From holding a "darbar" to creating scenes like a "Tarantino movie." The author of 'Baahubalis of Indian Politics - From bullet to ballot', Rajesh Singh narrates how Atiq Ahmad's tryst with crime and politics played out in the early 2000s in what was then called Allahabad.
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00:00For a politician, winning and losing is part of the game, you move on.
00:03Right.
00:04But Ati Kemba was not just a politician, he was a gangster.
00:07So the vehicles were running all over, the target was running all over,
00:12people were scattered all over, shouting, shrieking.
00:15And it was all happening in open.
00:17On the road, with traffic.
00:19Yeah, in the midst of the traffic, people moving around
00:22and these guys were shooting left, right and centre.
00:24Author, a political and public affairs analyst,
00:28journalist and who was the media advisor to former Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar.
00:33Rajesh Singh, welcome to Brute Talk.
00:38Tell us a little bit about, you know, you've used the word Darbar in the book.
00:43You've said Ati Kemba's Darbar, he used to hold one.
00:46What kind of business did he conduct there?
00:50Why was it called a Darbar?
00:51Give us a little bit of sense of what it looked like and what happened.
00:56The Darbar was largely not for conducting any business.
01:00The Darbar was basically to meet common people.
01:05People whom, you know, with whom he interacted on a regular basis.
01:10People from the neighbourhood, people from Allahabad.
01:13Because you see, he also fancied himself as a Robin Hood kind of character.
01:17So the Darbar basically was to listen to the grievances of the people,
01:21try to resolve them in his own way
01:24and therefore make himself popular among the masses.
01:31Because you see, these all gangsters, and this is not just about Ati Kemba,
01:36but even others, they used to have these kind of interactions with people
01:40because that is where they got their strength from.
01:45The strength to become a Bahubali came from the people who voted them to power.
01:50So, you had to be that. And for that you had to interact with people, interact with the common man.
01:56You know, once in a while get the problems resolved.
01:58So that you were seen as a people's leader. So, that was the kind of Darbar he used to have.
02:03Almost sounds like a movie, you know, on what we have seen.
02:08Would you know like how many people largely would be in this Darbar?
02:13What kind of issues that he would take up from time to time?
02:17The number of people would vary. It could be a few hundred, it could be a little more than that sometimes.
02:21Few hundred or more. – Few hundred or more depending upon where he was having his Darbar,
02:26sometimes in his house, sometimes elsewhere, some office somewhere.
02:32And the kind of issues are, as I said, somebody has a problem with the neighbor or somebody has a problem with somebody trying to,
02:38having a problem with the wealth. The government for example, somebody can say ki,
02:43I have applied for position for something or an NOC for extension of my house or for the construction of an addition floor.
02:53I have not got the NOC. It's six months now. Or the guy is asking for money. Something like that. So, he would intervene.
03:00And he would just pick the phone, call that guy and say usa kaam kar do. You know that kind of stuff which we see in Hindi films?
03:07Right. Exactly like that. – Exactly like that. Usa kaam ho jaana chahiye. Usa kaam kar diye.
03:12So, I wanted to quickly ask you about the Rajupal murder case. Tell us a little bit about how this became a turning point.
03:19In your book you say, you have called the scene straight out of a Tarantino movie. – Yeah. Yes. The Rajupal case, you see,
03:27what happened was, when, I think Amar's ambitions were always growing by the day. And when the
03:35Samajwadi, when it was decided by the Samajwadi party that he should now move
03:39to a higher level, which means he should now enter parliament. He was in an MLA.
03:44Many times, multi times MLA. So, it was decided that he should go to parliament. And so, he contested that election.
03:53And he used to represent Rahabad West, the constituency. Now, when he contested the election, the Rahabad West constituency fell vacant.
04:04And because he was vacating the constituency, the party said, you name the person. So,
04:10this man names, I think Amar names his brother Ashraf to the seat.
04:15So, Ashraf gets the ticket and he, and there is a contest. The contest is between Ashraf and Bahujan Samajwadi,
04:24Bahujan Samajwadi party's Rajupal. The Rajupal had earlier contested against the same assembly elections
04:31against Atik Ahmed and lost. So, Rajupal was fielded against by the BSP and he won.
04:41Now, for a politician, winning and losing is part of the game, you move on. But Atik Ahmed was not just a politician, he was a gangster.
04:53And if a gangster starts forgiving and forgetting, then his business is over. I mean, it's terror that runs his business.
05:01So, then a few months after that and a few days after Rajupal was married, maybe 9 or 10 days, I don't recollect the exact number of days,
05:16he was going in a car in Allahabad along with his friends. So, this whole gang, Atik Ahmed's gang, Atik Ahmed's gang and possibly he was also there,
05:29they opened fire on him. Riddled him with bullets and when the vehicle tried to take him away, just to make sure that he doesn't reach the hospital alive,
05:40they pumped further bullets into him. And this was all happening in the open. So, the vehicles were running all over, the target was running all over,
05:49people were scattered all over shouting, shrieking and it was all happening in open, in the open.
05:55On the road, in the midst of the traffic, people moving around and these guys were shooting left, right and centre.
06:02So, it was just, you know, out of the blue a surreal kind of scene. So, he was shot dead and by the time he was brought to hospital, he was dead.
06:13So, why I say that is a turning point and in fact now, after all that has happened, that indeed was a turning point.
06:21Because until now Atik Ahmed was a free man. He could terrorize people, you know, business, deals, this and whatever he was doing.
06:31But this really was a problem. It all began with Rajiv Pal, came to Umesh Pal,
06:40abduction, then went to Umesh Pal's killing by Atik Ahmed, Asad, Atik Ahmed's brother, Atik Ahmed's brother Asad and all this.
06:47And finally to Atik Ahmed's elimination in recent years.