IN NOVEMBER 2004, Prayagraj, then known as Allahabad, witnessed unusual events that would culminate in a bloody end to a chapter of the political-criminal nexus in Uttar Pradesh. Atique Ahmed’s younger brother, Khalid Azim, better known as Ashraf, lost an election from the Allahabad (West) assembly seat. It was a seat from which Ahmed had won five times—thrice as an independent and once each on Samajwadi Party and Apna Dal tickets. He had vacated the seat only on becoming Phulpur MP.
Ashraf was devastated by the loss and cried on his elder brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will get you elected from the same seat soon,” police records quote Ahmed as telling his younger brother. In January 2005, Raju Pal, the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA who had humbled Ashraf in the polls, was killed in broad daylight on a busy street. Pal, who had tied the knot just days earlier, ran for his life, but was cornered and shot by Ashraf and his men, according to witness statements. In the byelection necessitated by Pal’s murder, Ashraf defeated Pooja, Pal’s young widow. Ahmed had kept his promise.
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Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
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Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
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Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
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LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
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