Crack on Don

Mulayam Singh Yadav has adopted a tough posture against the Mau MLA after riots, but only to curb his influence in the polls

Take a communally volatile place like Mau. Add a couple of religious rituals. Throw in a few dons and an inept administration and you have the perfect mix for a deadly communal conflagration. That's precisely what happened in the eastern Uttar Pradesh town last week as Hindu-Muslim clashes during the Dussehra week left over a dozen dead and hundreds of shops and houses gutted.

PICTURE SPEAK
FREAK SHOW: (Left) A victim being carried away; gutted building in Mau in the eye of the storm: Ansari feels the pressure

It was a tailor-made situation for the politicians to capitalise on. And they left nothing to imagination in doing so. The second round of panchayat polls to elect block development committees and block pramukhs in the state is due. Moreover, in view of the growing rift between the Rajputs and the Yadavs, the main support base of the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the expanding base of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has reasons to be concerned about his party's shrinking fortunes in the region. To add to Mulayam's woes was the increasing clout of local mafia don-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari.

Ansari had fielded 30 candidates in the current elections in Varanasi, Ghazipur and Mau districts under the banner of the Hindu-Muslim Ekta Committee. A high-pitched, sometimes violent, campaign was already on when the riots broke out in Mau. With the district administration in his pocket and virtually no one to challenge his hegemony in the area, Ansari roamed in the trouble-torn streets of Mau.

Infuriated over the MLA's role in the riots and in ensuring the defeat of sp candidates in the panchayat elections, the chief minister has ordered strict action against Ansari. The police have registered half a dozen cases against him, including inciting communal riots, murder and breaking peace. The security provided to Ansari by the Government has been withdrawn and raids are being conducted on his house and business establishments.

Will this thunder cut Ansari down to size or will the cases remain confined to the police records and the MLA would keep roaming freely as has been the case in the past? Mulayam knows Ansari had helped him in the formation of the government by fetching MLAs for him from the BSP camp. He also knows that Ansari, his brother Afzal and Atiq Ahmed, SP MP in Allahabad, form a formidable constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

For the time being, Mulayam has adopted a tough posture against Ansari. "Mulayam is really serious this time. Ansari has become a Bhasmasur for him," says a senior police officer. Till not too long ago, Ansari, who has many cases registered against him in Mohammadabad police station, enjoyed full support of the chief minister. Not only did he get a government security cover for himself and his relatives, he was even issued contracts and arms licences. Mulayam did not take on Ansari when he was a threat to the public. The chief minister decided to deal with him sternly only when he became a threat to the SP in the Mau region. "If keeping Ansari away is only a short-term strategy by Mulayam to ensure SP victory in the panchayat elections in this region, then it only shows a lack of vision," says a senior police officer. Whether Mulayam gains from it or not, the loser is the public.

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