Shahabuddin still a factor in Siwan, RJD learns its lesson, courts wife, son

Hena contested this year’s Lok Sabha polls from Siwan as an Independent, the first time the RJD did not give her a ticket since 2009, when she stepped into her husband’s seat. While she finished 92,000 votes behind the victorious JD(U) candidate Vijaylakshmi Devi, the RJD candidate and former Bihar Assembly Speaker, Awadh Bihari Choudhary, was a distant third.

RJD sources said Shahabuddin’s wife and son may join the party during the coming yatra of Tejashwi, but that the two had not been made any promises.

A senior RJD leader said: “Despite her loss, Hena put up a very impressive show by getting 2.93 lakh votes as an Independent, in comparison to our candidate’s 1.98 lakh votes. While Hena has not been able to win from the Siwan Lok Sabha seat since 2009 (after Shahabuddin was convicted in several cases and could no longer contest)… the 2024 results show that Shahabuddin still remains a factor in Siwan and adjoining areas.”

Shahabuddin, who was the Siwan MP from 1996 till 2004, and was hugely popular in the area, won his last two elections from the seat on the RJD ticket. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, Hena had approached the RJD for a ticket again from Siwan, but was denied. The party believes this alienated a section of the Muslims and was one of the reasons for the RJD’s loss from neighbouring Saran as well, from where Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya was a candidate.

The RJD, which dominated the politics of Siwan, Gopalganj and Saran – with this area’s fair share of Muslims – till the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, has not been able to win these seats since 2009 due to the formidable social combination stitched by the BJP-JD(U)-Lok Janshakti Party combination.

However, the RJD has done fairly well in the Assembly polls here, including in 2015 and 2020.

The RJD’s eyes are now set on the 2025 Assembly polls, and with a good chance of the party performing well given the weakening of the JD(U), it wants to tie up all the loose ends, the senior RJD leader said.

Another RJD leader said: “Shahabuddin’s son Osama also has political ambitions, and may want to contest the 2025 Assembly polls. Hence, the RJD and the Shahabuddin family need each other.”

According to this RJD leader, another reason the party is seeking to consolidate Muslim votes is to preempt the new political player on the scene, Prashant Kishor. The political analyst-turned-politician, whose party Jan Suraaj plans to make a debut with the 2025 Assembly polls, has been reaching out to Muslims, telling them their problems are not different from the backwards and they should come together as one.

“If Kishor’s party makes an impression, it would be mostly at our expense. We can’t dismiss him as he has been working on the ground for two years now. He is looking at Muslims as one big constituency,” said the RJD leader.

Shahabuddin’s political career ended after his convictions in at least half-a-dozen criminal cases, forcing him out of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, he died following a Covid infection in May 2021.