Ghazipur Lok Sabha Election: As RSS Man Takes On Mukhtar Ansari's Brother, Gunshots from A 1991 Murder Still Echo

This upper caste BJP leader is a 'son of the soil' who hails from the Manihari block of Ghazipur. File pic/X

Paras Nath Rai, who is also said to be 'very close' to Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, is the BJP's candidate against deceased gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal Ansari from the INDIA bloc

It’s barely been a fortnight since gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari died in an Uttar Pradesh hospital in police custody and thousands turned up as he was being laid to rest at Mohammadabad in Ghazipur district. This Lok Sabha seat is among a few the Bharatiya Janata Party was carefully weighing its options for as the opposition INDIA bloc, comprising the Samajwadi Party and Congress apart from others, has fielded the gangster’s brother Afzal Ansari who has alleged that Mukhtar was murdered.

Now the BJP has finally unveiled its candidate for the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat.

Who is Paras Nath Rai?

So who is this man set to take on the powerful Mukhtar Ansari’s brother? Rai is said to be “very close” to Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, who it was speculated would throw his hat in the electoral fray from Ghazipur after resigning from his post. But, it seems, Sinha has ensured a “trustworthy” person fights from Ghazipur as his or his son Abhinav’s candidature was not possible.

Paras Nath Rai has been attached to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, for years. An educationist, he is also associated with Madan Mohan Malviya Inter College in Ghazipur.

Sources say he has no experience in electoral politics. However, that doesn’t mean Rai is new to politics as he has been associated with the BJP and served with it at the district level.

This upper caste BJP leader is a “son of the soil” who hails from the Manihari block of Ghazipur.

Amid ballot battle, sound of bullets from 1991

Ajay Rai, the UP Congress president, was born in Varanasi to Parvati Devi Rai and Surendra Rai in a Bhumihar Brahmin family who were natives of the Ghazipur district. Rai had a long-standing connection with Ghazipur and the Ansaris. It dates back to the 1990s and has its roots in the eighties.

In the 1980s, the rivalry of two gangsters — Brijesh Singh and Mukhtar Ansari — was well known in Uttar Pradesh. Ajay Rai was considered to be close to Brijesh Singh. Ansari saw Singh as his biggest enemy, and in the bloody world of gang wars, a friend of an enemy is also considered an enemy. So, the enmity between Rai and Ansari became more and more apparent.

On August 3, 1991, Ajay Rai’s elder brother Awadesh Rai was attacked outside his house by a group of unidentified men who came in a car, fired several rounds, and left immediately. A young Ajay Rai took his brother to hospital but the victim was announced dead. Rai strongly believed that it was Mukhtar Ansari who sent the shooters responsible for his brother’s death.

Rai filed an FIR and fought a long legal battle of 32 years that resulted in a Varanasi court finding Mukhtar Ansari guilty of the murder and awarded him a life sentence.

The entire region of Ghazipur, Varanasi, Balia, and Mau has a significant Bhumihar presence who see Afzal Ansari as anti-Bhumihar for the 1991 killing.

Now, the question many are asking is will Ajay Rai seek votes for the brother of someone who murdered the Congress leader’s own brother?