Why former VP Hamid Ansari is trending

Why former VP Hamid Ansari is trending

Former vice-president Hamid Ansari today trended on social media platform X after the death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari. Many netizens cited the 2021 Supreme Court petition of Mukhtar Ansari who had accused the Uttar Pradesh government of conspiring to kill him in a “state-sponsored encounter” while emphasising that he was part of a family that gave Indian many freedom fighters and leaders such such as former vice-president Hamid Ansari.

Mukhtar Ansari, according to a Hindustan Times report, in his 2021 petition said he was a “part of a family that has made immense contribution to the Indian freedom movement and has given India many leaders in the form of Shri Muhammad Hamid Ansari who was the vice president of India, Shri Shaukatullah Ansari who served as the governor of Odisha, Justice Asif Ansari who was the judge of the Allahabad high court, and his own father Subhanullah Ansari who was a freedom fighter and social worker.”

For vice president Hamid Ansari had an illustrious career in Indian Foreign Service after joining the service in 1961. He served in Indian missions in Baghdad, Rabat, Jeddah and Brussels and was Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1976-1979); High Commissioner to Australia (1985-1989); Ambassador to Afghanistan (1989-1990); Ambassador to Iran (1990-1992); and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1995-1999). He was elected as the vice-president of India in 2007 and later reelected in 2012. His term had ended at in 2017.

Former gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari passed away at Banda Medical College Hospital in Uttar Pradesh following a cardiac arrest on Thursday night. Ansari served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Mau assembly constituency on five occasions, with two of those terms representing the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Born into an illustrious family, Mukhtar Ansari navigated both the criminal underworld and the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh. His involvement in crime began at the age of 15, leading to his entanglement in 65 criminal cases, according to a Press Trust of India report. Ansari’s political journey commenced in 1996 when he was elected as an MLA in the Uttar Pradesh assembly representing the Bahujan Samaj Party from Mau. Subsequently, he secured victories as an independent candidate in the 2002 and 2007 assembly elections. In 2012, he founded Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) and reclaimed the Mau constituency. He retained the seat in 2017 and relinquished it in 2022 to his son Abbas Ansari, who triumphed under the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party banner.

In April 2023, Ansari was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Subsequently, on March 13, 2024, he received a life sentence in a separate case. Earlier, in December 2023, the Varanasi MP/MLA Court found Ansari guilty of threatening witness Mahavir Prasad Rungta in the murder case of coal businessman Nand Kishor Rungta, resulting in a sentence of five and a half years of rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 10,000 fine. (With PTI and ANI inputs)

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