Will Ansari’s exit upset BJP’s Varanasi calculations?

A gangster once described by Mayawati as a “messiah of the poor” has rekindled hope among the secular brigade of upsetting Narendra Modi’s electoral arithmetic in Varanasi.

Mukhtar Ansari, the Quomi Ekta Dal chief currently lodged in Agra jail for murder, decided yesterday to withdraw from the election in Varanasi, a move that has brought a spring in the step of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s volunteers, as well as the Congress that has fielded the local muscleman Ajai Rai against Modi.

“We have withdrawn from the race to stop the Modi chariot in Varanasi. All those parties that are shouting their support for ‘secularism’ should now get together and defeat Modi and BJP. They must never be allowed to win,” said Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzaal Ansari. He, however, said Mukhtar Ansari and the political outfit that he has floated — the Quami Eta Dal — will contest the ongoing Lok Sabha elections from the neighbouring Ghosi parliamentary constituency.

Ansari’s story is similar Robin Hood – reviled by many as a dreaded gangster but revered by a lot of others, including the poor and the artisan community here for protecting their honour and dignity.

Ansari belongs to the illustrious family of the legendary Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, a leading figure of the freedom movement, one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia, and a President of the Indian National Congress.

So, there is one side to his public image which is that of a don in the neighbouring districts of Mau, Ghazipur and Jaunpur, and another where his daredevil persona appeals to the people. Ansari has won the Assembly elections from Mau and was allotted the parliamentary ticket by the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2009 from Varanasi.

“Mukhtar Ansari is a revered figure in Ghazipur and Mau. He does not disappoint anyone who approaches him even for the smallest efforts. So, a lot of people may see him as a gangster, but for the vast majority, he is Robin Hood,” said Vipin Singh, a local journalist.

Thus, Ansari’s withdrawal from the race in Varanasi is indeed a significant development. He had nearly defeated the BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections securing as many as 1.85 lakh votes against Joshi’s 2.03 lakh votes. Joshi scraped through with a margin of barely 17,211 votes with the possible help of Ajai Rai, the local strongman, who contested the 2009 polls on the Samajwadi Party ticket and has now been fielded by the Congress against Modi.

“Joshiji nearly lost last time. It was Ajai Rai who helped him win because he did not want Mukhtar to extend his influence over Benares. In the war between two mafia dons, Joshiji managed to win,” a BJP worker recalled.

There is another angle to Ajai Rai’s opposition to Mukhtar Ansari. Ansari is the prime accused in Ajai Rai’s brother Avadhesh Rai’s murder.

The chargesheet has been filed in the case and Rai is one of the witnesses in the case.

So, while Ansari’s appeal for “secular unity” may possibly find resonance in the top echelons of the Congress, it is highly unlikely that Rai would collaborate in Ansari’s efforts to combine the secular vote against Modi. Therefore, the direct beneficiary of Ansari’s withdrawal will be the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal who is expected to arrive here with his posse of top leaders on April 14 to “show Modi what Shiela Dikshit saw in Delhi.”