Twenty-five-year old Abbas Ansari, son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, is contesting the Ghosi Assembly seat on a BSP ticket. If elected, he will perhaps become the youngest MLA in the country. He spoke to The Sunday Guardian about the BSP’s electoral prospects in Mau and the Congress-SP alliance.
Q. Who among Fagusingh Chouhan of BJP and Sudhakar Singh of SP is your nearest competitor?
A. My competition is with neither of them. The Prime Minister himself is coming to campaign here. So you can understand who I am competing with. I am fighting elections for the first time and the Prime Minister too is visiting Mau for the first time. He decided to do a rally here only after I filed my nomination from Ghosi. So you can imagine what is the BJP’s situation here.
Q. The Congress and Samajwadi Party, who have formed an alliance, are saying “UP ko yeh saath pasand hai”. Does their coming together frighten the BSP?
A. The alliance doesn’t make any difference to the BSP. In fact, it doesn’t make any difference to the people. Only the yes-men of these two leaders are enthusiastic about their “saath”. As far as the people are concerned, they are least interested in a man who cornered his own father in his lust for power. In fact, what Akhilesh has done has sowed the seeds of suspicion in every father’s minds. Every father today must be suspecting that his son too can betray him like Akhilesh did. Will our youth ever want to follow Akhilesh’s footsteps? Will they ever want to eulogise a Rahul Gandhi, who, despite being the scion of a political family, cannot deliver two minutes of speech correctly?
Q. Akhilesh Yadav is fighting the elections on the basis of “Kaam bolta hai”. Your comments.
A. If his work indeed speaks, why is that nobody gets to hear that? Why is that he had to hide behind the Congress?
Q. There are rumours about a BSP-BJP post poll alliance which is likley to dissuade the minorities from voting for the BSP. Your comments.
A. This is only a rumour. What can I possibly say about rumours? I just ignore rumours.
Q. How many seats are you expecting in Ghazipur, Azamgarh, and Mau which is your family’s stronghold?
A. Not just these three districts, the entire country is my home. I am a proud son of the soil. Whoever will try to divide the people of India or try to create communal polarisation, I will oppose them.
Q. As a youth leader what is your message to the youths of UP?
A. I am not a leader, I am a sevak (one who serves the people). My humble message to them is that never become Akhilesh Yadav. The blessings of your parents, your elders is very important and we must value that and respect our elders. Youths should steer clear from the so-called youth leaders who have made an alliance of convenience and are trying to secure their votes based on caste and communal equations.