In Uttar Pradesh’s Mau, It's Contest Between A Loyal Son And An Angry Brother

It’s about electoral stakes but also a festering feud between two powerful families in Mau Sadar as a brother looking for justice for his murdered sibling goes up against the son of the alleged mastermind. The dramatis personae – BJP’s Ashok Singh and SBSP’s Abbas Ansari, don-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son.

As the election hots up ahead of voting on March 7, so does the personal battle and the war of words. Bulldozers have been "serviced" and raring to go against the mafia after March 10, says Singh whose family alleged Mukhtar Ansari's hand in the killing of his brother Ajay Prakash Singh 'Manna'.

At the other end of the political spectrum is Abbas Ansari, fighting to keep the seat won by his father -- the sitting MLA from the Bahujan Samaj Party -- five times straight since 1996. The sports shooter, who cuts a striking figure with his ponytail, aviators and yellow ‘gamcha’, is also angry about the perceived injustice to his father

"This is an election against the government and those in power. They (BJP) did not want him to contest the polls and that is why they conspired and did not allow his nomination to be filed. So I am contesting," the 30-year-old told PTI.

Samajwadi Party ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, had earlier declared Mukhtar Ansari as the coalition nominee. But when the process of nomination began in the seventh phase, Abbas Ansari filed his papers instead.

The SBSP candidate may not fit the bill of a typical politician, but his long twirling mustache and the constant "will be done" answer to scores queuing up to seek help from him reminds people of his father who would often hold ‘court' in a similar manner.

Abbas, who has previously participated in international shooting competitions, is contesting the assembly polls for the second time. He had lost from Ghosi last time and is hoping to hit 'bulleye' this time. 

Looking to shake off the ‘don’ tag, it's not an analogy he’s entirely comfortable with. Abbas said shooting is another field and elections are won by winning the hearts of the people. "My family has always received the love and affection of the people here and will continue to do so."

Referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invoking his father's name to state that criminals have been put behind bars under their rule, Abbas said it is shameful that the head of the government in power for five years has no work to show and is only taking swipes at a particular person to portray his work 

"From Ghaziabad to Ghazipur, their (the BJP's) antics will not work and people will oust them," he said.

Responding to perception in some quarters that he is contesting on Samajwadi Party ally SBSP’s ticket because Akhilesh Yadav was not comfortable with him, Abbas retorted, "There is something called alliance. I can ask the same question, that in the last assembly  polls, why did the BJP did not contest polls from here and made the walking stick (SBSP symbol) contest. Were they scared of fielding a BJP candidate against Mukhtar Ansari?" 

The SBSP had contested the 2017 polls in alliance with the BJP. It is now in alliance with the SP to take on the BJP.

The BJP, Abbas alleged, can only indulge in propaganda and divide people on caste and religion to take political advantage, but people will oust them. 

“Mau is the soil of warriors, saints and ulemas, defeat here will be the last nail in the BJP's coffin in UP,” Abbas said.

Not far away, the BJP's election office was buzzing with the party’s cadres saying that Singh would breach the Ansari fortress of Mau Sadar.

"For 25 years a mafia has been an MLA here. He has run away fearing defeat. Now he has fielded his son. Whether Mukhtar fights or his son it is one and the same thing," Singh told PTI before heading out for campaigning.

Slamming his rival contestant, Singh said he is the son of a mafia don and has been brought up amid crime and that is why his behaviour would be the same as that of Mukhtar Ansari. 

 "So we have to make Mau ‘mafia-mukt’. Development works that a public representative should carry out and are stalled now have to be completed," he said.

Asked about the BJP invoking bulldozers in its campaign to highlight that it has demolished or seized property worth crores of alleged mafia dons, he said people are happy. The property was built by money looted from the poor, extorted from traders and also earned by "killing people", he added. 

"My brother was killed in August 2009, then my associate, the chief witness of the case, Ram Singh Maurya, and a security personnel from dalit community Satish Kumar was also killed. We are fighting these cases legally. One is in the high court," said Singh.

Highlighting the BJP's bulldozer campaign, he said "Yogi-Ji's bulldozer is ready" for anyone who commits a crime.

"All bulldozers have been serviced and are raring to go, will start working after March 10. They will target mafias," he said.

Hitting out at Mukhtar Ansari for "stalling" development here, Singh alleged that before 2017, no official wanted to get posted here, no businessman wanted to stay here and there were riots every year. 

Alleging that Ansari amassed wealth via illegal means, Singh said Ansari fought the first election on an old gypsy and Maruti 800 but now his family moves in cars worth crores.

"Where has this money come from, it has come through crime….Mafia raaj and their history in Mau is about to end," he asserted.

Mukhtar Ansari, who has multiple criminal cases against him, is in Banda jail.

There are about five lakh voters in Mau assembly constituency, including 1.25 lakh Muslim voters, one lakh Dalit voters and 55,000 Rajbhars. With a substantial Muslim and Rajbhar vote, Abbas Ansari is seen to be at an advantage. 

It will vote in the seventh and final phase of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, on March 7. The results will be declared on March 10.