In Ghazipur seat, Mukhtar Ansari’s death remains a factor as brother contests, shadowed by ‘disqualification’

At 9 pm, Afzal arrives in a small fleet of cars, weaving their way through narrow lanes, and heads straight to the stage where SP leaders are waiting for him along with those of ally Congress.

Nearly an hour into his speech, Afzal brings up Mukhtar’s death. “You saw recently kis berehmi ke saath jail mein in zalimon ne usko zehar diya (they poisoned him mercilessly in jail). And it was passed off as a heart attack… They stopped people from honouring his grave. There is no such law allowing this. Today, the time has come to punish these oppressors.”

However, Afzal adds, he wants this not just due to his personal grievance, “but for the fraud they have pulled on the country”. “Inflation and unemployment have gone up,” he says, amid slogans of “Takht badal do, taaj badal do. Beimani ka raaj badal do (Topple the ruler, overthrow the crown. Change this dishonest government)”.

Two months after his death, Mukhtar remains a divisive, if unavoidable, figure in Ghazipur – with some people maintaining he was a “messiah” and others calling him a “dreaded criminal”. But there are few who believe the Uttar Pradesh government’s claim that there was no foul play in his death.

If the supporters of the Ansaris feel the family has been persecuted under the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government, there is another aspect to it – a case in the Allahabad High Court that might still see Afzal getting disqualified to contest.

The Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituency has a sizeable Yadav and Muslim population, around 3.5 lakh and 2 lakh, respectively, who are seen as SP supporters. (Express Photo)

In April last year, a Ghazipur court sentenced Afzal to four years’ imprisonment, leading to his disqualification as an MP. In December 2023, the Supreme Court suspended his conviction conditionally and directed the Allahabad High Court to resolve his appeal by June 30, 2024.

With the matter hanging, Afzal’s daughter Nusrat has filed her nomination as an Independent – to step in for her father if he can’t contest the elections.

The Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituency has a sizeable Yadav and Muslim population, around 3.5 lakh and 2 lakh, respectively, who are seen as SP supporters. The Dalits, at around 3 lakh, also play a crucial role, besides Rajbhars (1 lakh), Kushwahas (1 lakh) and upper castes (together, a little less than 2 lakh).

In 2019, Afzal won the seat as a candidate of the BSP, which fought the elections in alliance with the SP. He defeated the BJP’s Manoj Sinha by 1.19 lakh votes, thus quashing, according to some, Sinha’s chief ministerial hopes. (Sinha had won from Ghazipur in 1996 and 2014.) The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir now, Sinha has been visiting Ghazipur regularly to keep an eye on his close confidant Parasnath Rai’s election campaign.

Rai, a Bhumihar leader who runs schools in Ghazipur district and has been associated with the RSS for decades, is seen as a surprise pick for the seat.

In 2019, Afzal won the seat as a candidate of the BSP, which fought the elections in alliance with the SP. (Express Photo)

If Afzal is eyeing sympathy votes, Rai is banking on just the opposite. At a recent public meeting in Ghazipur, he said: “He (Afzal) says the whole district was in mourning and that thousands came to give soil to his (Mukhtar’s) grave. I say that the day that murderer died, the whole district breathed a sigh of relief. God knows how many mothers were widowed by him, how many sisters lost their brothers. Do the common people not remember all this? He was a source of terror.”

The truth, as it does, lies somewhere in between. In the Jangipur Assembly segment’s Saraibandi village, Sonu Kumar (34), a Dalit, who has some relatives in Mohammadabad (where the Ansari family lives), says, “Mukhtar Ansari helped every poor person in Mohammadabad. He only went after the rich. His death was a big loss for all of us. Generally, I vote for the BSP, and never the SP, but this time my vote will go to Afzal Ansari.”

The BSP has fielded Umesh Kumar Singh, a Thakur.

To others, Mukhtar’s death is not as big a factor as religion, price rise and unemployment. Manti Devi Rajbhar (40) talks about the Narendra Modi government’s free 5 kg ration scheme. “I will decide depending on how everyone else is voting,” the resident of Asatpur village says.

Rajeev Kumar (53) says his family’s vote will go to the party that can assure a job for his son. “He is 25. It has been four years since he graduated… We need some change,” says Kumar, who belongs to the OBC Kushwaha community.

On his opponent Rai, Afzal tells The Indian Express that he is part of the “education mafia”, only given a ticket by the BJP on the directions of Manoj Sinha. “Rai runs schools where he makes money by allowing students to cheat. Ghazipur has become famous as a cheating hub,” Afzal says, a point he has been repeating at public meetings.

Rai says he has no time to react to such allegations. He tells a public gathering: “You (Afzal) are an MP and a respected person, you should speak like one… There has never been a year when students of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Inter College (run by Rai) have not been in the merit list of UP… I’m a teacher, talk to me like one.”