My name is Yakub Memon. I am not a terrorist

After the serial blasts ripped through the city in 1993 a littleknown Yakub Memon had fled to Dubai and a betterknown Yakub Memon walked through the streets of Bhendi Bazaar Dawood Ibrahimrsquos neighbourhood assuring voters that there was no connection between him and his namesake who was being touted as one of the architects of the attackSamajwadi Party Corporator Yakub Memon PicSharad VegdaThe tables have turned now with the then littleknown Yakub Memon making national headlines every day because of his probable date with death on July 30 and the other Yakub staying then as now just a locallyknown face as the corporator of Bhendi Bazaar and its surrounding areasWhat hasnrsquot changed however is that Yakub the corporator still has to sometimes reassure concerned callers that he is not Yakub the conspiratorInteresting ReadElections 2014 Namesakes of candidates aim to fool votersA tale of two Memons Yakub the corporator and right Yakub the conspirator I am right hereThis is the story of Corporator Yakub Memon of the Samajwadi Party who has for more than 22 years never moved around without his BMC identity card or some other form of identification because of the way officials deal with him the moment he utters his name Memon says getting lsquospecial treatmentrsquo at nakabandis and airports had become a way of lifeAfter the riots in 1992 and the blasts in March the following year the atmosphere in the city was tense ldquoAfter the bomb blasts a newspaper gave a headline stating that Yakub Memon had fled the country and was now a fugitive They had not used his photo and no one knew the other Yakub Memon at the time while I had been a corporator for oneandahalf years People knew me and suddenly my name was making headlines They were really worried and I got frantic calls asking me what had happenedrdquo Yakub the corporator told midday He had to make rounds of his constituency to assure people that everything was fine and that the newspapers were talking about the other Yakub Memon Tiger Memonrsquos brother from MahimThe corporator had first contested on a Muslim League ticket in 1992 after which he joined the Samajwadi Party in 1995 He is currently serving his third term as corporator from Ward no 220 which comprises Bhendi Bazaar Mohammed Ali Road and the neighbouring areasSpecial treatmentldquoDuring those days the atmosphere of suspicion was such that the police would barely trust anyone I remember the riots clearlyhellip hundreds of people were out on the street pelting stones and torching buses A very strict curfew was imposed after that and people were even shot for breaching it The city was tense following the blasts as wellrdquo said YakubldquoI used to stay in Versova at the time while my constituency was in South Mumbai Naturally I had to travel down there every day There was such heavy nakabandi that my car would be stopped daily and when I would tell my name to the police they would immediately ask me to step out of the car They would then conduct a thorough inspection For other people they would check the trunk of the car but in my case they would check the bonnet too I had to carry my BMC ID card around all the timerdquo the corporator said adding that his passport would also be thoroughly checked when he flew to other countriesFamilyspeakHis wife Shehnaaz though said she never suffered because of her husbandrsquos name being the same as that of Tiger Memonrsquos brother ldquoWe were newlyweds when all this happened I used to be very scared But I never suffered directlyrdquo she saidldquoJust yesterday Sunday I got a call from an old school friend enquiring about my father because of his name It was a person I wasnrsquot even in touch withrdquo said Saba Memon his daughterNow that Yakub the conspirator is back in the news Yakub the corporator too has received quite a few calls already but itrsquos a part of his life now and he doesnrsquot complain Never once he says did he think of changing his name because this is who he is This is the name he won the BMC elections on