LUCKNOW: Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed would have never imagined that the words uttered by him casually during an election rally in 2004 would turn out to be prophetic on Saturday night.
“Sadak ke kinare padal milab hum. Encounter hoi. Ya police maari, ya koi apni biradari ka sirfira. (I will be found dead by the roadside. I will be killed in an encounter either by police or by someone from the criminals’ tribe) — slain don Atiq Ahmed had said way back in 2004 during an election rally in Phulpur. He won the seat then as a Samajwadi Party candidate under the stewardship of the late Mulayam Singh Yadav.
How his words came true on Saturday night when the gangster, handcuffed with brother Ashraf was lying dead in a pool of blood on the road in front of the local hospital, after being shot by three assailants.
Perhaps, the words spoken by the gangster in 2004 reflect the fear and the insight he had about the unpredictability of his life owing to his acts of gruesome crime. It was the time when Atiq was having a reign of terror not only in Prayagraj and adjoining districts but till the state capital Lucknow.
One-time SP MP and five-time MLA – once from SP, once from Apna Dal (S) and three times independent-- from Allahabad west seat, Atiq used to take pride in having represented Phulpur in Lok Sabha like the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru who had also won his first Lok Sabha election from the same seat. Not only this, Atiq used to feel proud of being lodged in Naini jail where Pundit Nehru was also incarcerated during the freedom struggle.
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“Pandit ji ki tarah hum Naini jail me bhi rahe hai. Woh kitab likhe wahan, hume apni historysheet ki wajah se jana pada tha (Like Nehru, I have also been to Naini jail. He wrote books there, I went because of my history sheet), he used to tell the scribes often.
Atiq would express his fear for life every now and then to the media persons. Once he said: “Sab ko pata hota hai anjaam kya hona hai. Kab tak taala ja sakta hai, yeh sab (contesting election) iski hi jaddojahad hai (We, as criminals, know what will be our fate. Every day is a struggle to postpone this ordeal and delay the inevitable).
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