To understand the many dimensions of this question, it is necessary to examine the ideological conflict between the two leaders, the political equations in Rampur and Gorakhpur, and the change in the administrative approach after 2017.
Two opposing poles of Uttar Pradesh politics
In any political system, certain individuals represent more than just themselves. They become the most prominent symbols of the ideologies of their time. In Uttar Pradesh politics, Yogi Adityanath and Azam Khan have come to represent two such opposing poles.
Adityanath has established himself as the foremost standard-bearer of the Gorakshpeeth tradition and an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist cultural politics. Azam Khan, meanwhile, has for nearly four decades been regarded as one of the most outspoken, influential and ideologically uncompromising figures in Muslim politics in Uttar Pradesh.
Between 2012 and 2017, when the Samajwadi Party was in power, Azam Khan was among the most powerful ministers in the state. Rampur was then regarded as his political laboratory and an impregnable stronghold.
In contrast, Yogi Adityanath, then a Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur, was advancing the Hindutva agenda in mainstream state politics. When power changed hands in 2017 and Adityanath became chief minister, it was not merely a change of government or a shift between two political parties. It marked a historic transfer of the centres of power, administrative style and ideological dominance — with Azam Khan and his political empire emerging as central figures in this transition.
The historical roots of the feud
The bitterness between Yogi and Azam did not begin with the change of government. Its roots go back to well before Adityanath became chief minister. Between 2015 and 2016, whenever the two leaders confronted each other on the floor of the Assembly or at public gatherings, political decorum often took a back seat.
During the Samajwadi Party government, Azam Khan repeatedly adopted an aggressive and controversial position on Yogi Adityanath’s personal life and the functioning of religious ascetics. Adityanath, too, responded with sharp attacks on Azam Khan’s political arrogance and administrative style. Gradually, this personal hostility transformed into deep-seated political enmity.
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