Dawood's Mentor by S. Hussain Zaidi

Author:S. Hussain Zaidi [Zaidi, S. Hussain]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353054571
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2019-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

16

The Art of Smuggling

Political iftars in the holy month of Ramadan are most exciting for those aspiring to climb the social ladder and others who want to do some serious networking. The grand feast after the fast is generally well attended by aspirational Muslims as well as non-Muslim politicians who want to make inroads into the community’s vote bank.

It was during one such iftar that Ibrahim Havildar and A.R. Antulay were introduced to each other. Abdul Rehman Antulay was, at the time, a most sought-after politician in Maharashtra, despite the fact that he was a Muslim. He was a natural-born politician who knew the pulse of the masses. The public loved him as he was good with rhetoric. And he was a rising star. Antulay was also riding on a major streak of luck (that he could make inroads into the Maratha bastion in Maharashtra and live to tell the tale itself was no mean achievement). He also had a winning smile.

And, of course, the most important thing that swung the political dial in the right direction for him was that he was Indira Gandhi’s favourite. When she appointed him as the minister for law and justice, Muslims felt it was a well-deserved appointment of a member of their own community, especially since Antulay had studied law. Grand felicitation functions were organized by the community for him. It seemed as though he would eventually weasel his way into the chief minister’s throne itself given the way Mrs Gandhi was tilted towards him.

The grand iftar feast at the Anjuman-I-Islam school bang opposite the Victoria Terminus railway station was well attended by the community’s prominent members. Antulay, of course, did not shake hands with Ibrahim Havildar. While they shared the same religion, hailed from the coastal belt of Konkan and were Konkani Muslims, they were separated by social hierarchy. Antulay was a barrister who had schooled in London while Ibrahim Havildar was a suspended cop trapped in a hand-to-mouth existence with half a dozen wayward children, two of whom had already sullied the good name of their father by constant run-ins with the law.

It took a couple of more iftar feasts at Madanpura and Agripada in south Bombay for a friendship to forge. Antulay wanted to tap into Ibrahim Havildar’s grass-roots connection with the Muslims in south Bombay.

It didn’t take much time for Ibrahim Havildar to unofficially join Antulay’s political bandwagon. He even made trips to his assembly constituency, the scenic picture-postcard coastline of Srivardhan, to help boost Antulay’s image. He also visited his village, Ambet, in Mhasla taluk.

Antulay was open to ideas that would endear him to the masses. When Ibrahim Havildar drew his attention to the illegal hooch centres in Mumbai and Ratnagiri, and suggested incognito visits to bust them, Antulay lapped up the suggestion. Antulay and his journalist friend Pramod Navalkar, who was with Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, set out on this challenging assignment along with Ibrahim Havildar. The plan was that once Antulay and his friends exited the

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