In 1995, after arresting Latif's sharpshooter Sharif and another associate, police officer Geeta Johri was standing outside Latif's house along with three policemen.
He called the police control room for additional assistance. For help, a police van came near Popatiyawad in Daryapur, this was the area of Latif's house.
But she did not go inside, the policemen were not ready to go inside. The reason was that the policemen were not convinced that they really had to go to Latif's house.
This incident has been mentioned by Gujarat's well-known journalist Prashant Dayal in his book 'Latif'. This gives an idea of Latif's influence and the fear he spread among the police.
Hardly anyone would be unfamiliar with the empire of Ahmedabad 'Don' Abdul Latif in the 1980s.
But when it comes to Latif, most people talk about his crimes, murders and bootlegging empire.
Latif was also active in politics. He had relations with many leaders. Latif and his empire had a deep impact on the society and politics of Gujarat. In this report we will try to throw light on this.
'Foundation of polarization' and Latif in Gujarat
BJP has been in power in Gujarat for the last 30 years and Hindutva politics is dominant there.
A dataset has been published on Hindu-Muslim riots in India between 1950 and 1995. This is called Varshney-Wilkinson dataset.
According to this, in these 45 years, the highest number of incidents of Hindu-Muslim riots were recorded in Gujarat, the frequency of which was recorded at 241 points.
Uttar Pradesh remained at second place, whose frequency was recorded at 199 points. In Maharashtra this frequency was recorded at 187 points.
During this period, Gujarat recorded 120 deaths per million of urban population in Hindu-Muslim riots, the highest in the country. 80 deaths were recorded in Bihar.
But the riots were not the only reason behind the increase in religious polarization in Gujarat.
French political scientist Prof. Christophe Jaffarello is known for his research on Indian democracy and Hindu nationalism.
He has written about that period of Gujarat in his book 'Gujarat Under Modi: The Blueprint of Today's India' -
"Muslim mafias involved in illegal sale of liquor also have a contribution in this. Due to prohibition in Gujarat, illegal liquor trade flourished. Extortion done by the police further encouraged this trade."
86-year-old Ghanshyam Shah, a former JNU professor, is a distinguished academic in the social and political history of Gujarat.
After the 1969 riots, Ghanshyam Shah wrote, "It was widely believed in Gujarat that 'most of the goons' in the state were from the Muslim community."
He also wrote, "It is said that 'these goons' used to harass common citizens, but the government did not take any action against them because they were protected by some Congress leaders and these goons were bringing votes for them."
"Due to the connection of these goons with the police, a feeling was created in the minds of common Hindus that they are helpless against such elements coming from the Muslim community."
Abdul Latif's name is often taken in this context. Latif was born in 1951 in a poor family in the Old City area of Ahmedabad.
Latif was also a member of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Many cases like smuggling, murder and kidnapping were registered against him.
His original business was the sale and supply of illicit liquor, from which he earned a lot of money. Latif's influence increased further in the years after 1980.
At that time there was Congress government in Gujarat.
During the 1985 riots, she provided essential food and assistance to the poor people of the Muslim community. Apart from this, he had started many other charity works.
Professor Christophe Jaffrelou writes, "He became a local Robinhood for the Muslims of Ahmedabad's Old City. There was sympathy for him among the Muslims."
"At that time it was said that the police, government system and to some extent even the government could not do anything against Latif."
Latif won elections on five seats from jail itself
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections were held in 1987. By then, Latif's influence had increased so much that he filed nomination as an independent candidate from five wards, Dariyapur, Kalupur, Danilimda, Jamalpur and Raikhar. He was in jail then.
When the results came, Latif was victorious on all five seats, then as per the rules he left the remaining four seats.
Gujarat's senior investigative journalist Prashant Dayal writes in his book 'Latif', "BJP leaders who publicly criticized Latif made agreements with Latif and got such seats vacated, which could benefit the BJP. BJP's Bhamini Patel won from Kalupur and BJP's Guruprasad Naidu won from Raikhad. In this way, BJP's numbers increased in the Municipal Corporation Board."
In this election, BJP won power in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for the first time.
Professor Jefferlow writes, "The BJP used Latif's political activism to polarize Gujarat politics, and all at the expense of the Congress. Because many Muslims did not trust the Congress either. This strategy was first tried in the 1987 municipal elections."
However, senior journalist Vishnu Pandya, who has been writing on the political background of Gujarat for a long time, disagrees with this.
