters he was being punished for being a Muslim and for building a university and schools. A special PMLA court in Ghaziabad sent him to custody the next day.

Akhilesh hit back hard. He accused the BJP government of using cases to jail an elderly leader again and again. In a post on X, he warned that thrones change when time changes, and called the conduct against Azam an utterly cowardly act. The BJP says the law applies equally to everyone.

The stakes go beyond one man. Muslims make up roughly 19 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s population. In 2022, they were a decisive factor in about 70 constituencies where they formed at least 30 percent of voters. The SP fielded 64 Muslim candidates and 31 won, lifting the number of Muslim MLAs in the assembly to 36 from 24 in 2017. The BSP fielded 88 and the Congress 75, while AIMIM put up more than 60. None of them elected a single Muslim MLA.

Azam was central to that equation. His hold on Rampur and his standing among sections of the community gave the SP a strong local network. His wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah added to the family’s weight. His absence has left a gap, and rivals want to fill it.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is trying. At an October 18 rally in Tanda, he accused Akhilesh of treating Muslims as a vote bank while favouring Yadavs, and asked why the SP had not done more for Azam. His pitch was independent Muslim representation. Even without winning seats, such parties can split votes in close contests.

Akhilesh’s jail visit was therefore a signal to Azam’s followers that the SP had not abandoned him. It also came amid fears that Owaisi could turn sympathy for Azam into votes. The SP has also been building a wider coalition under its PDA framework, covering backward classes, Dalits and minorities. It cannot afford to lose Muslim support while it reaches out to others.

Azam’s own record in Rampur shows both his strength and its limits. He won the Rampur Sadar seat ten times and beat the old Nawab family’s influence. In 2022, he won it again while campaigning from jail. Then a hate speech conviction cost him his seat. In the December 2022 bypoll, the BJP’s Akash Saxena beat Azam’s aide Asim Raza by around 34,000 votes. It was the BJP’s first win in Rampur Sadar.

The cracks widened in 2024. With Azam, his wife and his son facing prison, the SP fielded Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi in Rampur. The choice reportedly upset Azam’s loyalists, and many stayed away from campaigning. Azam’s network still matters to the SP. But Akhilesh can no longer assume the family will fall in line.

The BJP sees an opening. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said the state government has nothing to do with Azam’s cases and that courts decide bail. He has also accused the SP of sympathy for criminals instead of victims of land grabbing. The party’s wider message paints the SP’s past tenure as mafia raj. If Akhilesh makes Azam’s rehabilitation a theme, the BJP can say the SP has not changed.

The SP must separate allegations, court findings and the political story built around them. It can argue for due process. It cannot wish away the effect of the convictions. A campaign dominated by the Azam controversy could also hurt the PDA push.

So the arithmetic matters as much as loyalty. Akhilesh must reassure Muslim voters that the SP hears them, while keeping the PDA coalition broad. Azam may be an asset the party cannot easily discard. He may also be a liability it cannot afford to let define the 2027 campaign.