1993 Mumbai serial blasts

The 1993 Mumbai serial blasts are the seismic historical event that shadows the entire narrative of S. Hussain Zaidi's Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The book, which profiles thirteen women who navigated the city's criminal underworld, repeatedly returns to this catastrophe as a turning point. The blasts, which occurred in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992, did not merely disrupt the city; they fundamentally altered the relationship between the state, the mafia, and the marginalized communities from which Zaidi's subjects emerged. The event serves as a chronological and thematic anchor, explaining the heightened tensions, the new legal regimes, and the shifting power dynamics that define the lives of the women profiled in the book.

The Communal Inferno and Its Aftermath

The demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 sent violent aftershocks through Mumbai, a city that had long prided itself on being a smorgasbord of diverse religions. The tremors led to politically-motivated and planned rioting between Hindus and Muslims, resulting in the systematic slaughtering of people from both communities. Several hundreds were killed and thousands rendered homeless by rampaging, angry mobs, leaving Mumbai literally burning in the fire of religious discord. Specific Muslim locations like Bhendi Bazaar, Dongri, Nagpada, Dharavi and Mumbra became epicentres for the violence. Labelled as 'sensitive zones', these areas saw tremendous bloodshed and destruction, forcing the army to declare a curfew. This communal conflagration was the immediate prelude to the serial blasts, setting a mood of pervasive tension and suspicion that permeated every corner of the city, including its criminal underworld.

The Blasts as a Catalyst for Legal and Social Change

The serial blasts of 1993 were a direct catalyst for a dramatic overhaul of the legal framework used to combat organized crime. The stringent law MCOCA, promulgated by the Maharashtra government in 1998, was created in the aftermath of the abrogation of the TADA, a law that had been used extensively in the wake of the blasts. The state government formulated MCOCA because they did not have any firm law with which to fight organized crime, and the Gujarat and Delhi governments later used the same law to control criminal gangs. The blasts, therefore, did not just end a period of violence; they inaugurated a new era of legal warfare against the underworld, a war that would directly ensnare several of the women profiled in the book, from drug baronesses to gangsters' molls. The tense mood in the city following the riots and the subsequent serial blasts is palpable in the book's scenes, such as when the prominent lawyer Ayaz Khan is confronted by a mob at his door, his mind immediately turning to the possibility of bad news in a city still reeling from the violence.

The Fading of the Old Guard and the Rise of New Powers

The riots and blasts accelerated a power shift within the Mumbai underworld that had been underway for years. The old guard of mafia dons, who had once held sway over the city's criminal enterprises, was fading. Top mafia bosses Karim Lala and Mastan were old and ailing and living a retired existence, while Vardha had long since died after retreating to Chennai in 1988. Reigning ganglord Dawood had also relocated to Dubai. This vacuum of power left figures like the aging Jenabai Daaruwali with nothing to wield, even as the city burned. The blasts and the communal riots that preceded them thus marked the end of an era, clearing the way for a new, more fragmented and violent generation of criminals, and for the women who would rise within their ranks. The event is a stark reminder of how national political upheavals directly reshaped the local geography of crime, leaving the old power centers in ruins and creating new opportunities and dangers for the women at the heart of Zaidi's narrative.

A City of Fear and the Women Within It

The 1993 Mumbai serial blasts are more than a historical footnote in Mafia Queens of Mumbai; they are the defining trauma that shapes the book's atmosphere of fear and its understanding of female criminality. The event is a lens through which Zaidi views the lives of his subjects, from the brothel madams of Kamathipura to the drug baronesses of Sion-Koliwada and Reay Road. The blasts hardened the state's resolve, leading to the creation of laws like MCOCA that would be used to arrest and convict women like Sujata Nikhalje and Shameem Mirza Beg. The event also deepened the communal divides that the book's subjects navigated daily, whether it was a Hindu don marrying a Muslim woman against the objections of his gang, or a Tamilian slum becoming a target of suspicion. In this way, the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts are not just a backdrop but an active force in the lives of the women, a force that Zaidi uses to illustrate the complex, often brutal, interplay between national politics, state power, and individual survival in the underworld.