Mainpuri: Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh has been in focus ever since Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav threatened the district magistrate for cancelling the arms licences of some Samajwadi party leaders.
The district magistrate was only trying to end the gun raj in the constituency that has the largest number of gun owners in the country. In fact, it has become a hub for political workers to source guns.
There are hundreds of illegal gun shops in Mainpuri that have been sealed for a month now.
All of them were in business for years without valid licenses.
"No licenses are being made here. It all depends on political developments," confesses Amrish Pundhir, owner of an arms shop.
There are 141 weapons shops in the Mainpuri. One can simply walk in and buy a weapon to take home. This perhaps explains the staggering figure of 24,000 valid licensed arms. Officials say that if number of unauthorised arms is also taken into account, the total figure could run into lakhs.
Mainpuri Constituency has the highest number of arms owners and arms sellers in Uttar Pradesh, possibly even in the country. Half the people in the constituency own guns.
The gun business grew during the seventies when political sanction made it easy to own and sell guns.
"Licenses were made during BJP's tenure and after SP came to power fake licenses were given in abundance," says K C Yadav, Samajwadi pary leader.
Owning arms in Mainpuri is a status symbol. It also ties in with how unsafe the terrain is
Manoj Kumar, a resident of Mainpuri, has applied for a gun license and feels that license issue is a major poll issue in the district.
But more than anything, Mainpuri has become a ground for political workers to source guns that inevitably get misused during elections across the state.
It is this criminalisation that the new District Magistrate wants to rein in efforts that have landed her with comment from Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav - "The DM should get her head examined."