Gunman from Lalooland

Plain Politics

Having outgrown his boots, Shahabuddin finds himself at the law's wrong end

Jiradei is a nondescript township in Bihar's Siwan district that usually stays out of the limelight.

Its most famous son was India's president Babu Rajendra Prasad who was one of India's most austere presidents.

Even today Prasad's study is preserved as it was during his lifetime and it is a testimony to that simpler era.

The bare room is lined with books and a few other necessities. It is perhaps symbolic of the politicians of that era.

Those days of innocence now seem over in this constituency where Kalashnikovs are freely available and the gun-culture rules.

Today Jiradei is better known as the constituency from where Mohammad Shahabuddin started his political career as a member of the Bihar assembly.

Today the Honourable Member of Parliament from Siwan is cooling his heels in jail on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery. He was arrested earlier this week and he hasn't been able to get bail yet.

The charges against him certainly make amazing reading. He has been accused of the kidnapping and murder of CPI-ML activist Munna Chowdhury.

In another similar case he has been accused of the murder and kidnapping of another CPI-ML activist Chhotelal Gupta. Four years ago Gupta was abducted from near a railway crossing in Siwan.

Shahabuddin also faces counts of interfering and threatening a police officer. It's said that in 2001 he abused and assaulted a police officer who was trying to arrest a man.

According to the police, Shahabuddin abused and assaulted the police officer and opened fire to intimidate him. Shahabuddin has been hauled through the courts before. He has so far been acquitted in 14 cases against him after the prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

Shahabudding is a larger-than-life personality in Jiradei. His posters and pictures are in every corner of the township.

Shahabuddin represented Jiradei in Bihar's assembly before he became Laloo Prasad Yadav's official Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate for the Siwan Lok Sabha seat in 1996.

Shahabuddin has been elected three straight times from Siwan to the Lok Sabha. This should be a measure of his popularity, but in Siwan, police say he uses strong arm tactics to win votes and that those who run foul of him usually don't prosper.

Once journalist who made inquiries about him in the town found that people suddenly became very nervous when they spoke to him and many terminated their conversations abruptly.

But there is a Robin Hood side to the MP. He has forbidden doctors in Siwan from charging exorbitant fees from poor patients And also assists parents seeking to marry off their daughters.

"Shahabuddin has helped many poor people marry off their daughters" said a Shahabuddin loyalist.

There is a sharp division in the Rabri Devi government over Shahabuddin's controversial background. In tha past, Laloo Yadav found him politically useful But of late, there's talk that he has become too big for his boots.

Siwan borders Gopalganj, Laloo's in-laws' village, and that has been an area of friction. Shahabuddin's rise and growing influence has been increasingly impinging on Sadhu Yadav, Laloo's brother-in-law.

It would be unfair to blame Shahabuddin for the gun-toting culture in Bihar. There are others in rival political parties who have developed equally fierce reputations. What's more, the use of political muscle is considered a necessity in the rough-and-tumble of the state's politics.

Certainly, Shahabuddin has owed his rise and political survival to Laloo Prasad Yadav. Muslims make up over 20 percent of Siwan's population.

He wouldn't have been able to win without Laloo's backing, which brings in support from the other Backward Classes and the dominant section of upper castes in the area.

Shahabuddin has cleverly played his cards to pre-empt a communal polarisation by fighting a proxy-battle against the Naxalites (CPI ML-Liberation group) on behalf of upper caste landlords.

Why have the police suddenly become active in reining in Shahabuddin? There is talk that they have been given the green light by Laloo who is said to be reaching the conclusion that Shahabuddin is slowly becoming a nuisance.

What's more, the tensions between Shahabuddin and Laloo's family are reported to be at boiling point. In a recent council election, Shahabuddin even actively worked to defeat of Laloo's brother-in-law.

With recent developments that culminated in Shahbuddin's surrender in court, Laloo appears to be sending Shahabuddin a message that he can survive in the state's politics only as Laloo's protege.

Most political observers have drawn the conclusion that Shahabuddin may have overreached himself by nursing ambitions of emerging as a Muslim leader. Laloo wouldn't be pleased at such ambitions and he has mastered the art of cutting political rivals to size.

The signals that Shahbuddin was suddenly out of favour have been coming for some time now. Two years ago, police raided the MP's house in Siwan, leading to a six-hour gun battle.

More recently, Bihar Director-General of Police D P Ojha went on television and made a raft of allegations against Shahabuddin.

The drama could pan out in two ways. There could be a patch-up between Yadav and Shahabuddin. Senior Bihari leaders believe that Shahabuddin could publicly re-affirm his faith in the leadership of Yadav who in turn could re-extend his patronage to him.

On the other hand, they say it may be that Yadav is fed up with Shahabuddin. In which case, Shahabuddin could be in jail for some time.