Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | 'Gangs of eastern UP': Absence of muscle men to make electoral contests even

Lucknow: The elections in the 'Poorvanchal' (eastern Uttar Pradesh) region, be it for the Lok Sabha, assembly or even for the village panchayat chiefs, had always, over the years, witnessed influence of the muscle men, whose writ ran large in their respective areas and many of whom became MPs and MLAs even though they were lodged in the jail.

It was Hari Shankar Tewari, a powerful 'brahmin' leader, who reigned supreme in Gorakhpur, the hometown of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the 80s and remained MLA from Chillupar assembly constituency for more than two decades, the later years witnessed the emergence of gangster turned politicians like Mukhtar Ansari, Ateeq Ahmed, Dhanjanjay Singh and a few others.

Though Tewari, who was popularly known as 'Baba', began his political career from Congress, he later contested elections as an independent and became minister in various governments in the state. His bloody rivalry with thakur leader Virendra Pratap Shahi that claimed several lives, were still fresh in the minds of the residents of Gorakhpur.

Tewari died in May last year and though his son had also been members of the UP assembly and the Lok Sabha, he never had the same 'terror' as well as the popularity, at least among the brahmins.

Not far from Gorakhpur, it was Mukhtar Ansari, another mafia don turned politician, who called the shots in Mau town, which was famous for its colourful 'Banarasi Sarees' made from silk. Mukhtar, who, while being lodged in the Banda district jail died recently allegedly following a cardiac arrest, dominated the politics in Mau and the neighbouring Ghazipur districts for around four decades.

Ansari, who faced 65 criminal cases, including those of murder, extortion and kidnappings, was a four time MLA. Such was his terror that he had won elections from behind the bars. Mukhtar's brother Afzal Ansari was a sitting MP from Ghazipur while his son Abbas Ansari was an MLA from Mau town. Politicians, including Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and even Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president and UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, an ally of the BJP, visited Mukhtar's family to express their condolences.

Rajbhar, whose son Arvind Rajbhar was in the fray from Ghosi LS seat on BJP ticket, termed Mukhtar ''messiah of the poor'' leaving the saffron party leaders in the red.

Dhananjay Singh was another mafia don turned politician, whose writ ran large in the Thakur dominated Jaunpur district, barely 50 kilometres from prime minister Narendra Modi's LS constituency of Varanasi. Singh, who represented Rari seat in the UP assembly in 2002 and also became member of the LS from Jaunpur in 2009. Singh, who faced more than 40 criminal cases, was recently sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a case of kidnapping an engineer and was barred from contesting the polls.

Singh's wife Srikala Reddy, who was the Zila Parishad Chairman of Jaunpur, has been fielded from Jaunpur LS seat by the BSP in the hope that the Thakur community would back her.

Similarly, Ateeq Ahmed, another gangster turned politician, called the shots in Prayagraj and a few neighbouring districts. Ateeq, who was shot dead from point blank rage along with his brother Ashraf while being taken to the court in Prayagraj last year, was a five time MLA and also member of the Lok Sabha once. Ateeq's wife has been absconding and one of his sons was also shot dead in an encounter with the police.

In Bhadohi, the neighbouring district of Jaunpur, it was gangster turned politician Vijay Mishra, whose name instilled fear in the minds of the people. Mishra, who faced more than 80 criminal cases, was a four time MLA. He was recently sentenced to three years imprisonment under Arm's Act and was currently lodged in the jail and barred from contesting the polls.