He believes that Abdul Latif's chapter in Gujarat politics was not as decisive or big as it is often presented.
He says, "The influence of goons, mafia dons and liquor smugglers has been there for a long time in the politics of Gujarat. Around 1985, the situation in Ahmedabad was such that there used to be open firing between mafia gangs in major areas of the city. However, in the last few years, relative peace has been established in Gujarat."
Pandya believes that it would not be appropriate to say that the Bharatiya Janata Party got any direct political benefit from Latif's election candidature.
According to him, Latif had contested the elections as an independent candidate, so the argument that his candidature benefited the BJP does not seem logical to him.
He also does not agree with the claim that Latif's presence or activities led to polarization in the society and BJP took political advantage of it.
Vishnu Pandya says, "Polarization cannot happen by eliminating any one mafia. Polarization happens through riots. There were big riots in Gujarat in 1969 and 2002. Due to this, there was polarization among the people of Gujarat. Political parties had no role in this."
World historian Howard Spodek, who taught in Ahmedabad in the sixties, has written about that period in his book 'Ahmedabad: Shock City of Twentieth Century'.
He wrote, "The BJP started defaming Latif and thus the entire Muslim community and tried to project the model of 'Latifaraz' as opposed to 'Ramraj' in the elections. This was a major reason for the BJP's victory in the 1987 elections."
Election results came and in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections, BJP won 67 out of 127 seats and Congress got 30 seats.
Journalist Prashant Dayal writes, "Public dissatisfaction was increasing over the laxity of Congress leaders in taking action against Latif. Congress leaders felt that the action would anger Muslims. They failed to make political calculations and did not understand that this was driving Hindu voters away from them. They had no idea that the BJP, which had come into existence only five-seven years ago in 1980, would take advantage of this."
Then, by the end of 1989, the BJP had gained such a strong hold in the urban areas that it even won the Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara Municipal Corporation elections.
Prashant Dayal writes, "During the communal riots in Ahmedabad, BJP's allies Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal started strengthening their hold in Ahmedabad Old City area (East Ahmedabad). BJP was benefiting from this."
"However, even BJP leaders did not believe that BJP would ever come to power. But the 1985 riots and the mistakes of Congress were making it powerful."
"Another thing was that many BJP leaders including Ashok Bhatt lived in the same Old City area. They had daily contact with the public. At that time, a perception was being formed among the common voters that BJP is a party of Hindus and Congress is a party of Muslims."
However, many Congress leaders also opposed Latif. The most vocal protest was made by Congress MP Rauf Waliullah, who lives in Kalupur. This MP was also murdered by members of an underworld gang.
Prashant Dayal writes that Congress leader and former Home Minister CD Patel was also angry with Latif.
BJP went door to door and said, 'Don't forget Latif'
After the success in 1987, BJP started giving more prominence to this issue. It was also used in the 1990 assembly elections.
BJP could win only 67 out of 182 seats and missed the majority.
Professor Christophe Jaffarello writes, "The same 'modus operandi' was adopted in the 1993 by-election for Ellisbridge seat in Ahmedabad. The BJP candidate was 'rising star' Haren Pandya and his election campaign was being managed by Narendra Modi. At that time Modi was the organizational secretary of Gujarat BJP."
Congress fielded industrialist Lalchand Devchand against Haren Pandya.
"Chimanbhai Patel wanted to defeat Haren Pandya in this election. Whereas he himself was close to Latif and Narendra Modi had come to know about his 'weakness'."
Jefferlo writes, "During the door-to-door election campaign, BJP workers used to say, 'Don't forget Latif when you go to vote.' In this way they used to remind people of his illegal activities, extortion etc."
This seat was with Janata Party. There was a shocking result in the by-election and Haren Pandya won by 48 thousand votes.
After this victory, it seemed as if BJP had found a new model to win in Gujarat, and even after that its experiments continued.
A big experiment in the 1995 assembly elections
After Latif fled to Pakistan, Chhabildas Mehta of Congress became the Chief Minister. The 1995 assembly elections were just around the corner.
Senior journalist Prashant Dayal writes, "Some Congress leaders were taking a tough stand against Latif, but all this was happening behind closed doors. Common people had started feeling that Hindus were facing problems in Ahmedabad and Gujarat because of Congress. A large section of Muslims were also moving away from Congress."
Professor Jefferlow writes, "The Ellisbridge by-election provided a template for the 1995 assembly elections."
