At one time in Uttar Pradesh, mafias were so strong that even the collector was afraid to take action. If the mafia was Mukhtar Ansari, then this fear would have increased manifold. Due to votes and other equations, there was pressure on him from the ruling party. The officers were helpless and the public, stricken with fear, used to remain silent.
Say it’s from the 1990s. Jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari Mau, a resident of Yusufpur Muhammadabad in Ghazipur district, had made Mau his abode. It was from here that he used to carry out all illegal activities. During this he joined Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and became an MLA in 1996. Became an MLA again in the year 2002 and after three years started the infamous Mau riots of 2005.
It is said that in this riot, Mau kept burning for almost a month. Many Hindus were killed. How many houses were burnt. Shops and businesses were destroyed. Lands and houses were confiscated. The administration remained helpless and the city kept burning. The fire of this riot was so fierce that for the first time in history, the railway stopped its operation from Mau. Mukhtar Ansari, who first appeared in the world of crime in the year 1988, is said to be the mastermind of this riot.
Mau’s social worker Chhote Lal Gandhi told in detail about the horrors of this incident. Talking to OpIndia, he said, “In October 2005, Mukhtar Ansari organized the riots in a well-planned manner. These Muslims used to say that if the MLA had got three days exemption, we (Hindus) would have made chutney. On October 14, 2005, on the day of Bharat Milap, the wire was broken at Shahi Katra ground. After breaking the wire, there was a well-planned riot.”
Regarding Mukhtar’s role in the riots, Chhote Lal said, “During that time, Mukhtar Ansari was traveling in an open jeep. It was about 9:30 at that time. When he reached near Talha Bagh turn, there was firing and arson at that time. He (Mukhtar Ansari) ran with a pistol and a man was killed on the spot. Mukhtar and his brother Afzal Ansari were taken to Lucknow after catching the brother of the Yadav who was murdered. There that man sitting next to Mulayam Singh is saying that MLA Mukhtar Ansari was appealing everyone to maintain peace in Mau by being a peace ambassador.
Chhote Lal says, “Without Mukhtar, this riot would not have happened. He wanted to create a bigger scandal than the Godhra incident in Mau. The sub-inspector of Mau’s police station was a Khan. He had put away all the guns on the pretext of Zuma. He was an army soldier, who was roaming with his family at that time. He told two policemen to stop, the policemen said that there are 5000 men, he will loot them all. After this, the army soldier snatched the gun and killed one person and one person was injured, so the riot was saved.
Chhote Lal told OpIndia that he spoke to the DM several times when Muslims were burning Hindu houses. Amar Yadav was the DM then. Chhote Lal says, “We used to tell the DM that there is a riot happening here, everyone is burning, so he used to say – fight if you are fit to fight, otherwise die for years… what should we do. Deploy the police everywhere. The DM was completely paralyzed in front of Mukhtar.
According to Chhote Lal, during the riots, Mukhtar burnt shops owned by Hindus in Mau Bazaar. Their cost was up to two crore rupees. He wanted that the entire market would be empty of Hindus and only Muslim shopkeepers would remain there. He also said that Mulayam Singh Yadav had a hand on Mukhtar Ansari then. That’s why the police-administration did not take any action against him.
<
