As Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari return to haunt SP, BSP, advantage BJP’s law and order claims

Most recently, Ahmed was in the news because of a face-off between UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the UP Vidhan Sabha last Saturday. Adityanath accused the SP of sheltering Ahmed by giving him the party ticket to fight elections, and in return, using his influence among the Muslims of Prayagraj, Kaushambi and adjoining districts to exploit the minority votebank.

Akhilesh responded by accusing the BJP of maintaining silence on Ahmed’s connection with the BSP — Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen joined Mayawati’s party in January 2023 and was rumoured as BSP’s probable mayoral candidate in Prayagraj. With BSP’s name in the dock, the party supremo Mayawati jumped into the fight, calling Ahmed a product of the SP on Monday and promised to expel Shaista — who is also named in the FIR in the case of Umesh Pal’s murder — from the BSP, if the police investigation proved her guilt.

This is not the first time SP and BSP leaders have tried to shrug off their alleged political links with mafiosi-turned-politicians Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari, in order to project a clean image of their respective parties. It is common knowledge that both the SP and BSP have benefited from their associations with Ahmed and Ansari, respectively, in winning over the Muslim vote banks in the latter’s areas of influence. Like Ahmed in Prayagraj, etc, Ansari exercises considerable influence over Muslim voters in Mau, Ghazipur, Azamgarh and Ballia.

Abbas Ansari, son of politician Mukhtar Ansari, along with Om Prakash Rajbhar enroute to attend the Budget Session at the state Assembly in Lucknow. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

In these muddy waters, the ruling BJP, and especially its UP CM Yogi Adityanath, has been fishing for (and reaping) rich electoral dividends since 2017. By taking strong, visible action against both Ahmed and Ansari, as well as their associates and relatives, the BJP has even been projecting UP’s law and order as a model for the nation. Top BJP leaders regularly cite Ahmed and Ansari and highlight their links with the SP and the BSP while praising the Adityanath government’s administrative record at poll rallies.

The Adityanath government has also seized properties worth over Rs 350 crore belonging to Ahmed and his family members under the UP Gangsters Act, and demolished or released properties allegedly forcibly occupied by Ahmed and his associates worth around Rs 750 crore.

It has also seized properties worth Rs 448.98 crore belonging to Ansari, his family members and associates, and demolished a hotel owned by his family in Ghazipur district, citing irregularities in construction.

All this eventually forced Mayawati into an image makeover exercise, when, in September 2021, she announced she wouldn’t field the BSP’s sitting MLA Ansari from Mau in the 2022 Assembly elections, citing a commitment not to field any bahubali (muscleman) or mafioso.

But this too is not unique. She has tried to wash her hands of Ansari several times in the past, only to welcome him, his relatives and associates back into the party before elections, calling the criminal charges against them as “politically motivated” and “unproven”.

Likewise, Ahmed was elected MLA for five consecutive terms from Allahabad West, thrice as an Independent, and as an SP candidate in 1996. Thereafter, he kept switching between the SP and Apna Dal over the next two decades, but remained close to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, Mulayam’s son and heir, Akhilesh has always maintained a distance from Ahmed. At an event in Kaushambi on May 30, 2016, when Ahmed got on stage and walked towards Akhilesh, he had shoved him aside.

“All political parties have a history of giving tickets to musclemen, who not only win their own seat, but also influence results of adjoining seats. Both Ansari and Ahmed have strong followings in the Muslim community. Ansari also gets votes of non-Muslims, and hence is deemed important by political parties,” said a BJP leader.

When contacted, Ansari’s elder brother Afzal said neither the SP nor BSP has “used us for political gains”, adding that cases were lodged against their family members when they started winning elections against ruling party candidates. “There are only nine per cent Muslims in Ghazipur, but I still won there,” said Afzal.

SP spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi denied that his party uses criminals for political gain. “The SP never encourages criminalisation of politics. Action should be taken against anybody who acts against the law. But the BJP does politics of convenience. Its government doesn’t take action against law violators who sympathise with it,” he said.

BSP spokesperson Dharamvir Chaudhary also said the BSP does not promote criminals. “It was the Mayawati government that had taken action against Atiq Ahmed in the Raju Pal murder case. When Ahmed’s wife joined the BSP, there was no case against her,” Chaudhary added. On BSP’s past association with Ansari and his family, he said, “Behanji [Mayawati] had given them a chance to mend their ways. But when they did not fulfill their assurances, they were denied space in the party.”