Siwan is the fiefdom of four-time RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin. People speak about the imprisoned “Saheb” (Shahabuddin) in hushed tones. His name still inspires fear. However, NDA candidate Kavita Singh (Janata Dal-U), along with her husband, Ajay Singh, remains unfazed and says, “ Ram rajya is coming to Siwan.”
Ms. Singh is facing off against Mr. Shahabuddin’s wife, Hena Shahab (Rashtriya Janata Dal), in this Lok Sabha constituency.
Mr. Shahabuddin known as “Sultan of Siwan”, is now serving life imprisonment in the Tihar jail in connection with an abduction and double murder case.
Since 1990 he had been elected twice as MLA and four times as MP.
Law unto himself
Those were the days when Opposition parties could not dare open their offices during elections in Siwan. Only green (RJD’s official colour) and only Mr. Shahabuddin’s cut-outs dotted every nook and corner. He has been ruling the district, directly or indirectly: he set the fees of doctors and chose the Superintendents of Police and District Magistrates and the hotels of the town served food free to visitors going to Pratapur, Shahabuddin’s village.
Since 2005, he has been in jail in different cases but on September 11, 2016, he walked out of the Bhagalpur Central jail on bail.
Moments later, he took a jibe at Janata Dal(U) leader Nitish Kumar saying, “He has been a Chief Minister of circumstances.”
Days after, his bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court and on February 15, 2017, he was shifted from Siwan jail to a high-security cell in the Tihar jail.
Meanwhile, Siwan is apparently free of fear as doctors now charge fees as they wish, shops are open till late at night, hotels take payments according to their rate-chart and youngsters are out at night playing carom.
“Times have changed and so has the atmosphere … earlier, who could have dared to play carom at such a place late at night here…Siwan is getting normal fast,” said one of the youngsters but still preferring not to reveal his identity.
A few steps away, businessman Rajesh Kumar was sipping tea with a group of friends at a stall.
“There is no fear factor these days…you can see people moving freely,” he said, looking nervously around. Do you mean Shahabuddin is no more feared? He said in a hushed tone, “Still his men can be seen around.” Asked about the battle for the Lok Sabha seat, the group said, “It’s a tough fight…whoever wins, the victory margin will be less than 20,000.”
Om Prakash Yadav of the BJP defeated Ms. Shahab in 2009 and 2014 but this time under the NDA’s seat-sharing pact, Siwan has gone to the JD(U) and it has fielded Ms. Singh, MLA for Daroundha, against Ms. Shahab.
Vote bank
Wife of strongman and Hindutva activist Ajay Singh, Ms. Singh banks on upper caste Hindu and extremely backward caste votes to win the polls, while, Ms. Shahab is confident of getting support from the RJD’s traditional electoral bank of Muslims and Yadavs.
Siwan has a sizeable number of Muslims and Yadavs. “In the past two elections, Yadavs had not voted en bloc for the RJD candidate so she lost the poll…if they back her this time, then Hena Shahab will have the last laugh in her third attempt,” says Akhilesh Chaudhuri of Aandar village.
Yadavs of Siwan are angry about RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s imprisonment for so long.
Both RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and the Chief Minister have addressed public meetings in Siwan during their campaign. But, for voters of Siwan, the choice is between the spouses of two dons, one now in jail, the other by the side of his wife. Siwan goes to the polls on May 12.
