Ansari in Kolkata for a fresh start

CPI(M)’s youth wing DYFI and women’s wing Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti, whose members were there at the Howrah station to receive Ansari, are offering all help to Ansari. ‘‘We will buy the family all utensils and other things required to run a household,’’ Mahila Samiti leader Shyamali Gupta said. ‘‘They will receive all help from us,’’ added Aftab Alam, a DYFI leader.

A posse of policemen was deployed at the railway station but all hell broke loose as mediapersons jostled with the policemen and DYFI members to get nearer to the man whose photograph, where he was seen crying and begging for his life with folded hands, hit worldwide fame. A visibly frightened Ansari, with his daughter in his lap, was later escorted out of the station by the police.

Ansari, a father of two, had to run away from Ahmedabad soon after the Godhra riots after he became the butt of jokes. He went to Mumbai to eke out a living, but fear and insecurity stalked him there too and he lost his job. West Bengal Minister for Minorities’ Development Mohammad Salim got to know of his plight and offered him government help for his rehabilitation in Kolkata which Ansari accepted.