Asha Gawli

Asha Gawli, born Zubeida Mujawar, was the wife of the Hindu don Arun Gawli and the woman who effectively ran his criminal and political empire from their base in Byculla. Known to the gang and the locality alike as 'Mummy', she was the indispensable partner who shielded her husband against the police machinery and fake encounters on innumerable occasions, helped him float his own political party, and campaigned for him even while he was behind bars. Her story is one of a woman who transformed from a shy, orthodox bride into an aggressive and wily operator, becoming the most trusted lieutenant of a don who rarely stepped out of his fortress, and who went out to do everything for him, from canvassing for elections to staging dharnas outside police stations and ministers' offices.

Identity and Background

Asha was born Zubeida Mujawar, a Muslim woman who lived in Byculla, the same neighbourhood as Arun Gawli. When Arun met her, he was already an established gangster. He had first landed a job at Shakti Mills in Mahalaxmi at the age of twenty, and later shifted to Crompton Greaves Ltd in Kanjurmarg, where he began to get involved with the underworld. He joined hands with his old friend and schoolmate Rama Naik, and the two got involved in several local intra-gang brawls. Arun shot to fame when he, along with Naik and another goon Babu Reshim, murdered Parasnath Pandey in 1980, killing him to gain control of the collection of matka and liquor money in central Mumbai. Consequently detained under the National Security Act, Arun was released after a month of custody, and his power and influence grew after his release. It was during this time that he met and fell in love with seventeen-year-old Zubeida. Her marriage had already been arranged with a boy from within the Muslim community, but when Arun asked her to marry him, she accepted happily. Naik and Reshim opposed the alliance on the grounds that the two were from different communities, aghast that Arun, a Hindu Maharashtrian, was marrying a Muslim. Arun refused to budge, and finally married Zubeida, who then converted to Hinduism and changed her name to Asha. In her, Arun came to find a dependable aide and a woman who would run his household at Dagdi Chawl in Byculla.

Life and Role in the Gang

Asha initially stayed away from her husband's criminal activities. She went on to give birth to five children (Geeta, Mahesh, Yogita, Yogesh and Asmita), raised and educated them, and watched anxiously from a distance as Arun indulged in the bloody battles of the mafiosi. However, with Arun being a frequent guest in jails in the city, Asha had no option but to take the reins and run the show by proxy. This she did very effectively, formulating ingenious ways to protect her husband from the law. Holes were dug inside their kitchen in which Arun would hide whenever the police arrived with an arrest warrant; according to the police, Asha had a pit dug right below the area that housed the gas cylinder. Soon her involvement became so vital to the gang that Arun began treating her as his most trusted lieutenant. Over the years, Asha's demeanour changed, as she shed her shy and orthodox ways and turned aggressive and wily in her dealings. Since Arun's gang members addressed him as 'Daddy', Asha automatically came to be known as 'Mummy'.

Political Career and the Akhil Bharatiya Sena

In 1996, when Arun was locked up in the Kolhapur jail serving time under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), he mentioned his aspirations to join politics, with the reason being to save himself from a police encounter. The previous year, Asha had stood for the civic corporation elections, hoping her political standing would help her husband, but she had lost terribly. After this, she shifted her focus to her husband's political career. In 1997, with his wife's encouragement and support, Arun started the Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS). While he was the president of the ABS, Asha headed the women's wing. It was the women's wing which was used as a shield for the don against arrests and police encounters. A group of women would constantly surround Arun every time he walked out of Dagdi Chawl, something that other dons in the underworld made fun of. But the strategy worked: the cops could neither trace him in the crowd nor get violent with the women, hence he was able to escape unscathed on more than one occasion. Due to her efforts, Arun eventually went on to become a member of the Legislative Assembly in the state government. With a strong ally in his wife, Arun became practically the only don who was able to stay on in Mumbai and shape a career in crime and politics, right under the nose of the police and the Maharashtra government.

Arrest and the Manish Shah Murder Case

In 1998, Asha herself was arrested for her involvement in the Manish Shah murder case. Shah, a partner of industrialist Vallabh Thakkar, was killed on 2 February 1998 near his Sagar Mahal residence at Malabar Hill. Police investigations revealed that Shah had been shot by four of Arun's henchmen, at his command. At the time of the murder, the ABS president had been detained at the Amravati Central Prison, under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act. Later, the police stumbled upon some tiny slips of paper during a raid of Arun's home in Dagdi Chawl. One of these contained a note concerning Manish Shah, which read, 'Asha, Rajala saangun Bandyakadun Manish Shahache kam laukar karun ghe.' (Asha, tell Raja to get Bandya to deal with the Manish Shah matter immediately.) The note directly implicated Asha in the murder plot, showing her as an active participant in the gang's violent operations rather than a mere bystander.

Business Ventures and the 2009 Election Campaign

With her husband's encouragement, Asha launched a music company and churned out several albums of paeans to her deity. Despite the songs having no takers, her company Aai Music Service seemed to rake in big profits. When the Income Tax department announced amnesty under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS), the don admitted to an annual income of over Rs 1 crore. By 2004, when Arun filed the statutory income statement before fighting the state elections, the income of his music company had swelled to Rs 2 crore. A couple of years before the Legislative Assembly elections of 2009, Gawli was again put behind bars, this time being tried under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). However, Asha didn't give up. She filed his nomination papers for him, and along with her daughter Geeta, took it upon herself to campaign for him. A pre-election report in The Asian Age by Jigna Vora also mentioned how Agni, an NGO, had rated Arun the most competent MLA during his term. In fact, it had been Asha who had worked in the constituency on her husband's behalf. While Arun spent most of his time as an MLA in jail, Asha had ensured that she redressed the grievances of the people in the locality, as she knew that only their satisfaction could give her husband another shot at the MLA seat. While campaigning, she spent money from the gang's resources to ensure that people were happy with her husband. However, they did not stop to think about one crucial aspect: Arun's own absence. Besides, his lack of attendance in the Assembly session hadn't gone unnoticed by political observers. The people of his constituency voted against him and Arun failed to clinch the MLA post.

Public Image and Significance

Despite the electoral defeat, Mummy was not a disappointed woman. For her, the very fact that Arun was safe and unharmed by police forces, even after being tried under several stringent laws, still made her a clear winner. Several top dons like Amar Naik, Sada Pawle and Nari Khan have been killed in fake police encounters. In fact, even low-level acolytes have not been spared by the cops. If Gawli has managed to survive the encounters, and even gone on to win MLA elections, and if his daughter and party workers have become corporators, it's largely because of his wife. Arun Gawli rarely steps out of his fortress; it is Asha who goes out and does everything for him, whether it's canvassing for elections, making the rounds of the courts for legal battles or staging dharnas outside police stations and ministers' offices. In public, Asha portrayed convincingly the humble Hindu wife, someone to be pitied because her 'social worker husband', wrongly framed by the cops, was currently behind bars, with her symbolic vermillion and mangalsutra. Police records, however, sketch a very different picture of Asha Gawli, one of a woman who was the true power behind the throne, a formidable figure who used her femininity and her political acumen to protect her husband and build a criminal-political dynasty in the heart of Mumbai.