Around 10 pm, a visibly bewildered Dalit man enters a palatial haveli in Mohammadabad town of Ballia district. His 8-year-old daughter was raped, he says, but the police have refused to file a complaint. Seated on a sofa, Sibakatullah Ansari dials some numbers, talks to policemen seeking immediate action, ensures medical treatment for the girl, and hands out Rs 500 to the man. “Jaa, kuchh kha lena. Fikra na kar (Go, eat something. Don’t worry).”
Impressively tall, the 65-year-old Sibakatullah is the elder brother of Mukhtar Ansari, the jailed murder accused who has given the Congress an inkling of a hope in Varanasi with his support.
However, the Ansaris’ writ runs larger. Known as the mafia dons of Poorvanchal, the three brothers run a parallel empire on a mix of politics, muscle power and religious fervour, a green gamchha their identification mark. Mohammadabad and their 150-year-old, 35-room haveli there is the Ansaris’ fiefdom. The house and the row of SUVs parked in its long courtyard stand out in the locality of tiny lanes and old shops.
As the remaining Uttar Pradesh seats vote on Monday, the influence of the brothers counts in four adjoining constituencies. While Mukhtar is contesting from Ghosi, Afzal, the middle brother, is standing from Ballia. Besides, the brothers are supporting fellow notorious don, though of western UP, D P Yadav, who is contesting as a Rashtriya Parivartan Dal candidate from Ghazipur. Om Prakash Rajbhar of the lesser-known Bharatiya Samaj Party has their support in Salempur.
The Ansaris have also put bitter rivalry aside to back Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate, in Varanasi.
Mukhtar had contested from Varanasi in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on a BSP ticket, and despite being in jail, lost by only a slim margin of 17,000 votes to BJP stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi. In 2012, still in prison, he pulled off a victory from the Mau Assembly seat of Uttar Pradesh. Afzal too has seen prison days, while tasting success as a Samajwadi Party MP and MLA. Sibakatullah is an MLA from Mohammadabad.
In fact, the brothers, known to not worry too much about political affiliations, formed own Quami Ekta Dal (QED) only in 2010 after all parties finally shut doors on them due to their involvement in crime. Mukhtar was earlier kept in Ghazipur jail but later shifted to Agra as news trickled out about the luxurious life he led inside.
Incidentally, the Ansaris have an