Rise and fall of Mukhtar Ansari: The don’s long shadow on UP politics over decades

He also ensured victory of his elder brothers — Afzal Ansari and Sibgatullah Ansari — and also his son Abbas and nephew Suhaib alias Mannu in various Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, barring a couple of electoral reverses faced by Afzal and Sibgatullah.

A native of Mohammadabad in Ghazipur, a eastern UP district bordering Varanasi and Mau and Azamgarh districts, Mukhtar’s underworld footprint was spread over large swathes across UP, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana.

He had formidable influence in the Muslim-dominated belts of Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Mau, Azamgarh and Ballia districts, which play a deciding factor in the elections to a majority of the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in these districts. This was mainly the reason why two major UP parties – the Samajwadi Party and the BSP – never hesitated to join hands with Mukhtar while letting him freely run his empire while in power in lieu of his support in these districts.

Mukhtar made his electoral debut in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls when the BSP fielded him as its candidate against Congress heavyweight Kalpnath Rai from the Ghosi seat in Mau district. Though he lost the election, the BSP repeated him in the Assembly election in the same year from Mau Sadar which he won. He then went on to win this seat for four consecutive terms – in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017.

He however did not contest the 2022 Assembly polls, “transferring” this seat to his elder son Abbas who won it on the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (led by current UP cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar) ticket in alliance with the SP.

Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari. (Express photo)

Mukhtar’s grip on this constituency could also be gauged from the point that he won it three times from behind the bars. He won the seat on the BSP ticket in 1996 and 2017. He clinched it in 2002 and 2007 as an Independent and on the platform of his outfit Quami Ekta Dal in 2012.

Mukhtar had contested another Lok Sabha election against BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi in 2009 on the BSP ticket, finishing as the runner up by securing over 3 lakh votes.

His brother Afzal, who won the Ghazipur seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a BSP candidate, is contesting this time from the same seat as the SP candidate.

Afzal had earlier won the Mohammadabad Assembly seat five terms between 1985 and 2002. He later won the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat in 2004 defeating Manoj Sinha, the current Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor. He had however lost the 2014 polls when he contested from the Ballia seat on the Quami Ekta Dal’s symbol.

Mukhtar’s another brother Sibgatullah too won the Mohammadabad seat in 2007 and 2012, but lost in 2017 to BJP candidate Alka Rai. Alka’s husband, Krishnanand Rai was shot dead in 2005 in Ghazipur, in which Mukhtar was the main accused. Mukhtar was later acquitted in the case. In 2022, Sibgatullah’s son Suhaib won the seat on the SP ticket, defeating Alka Rai.

Mukhtar enjoyed patronage of every party’s government from 1996 until 2017, when the Adityanath Yogi-led BJP government took the reins of the state.

Many instances are registered in the jail and police files, indicating Mukhtar’s influence. While lodged in the Lucknow, Ghazipur and Agra jails during 1997-2010, Mukhtar ran his empire from behind the bars on his own terms. He used to sit in a room of the jail where people from Ghazipur, Mau, Lucknow and some other districts used to come to seek his help in resolving land and family disputes or works pending in the offices of the district administration and the electricity, revenue and police departments. He used to make phone calls to district and even senior officers at the zone and range levels to ask them for quick resolution of these matters.

The most telling incident of Mukhtar’s influence came to light during Mayawati’s short term as the CM in 2003 when he was lodged in the Lucknow jail. Then, he used to come to the district court frequently and after his attendance at the court he would visit various government offices including the police headquarters in Lucknow with his fleet of SUVs despite being in judicial custody.

These “uncalled for visits” by Mukhtar came to an end one day when he reached the DGP office again after his court attendance. While he was getting down from his car to visit an IG rank officer, a photojournalist of a leading Hindi daily clicked his pictures. This infuriated the don and his henchmen, who not only snatched the camera and threw it on the ground but also manhandled the photographer inside the DGP office premises where the DGP was himself present. The incident was reported in all the newspapers, forcing Mayawati to order his transfer from Lucknow to the Tihar jail.

Mukhtar’s political clout was witnessed in the SP regime during 2012-17, when he became a cause of rift between then CM Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav, which later turned into a family feud with significant consequences.

Mukhtar Ansari being produced in a Mohali Court in a case related to extortion and criminal intimidation amidst heavy police presence (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)

It was in 2016, when Shivpal Yadav, reportedly after consulting then SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, held a press conference with Mukhtar’s brothers Afzal and Sibgatullah announcing merger of their party — Quami Ekta Dal – with the SP. Akhilesh however put his foot down, forcing Shivpal to withdraw the decision.

This face-off later snowballed resulting in a public spat between Mulayam and Akhilesh on a stage before the SP leaders and workers. Later, in January 2017, SP general secretary Ramgopal Yadav called a national executive meeting and named Akhilesh as the new party national president replacing Mulayam. Later, Mulayam even went to the Election Commission (EC) to challenge this decision, but to no avail. Finally, Mulayam accepted Akhilesh’s leadership.

Another instance of Mukhtar’s clout was seen when he managed to get himself shifted to a jail in the Congress-ruled Punjab nearly two years after the BJP took charge of UP in 2017. He was, however, brought back to UP in 2021 and was since lodged in Banda jail, where he died on Thursday evening.