Akhilesh Yadav visits Mukhtar Ansari’s family in Ghazipur

PTI, Apr 7, 2024, 5:13 PM IST

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday visited the family of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari at his home in Ghazipur, and said he hoped the truth of his death will come out and the family will get justice.

”It’s shocking that Mukhtar Ansari himself made apprehensions that he is being given poison (in jail)… I hope the government will bring truth (of death) before us and the family will get justice,” Yadav told reporters after meeting Ansari’s family.

He also attacked the BJP saying that the Indian government is accused of getting people killed in another country. ”Will the definition of viksit Bharat (developed India) be that we will go to another country and commit murder?” he asked.

Pointing to the allegation by Mukhtar Ansari’s family that he was given poison in jail, he said, ”Will you, I and all the people here accept that it was a natural death? Is this not the feeling among the general public that the government is hiding something? ”Wasn’t an opposition leader in Russia poisoned to death? In Russia, the opposition leader was just kept in jail and poisoned. The Indian government was accused of getting (people) killed in another country. Didn’t the prime minister of Canada accuse India?” Without naming anyone or specifying any incident, he further said, ”A businessman talked about giving one lakh dollars and attempted a murder. He was caught in another country and is in jail. An Indian government official was involved in it. You all know the things. Are we, the opposition, who are doubting the government, wrong?” he said. Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau, died due to cardiac arrest, on March 28, as per the government. However, the family members allege that he was given poison inside the jail.

Yadav, who was here to console the family, said that after the BJP came to the power, trust on institutions have come down.

”We have seen in UP that people are doing self-immolation at the chief minister’s residence, office for justice. Deaths are taking place inside jails. In custodial deaths, UP is leading,” he alleged.

He alleged that as the government did nothing for development, to increase income of farmers, it has ”no face to go before the people” which was seen in the language used by the BJP leaders in elections.

In an obvious reference to Ansari’s death, raising suspicion on the government, Yadav asked, ”Kya sarkar ghatnayein kara rahi hai laabh lene ke liye? (Are incidents taking place at the government’s behest for political gains?” ”There were not one or two… but 9-10 paper leaks in the state. What the government has to say about it, unemployment, the Agniveer scheme?” he said and claimed that if the BJP came to power again, such schemes will be introduced in the police force also.

Hailing the ”contribution” of Ansari’s family, Yadav claimed that due to the work done for the poor, he won elections from jail and his grandfather and maternal grandfather were freedom fighters – the face that the government wanted to hide.

”The image shown is not the real image which he (Mukhtar) carried on the ground,” he said.

Mukhtar Ansari’s son Umar Ansari said that Yadav had come to console his family and he was like a guardian.

The Samajwadi Party has given ticket to Mukhtar’s brother Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur. In the 2019 election, Afzal won from the seat on BSP ticket defeating BJP’s Manoj Sinha.