Essential commodities being sold in Mau under strict vigil on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Oct. 19: Last week, the powerloom town of Mau in eastern Uttar Pradesh was gripped by communal violence, ostensibly provoked by a Dussehra celebration and allegedly fuelled by the local legislator, Mukhtar Ansari, and a fringe of the BJP.

The administration did not appear to be on top of the situation until there were reports that trouble was erupting in villages as well.

For chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the feedback spelt disaster because Mau seemed to be a replay of Gonda in 1990-91. Then, too, he was at the helm. The small town in east-central Uttar Pradesh was the origin of months of violence which saw the BJP-VHP combine lay siege to the Babri mosque, police firing on kar sevaks and the killing of Muslims. Mulayam was painted an enemy of Hindus and the BJP the community’s sole saviour. Gonda, in a sense, marked the start of the BJP’s rise.

Sources in Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party said he was determined not to allow a “repeat”. Consequently, top district officials were shunted and the arrest of Ansari, an Independent MLA who supports the ruling party, was ordered.

Ansari has so far “evaded” the police while continuing to meet the media.

The BJP attempted to cash in on the violence ? the first big communal incident in 10 years ? but its leaders were not allowed to enter Mau.

Party sources said unlike in 1990-91, they let things “pass” this time because of the Bihar elections and the “compulsions” of coalition politics.

But the BJP’s rank and file in Uttar Pradesh were “excited” at the prospect of a “revival” of the communal card. “It’s the only device which ultimately works for us,” the sources said.

They said Mau’s “potential” would be assessed and after the Bihar polls are over and it is time for L.K. Advani to step down as chief, the party will decide what is best for it in Uttar Pradesh.

The state goes to polls in 2007. The BJP and the Congress have been written off as “inconsequential”. “We have to fight this perception because unlike the Congress, which stayed afloat despite losing power in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we are critically dependent on the heartland as a passport to Delhi,” a source said.

However, political observers said there are reasons why Mau might not turn into another Gonda. They are:

• BJP infighting

•The communalism versus secularism debate is unresolved

•The Samajwadi cadre and a huge pool of clients who benefited through its network of power and patronage

• Upper caste gravitation towards the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.