During the 1995 assembly election campaign, the BJP focused on the relationship between Congress leaders and Latif.
He writes, "For example, there was much discussion about the relationship between Muslim Congress MLA Mohammed Hussain Barez and Latif. He was considered part of the Chimanbhai faction of the Congress."
Prashant Dayal writes, "During the assembly election campaign, BJP leaders including Ashok Bhatt were blaming the Congress for Latif's rise. The issue was Latif, but without saying it directly, the entire Muslim community was being blamed."
"Hindus were feeling that if anyone is their savior in this whole situation, it is BJP only. This was the first assembly election in which the real test of the beliefs that BJP had inculcated in the minds of the people was going to happen."
He wrote, "BJP had no real issue in the 1995 elections, but they had Latif. They presented Congress as Latif's party, i.e. 'the party of Muslims'."
Latif was not in India during the 1995 elections, and had fled to Pakistan.
According to a report in Times of India, no BJP leader's election speech was complete without mentioning Latif and Dawood Ibrahim's 'links with Congress'.
A retired DGP of Gujarat even said, "It would not be wrong to say that Abdul Latif laid the foundation for BJP coming to power in Gujarat."
Retired IPS RB Srikumar writes in his book 'Gujarat Behind the Curtain', "Since 1984, the circumstances were becoming favorable for the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat. Anti-reservation movements transformed into anti-Muslim violence."
"Traditional voters of the Congress continued to gravitate towards the BJP. After the BJP's victory in 1995, the Sangh Parivar intensified its communalisation and saffronisation programmes. As a result, large sections of the population like the Patidars were attracted towards the BJP."
He writes, "Incidents like the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Advani's Rath Yatra, the Kashmiri Pandit issue, the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the riots that followed, the rise of Muslim criminals like Abdul Latif in cities like Ahmedabad in Gujarat, etc. pushed a large section of the traditionally secular population towards Hindu majoritarianism. This had a far-reaching impact on politics."
In the 1995 elections, the BJP won with an overwhelming majority, winning 121 seats and the Congress was reduced to 45 seats.
Prashant Dayal writes, "Even after this victory, the public's attention was not drawn towards BJP's scientist Narendra Modi, who played an important role in 'polarizing Hindu-Muslim votes'."
"In just five years, Narendra Modi had wiped out the Congress by raising the issue of Ram Janmabhoomi and running a campaign against Latif. This was his first big experiment in which he was successful."
To know BJP's stand on this claim, we spoke to the party's chief spokesperson in Gujarat. But he clearly refused to give any reaction on these.
Latif's arrest, death and subsequent politics
When Keshubhai Patel arrested Latif in 1996, BJP honored Keshubhai as 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' in many districts.
However, the government formed by seeking votes in the name of Latif could not last long and due to internal rebellion within the BJP, Shankarsinh Vaghela came to power.
Latif was killed in an alleged police encounter in November 1997 during the tenure of Shankersingh's Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) and Congress coalition government.
Prashant Dayal writes, "After Latif's death, the police's fear of riots breaking out in Ahmedabad proved wrong. The reason for this was that Latif, who had emerged as a communal leader, had also extorted money from many Muslims. With his departure, peace was felt in both Hindu and Muslim areas."
"But because of one person named Latif, a gap was created between the Hindus and Muslims of Ahmedabad which probably could not be bridged for a century. Political parties played an important role in widening that gap."
Professor Jefferlow writes, "Latif died in 1997, but as long as Latif's gang remained active, the BJP continued to divide Gujarati society on communal lines and perpetuated the politics of fear."
He says that one of the many reasons for BJP winning the assembly elections in the 1990s was the communal polarization of Gujarat.
If Latif was not there, would BJP not have been strong in Gujarat?
Retired Professor Ghanshyam Shah believes that it is not right to say that 'if Latif had not been there, BJP would not have been so strong in Gujarat'.
But it can definitely be said that in this political environment of Gujarat, Latif played the role of a catalyst.
He says, "BJP cleverly turned the anti-reservation movement going on in the years after 1985 in its favor. By promoting Latif etc., there were riots in Gujarat, but both sides suffered losses. We should also remember that Latif was not there at the time of the terrible riots of 1969 or the riots of 2002."
Urvish Kothari is a senior columnist and writer based in Ahmedabad. He said, "Latif was once useful to both BJP and Congress, and both used him from time to time."
"But despite Hindu majority in Gujarat, the aim is to create such an environment."
