Don on the run

The kind of hegemony that Shahabuddin enjoyed in Siwan had to be seen to be believed. His style was akin to a Hindi movie don. Anyone daring to rise against 8216;MP saheb8217; was silenced. Young JNU student and CPI-ML leader, Chandrasekhar, was gunned down in broad daylight while addressing a public meeting near Siwan court

Betel shop owner Nandlal name changed still remembers that day in 1996 when 8216;Shahabu8217; 8212; as Mohammad Shahabuddin was popularly known 8212; along with his supporters had opened fire on the vehicle of Superintendent of Police SP S.K. Singhal in the heart of Siwan and forced the police officer to run for his life.

The incident was said to be the first public display of Shahabuddin8217;s terror that was stamped in the minds of the people of Siwan. In 1996 he was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time, largely due to the support of the upper caste land owners who saw in him someone who could take on the CPI-ML. The attack on the SP took place a day after the polling, as the SP was on his way to arrest Shahabuddin on charges of booth capturing and murder on polling day. The police officer lodged an FIR for the daring attack but was soon shown the door and shifted out of the district. Shahabuddin8217;s might was established.

On Tuesday, when a special court in Siwan awarded the dreaded MP a life-term, it marked the beginning of the end of an era of terror in Siwan under which the people of the district had perhaps learnt to live. For nearly two decades the don cum politician had ruled the district as an uncrowned king till the law finally caught up with him following the change of regime in Bihar.

The kind of hegemony the MP enjoyed in Siwan had to be seen to be believed. As a reporter, I had covered Siwan during the 1999 general election. The district town appeared to be completely Shahabuddin8217;s citadel. Not a single poster of any political opponent was visible in the length and breadth of the town. Siwan was painted green with huge cut-outs of Shahabuddin and the RJD8217;s symbol, the lantern. Even the house of the BJP8217;s election agent was adorned with a larger than life cut-out of Shahabuddin and the politician could not dare protest.

After his second term, the MP began projecting himself as a Robin Hood. Doctors in Siwan were directed not to accept a consultation fee of more than Rs 50, and this was accepted without a murmur of protest. Then he took the unpopular step of banning the use of unfair means during examinations; once again there was no voice of dissent. His style was akin to a Hindi movie don. Anyone daring to rise against 8216;MP saheb8217; was silenced. Young JNU student and CPI-ML leader, Chandrasekhar, was gunned down in broad daylight while he was addressing a public meeting near Siwan court.

Shahabuddin8217;s ascent from crime to the political horizon of the state was an example of the politicisation of crime in the state under RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and the bankruptcy of his politics that led him to adopt lumpen elements from the Muslim community in the guise of being their messiah. Shahabuddin had already made a name in the crime world before Lalu adopted him in 1996 and gave him a Lok Sabha ticket. He was elected to the state assembly in 1990 as an independent candidate from Ziradei constituency in Siwan, ironically, the place to which the first president of the country, Dr Rajendra Prasad, belonged. At that time, he had 12 criminal cases against him including three relating to murder.

But Shahabuddin had never bothered about the history-sheet pending against him till the RJD was thrown out of power in the state. Earlier, whoever had dared to proceed against him had to bow out, including the then DGP D.P. Ojha who had claimed he had connections with Kashmiri militants and the D-company.

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But the Siwan don8217;s innings seems to have come to an end. This is just the beginning, with trials in at least 30 other criminal cases against him yet to be pursued to their logical end.