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Journalism of Courage
Shahjahan Sheikh may have burst onto the national limelight on Friday morning when an Enforcement Directorate team that came to raid his residence was attacked by a mob of hundred followers, men and women, leaving several injured. However, in and around Sandeshkhali block in North 24 Parganas, located not far from the border with Bangladesh, Sheikh, 42, is well-known – for his fisheries and brick kilns, for being the “Bhai” running one of the strongest “teams (a euphemism for gangs)” around, and for his kangaroo courts.
It’s been a steady rise up the Trinamool Congress ranks and a swifter climb up the power stakes for Sheikh over the past 10 years. This has coincided with the party’s time in government, and with the springing up of several such heavyweights, muscling their way in where the Left once called the shots.
The BJP has had a brush with him too. In June 2019, just after the last Lok Sabha polls, BJP and TMC workers clashed in Sandeshkhali, under which Sheikh’s village Sarberiya falls. A BJP worker and a TMC worker were killed in the clash, and Sheikh was among those named in a murder FIR. His name was later removed from the chargesheet which the police submitted in court.
Sheikh would have seen Friday’s ED raid coming, being a close associate of former minister and North 24 Parganas TMC district president Jyoti Priya Mallik, who was earlier arrested in an alleged ration scam.
While attempts to reach Sheikh on Friday were unsuccessful, leaders of the TMC, which claims a witch-hunt by the Central agencies against it, were more than happy to talk about the man who thwarted an ED team.
“Everyone here, from young to old, calls him ‘Bhai’. He has not just risen within the TMC in the past few years, but also in strength and muscle power… He is very popular. He commands one of the strongest ‘teams’ in the district. You know what I mean by team,” says a TMC leader of Sandeshkhali block, seen as close to him. “Shahjahan bhai,” he adds, “is now a Godfather.”
Sheikh joined the TMC in 2013, two years after it came to power, and was soon seen with the local leaders of the Sarberiya Agarhati gram panchayat. In 2018, he became the up-pradhan of the panchayat and his rise in the party began.
Sheikh is now the sabhapati of the Sandeshkhali unit of the TMC, and last year won a zilla parishad seat. He is also North 24 Parganas’s ‘Matsa Karmadhakshya, that is, in-charge of the district’s fishery development.
That appointment was not surprising given Sheikh’s ownership of a string of fishery units in the area, falling in the Sunderbans, as well as brick kilns.
The two are the most predominant local businesses, a source pointed out. “Sheikh owns a number of brick kilns and controls over 200 bighas of fisheries. He also owns or controls local wholesale fish markets, and a processing centre for baby shrimps, which he delivers to fish farmers throughout Bengal.”
Now, the family – including two other brothers who too are with the TMC – is also said to dabble in land dealings.
Another source said the reason for Sheikh’s clout is “both fear and respect”, as well as his proximity to senior TMC leaders, particularly Jyotipriya Mullick. It’s this that has kept his so-called system of justice afloat.
“From family feuds to disputes over land, people now turn to him more than the police or courts. He settles such matters at the party office or the panchayat office,” said a local.
Interestingly, in October 2019, Sarberia Agarhati gram panchayat was among the 22 panchayats in the country awarded by the Centre as ‘Child Friendly Gram Panchayats’. It received the reward for its work in child protection and combating child trafficking, once rampant in the Sunderbans area.
Locals say that too was a result of Sheikh’s work.
