Mafias used to be so powerful in Uttar Pradesh that even the collectors were reluctant to take action. One such mafia that had a reign of terror in the state was Mukhtar Ansari. The ruling party often exerted pressure on the officials due to its vote bank politics. The officials were helpless and the public used to remain silent out of fear.
During the 1990s, jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari, a resident of Yusufpur Muhammadabad in Ghazipur district turned Mau into his base, from where he used to carry out his illegal activities. During this time, Ansari joined Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and became an MLA in 1996. In 2005—three years after Ansari was reelected as MLA in 2002, the infamous Mau Riots erupted.
It is said that Mau remained on fire during this riot for close to a month. Many Hindus were killed, countless homes were burned down, and shops were vandalized. Homes and lands were grabbed illegally. The government remained a mute spectator as the city continued to burn. This riot’s fire was so intense that the railway’s operation from Mau was suspended for the first time ever. Mukhtar Ansari, who made his criminal debut in 1988, when his name emerged in the Sacchidanand Rai murder case, is said to be the mastermind of the Mau riots.
A social activist from Mau named Chhote Lal Gandhi detailed the atrocities of the 2005 Mau riots in a conversation with OpIndia. Speaking to OpIndia, he said “Mukhtar Ansari meticulously planned the riots in October 2005. These Muslims used to claim that they would have made chutney out of Hindus if they got a free hand for three days.
Speaking on Mukhtar Ansari’s role in the riots, Chhotelal Gandhi said, “It was around 9:30 when Ansari was roaming in an open jeep. There was firing and arson happening when he arrived close to the Talha Bagh turn. Ansari ran with a pistol in his hand and a man was killed on the spot. The brother of the Yadav man killed there was subsequently taken to Lucknow by Mukhtar and his brother Afzal Ansari. A man who was seated next to Mulayam Singh there claimed that Mukhtar Ansari, like a peace ambassador, was pleading with everyone to uphold peace in Mau.
Chhotelal further asserted that “without Mukhtar Ansari, there would have been no riots, he wanted to stir up a riot in Mau even bigger than the Godhra riots.” He also said that during those days a ‘Khan’ was in-charge of the Mau police station, who under the pretext of Jummah, left the firearms locked inside the police station. It was an army soldier who stepped out for an outing with family, had asked the police to stop the rioters, however, the police personnel told him that “they are 5000 in number, they will loot everything. After this, the soldier snatched a gun and shot a rioter dead and injured another, following this Mau could be saved from a riot.”
When Muslims were setting Hindu homes on fire, Chhote Lal told OpIndia that he spoke to Amar Yadav, the district magistrate at the time, several times. “I told the DM many times that there was a riot going on here and used to reply, “Fight if you are fit to fight, otherwise just die. What should we do (Ladna hai to lado warna marr jao saalon…hum kya karein)?,” Chhotelal adds. The DM would say “Where all will we deploy the police”. In front of Mukhtar Ansari and his terror, the DM was absolutely inept and powerless.
Chhote Lal claims that during the riots, Mukhtar set fire to Hindu-owned shops worth roughly Rs 2 crore in Mau Bazaar. He desired that there be no Hindus in the market, only Muslim shopkeepers should be there. He added that Mukhtar Ansari at that time had the backing of Mulayam Singh Yadav and due to this, even the police were reluctant to take any action against him.
