Yakub Memon, Mir Baqi and the dance of death

Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com walks the streets of Mahim, where Yakub Memon grew up and lived till the day before the serial blasts in 1993, on the day he was hanged, and discovers an undercurrent of unease and restrained anger.

Why this tamasha?

What is the message the government wants to send?

And why create tension?

As you walk the streets near the Mahim dargah in north-central Mumbai where the Memon family lives, you don't see a single shop open. Tension and fear appears to have gripped residents of the area on Thursday morning as they wait for Yakub Memon's body to arrive.

"Why is the government doing this tamasha?" asks one resident of Dargah Gully, Mahim. "The government could have quietly hanged him like they did Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. Why they are creating tension in the city? Why did (Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra) Fadnavis have to announce his execution date? They are playing politics."

"I feel at least 10,000 people will turn up for the funeral," says another resident. "I hope the police will be able to control the crowd."

Asked if he fears violence, he says, "Elders don't want violence, but you never know what the youngsters think? Kab kiska dimag ghum jayenga, guarantee nahi le sakte. (No one knows when some youngster loses his mind)."

"The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wants to score political points," another resident adds, "sending a message to its vote bank."

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Hamara Kaun? (Who is ours?)

A question hovering around the minds of many Muslims in Mahim since Yakub Memon was sentenced to death.

"No political party speaks for Muslims except the MIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen and (MIM chief and Hyderabad MP) Asaduddin Owaisi," says a resident of Dargah Mohalla.

Owaisi's speech last week -- when he asked why the assassins of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi were pardoned, why Yakub Memon was singled out? -- appears to have made an impact on residents who live near the Memons' home.

As has Owaisi's rhetorical responses: 'Yahan par toh koi poochney wala nahi hai (No one raises questions when it comes to Muslims)' and 'Phaansi dena hai toh sab ko phaansi do (If you want to hang, hang everyone, don't single out Muslims).'

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What will 'Tiger' Memon do?

Residents ask what Yakub Memon's elder brother, the mastermind of the Mumbai blasts who lives in Pakistan, will do now?

"When rioters burnt his shop in Mahim (during the 1992 riots), Tiger bombed the city. Now his brother has been hanged, will he keep quiet?" asks one shopkeeper.

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'Work hard and make money'

I meet an acquaintance close to where Javed 'Chikna', another accused in the 1993 blasts case, used to live in Mahim.

'Chikna' coordinated with the men who planted the bombs in different locations in Mumbai that fateful day.

He is still absconding.

I ask my acquaintance what he does now. He tells me he is doing well and completing his graduation.

I ask him why young Muslims don't want to protest Yakub Memon's execution. His answer is telling.

"Any young Muslim boy who wants to work hard can get a job. One can easily earn Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000 per month. So why not work hard and make money rather than waste time?"

It was the lure of easy money, by the way, that Javed 'Chikna' and 'Tiger' Memon used to draw young Muslim boys to committing horrific acts of terror.

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Mir Baqi and Yakub

Covering the Yakub Memon case and its fallout reminds me of an Urdu couplet by the poet Muzaffar Razmi.

Ye jabr bhi dekha hai taarikh ki nazron ne
Lamhon ne khata ki thi sadiyon ne saza pai

(History has been witness to this tragedy that the mistakes of moments have brought sufferings to mankind for millennia.)

In 1528, Mir Baqi, the first Mughal emperor Babar's general, constructed the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Mir Baqi would not have imagined that the mosque he was building would be demolished centuries later on December 6, 1992, which would lead to murderous riots followed by the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 and Yakub Memon's execution on July 30, 2015.

Muzaffar Razmi goes on to write Lamhon ne khata kit hi, sadiyon ne saza pai (The crime was created by a moment in time; but its punishment will be borne endlessly).

Mir Baqi's mosque resulted in Yakub Memon's death.

IMAGE: Police barricades near Yakub Memon's home in Mahim, north-central Mumbai.