M Ghazali Khan
Five-time elected legislator, Mukhtar Ansari, has become India’s third Muslim politician to die in police custody, on March 28, within two years.
The 63-year-old lawmaker, who has been in Banda Jail since 2005, reportedly vomited while in custody before being transferred to Banda Medical College, where he died.
Ansari’s family has disputed the circumstances of his death, alleging that he was given a “poisonous substance” in jail. In a letter addressed to the Banda district magistrate, Umar Ansari reported that on the afternoon of his death, his father made a phone call from the jail’s PCO at 3:30 pm, during which he claimed to have been poisoned. “Umar, I will not survive,” his father allegedly stated.
Shortly after Ansari’s death was announced, Hindu supremacists celebrated in the streets with firecrackers and expressed their joy on social media.
Bolstering claims that the BJP government is complicit in Ansari’s death, many social media commentators shared a video excerpt from an earlier address by Home Minister Amit Shah, where he boasted, “Our biggest achievement is that we liberated you from NIZAM.”
By referring to Nizam, he was also being sarcastic towards the former Muslim ruler of the princely state of Hyderabad. Citing the names of Muslim politicians, Shah further explained, “NIZAM means riddance from Naseem Siddiqui… I, in NIZAM, means Imran Masood. The Bhartiya Janata Party liberated you from Imran Masood. The Bhartiya Janata Party liberated you from Azam Khan. The Bhartiya Janata Party liberated you from Mukhtar Ansari, friends!”
Before Ansari, a Member of Parliament from Siwan in Bihar, Mohammad Shahabuddin, who served his sentence and was transferred from jail to a hospital for COVID treatment, died on May 1, 2021, and Uttar Pradesh lawmaker Atiq Ahmad was assassinated live on TV on April 15, 2023. Mohammad Azam Khan, a senior politician, founder and Chancellor of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, a ten-time member of the legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh and a two-time member of parliament, with several criminal charges against him, has been disqualified from his seat. For many years, he has been in and out of prison on bail.
Through brazen election manipulation and by stopping Muslims in his Muslim majority constituency, police prevented Muslims from voting, resulting in the BJP candidates winning in the parliamentary, provincial, and legislative elections. Fears are now being expressed about the safety of Azam Khan too.
India’s “godi media” (lapdog media) has been projecting Mukhtar Ansari as a gangster and a mafia leader. However, the fact is that no Indian politician could match his popularity among constituents. He won elections three times while in jail. Contradicting godi media’s portrayal of Ansari as a “Muslim gangster,” India’s News 24 reporter, Rajiv Ranjan, reporting from the cemetery where Ansari has been buried in Ghazipur, said that every poor person present at the scene had a story to tell of Ansari’s benevolence. At best, Ansari was a Robin Hood in Indian politics who stood against the mafia and helped the poor and weaker people.
Interestingly, Ansari hailed from a highly esteemed family. His grandfather, Dr Mukhtar Ansari, was a famous freedom fighter and was President of the Indian National Congress in 1927. His maternal uncle Brigadier Mohammad Usman was a hero of the 1948 Ino-Pak war.
As for criminal charges, a clear personal record of politicians is now a rarity in India. According to a report published by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the present Lok Sabha has 44% of MPs with criminal records, nine of whom have murder and three rape cases against them. Before becoming Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath had 27 cases against him, including murder. According to Indian Express: “Since 2014, as many as 25 prominent politicians facing action from Central agencies for alleged corruption have crossed over to the BJP. They cut across party lines: 10 are from the Congress; four each from NCP and Shiv Sena; three from TMC; two from TDP; and one each from SP and YSRCP. In 23 of these cases, their political move has translated into reprieve…”
With India going to the polls on May 22, the party in power, the BJP, has increased its old and well-tested formula of hatemongering against religious minorities, especially Muslims. Whether the new revelations of the BJP having received $987 million from corporations, known as the election bond scam and individuals will be able to wake its blind supporters is too early to say. After all, as they claim, for them, the biggest achievement of the Hindutva government is showing Muslims their right place.
According to former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb 2024 election is going to be the most difficult election in Indian history and will decide the future of Muslims in the country. In an emotive vlog posted on his Facebook, he reminded the Muslims that in at least 84 constituencies they can defeat or elect candidates. “If you can reduce even five seats of the ruling party in the parliament that will be a great favour to the community as well as the country.” He has appealed to the community.
(Credit: Mukhtar Ansari/WikiCommons)
