Siwan: Terror on the streets of Siwan has been replaced by chaotic traffic and calm public but make no mistake as it is at best a fragile one. A region highly polarized on communal lines and till a few years back synonymous with the dreaded criminal-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin is now flush with remittances from the Gulf countries as its youngsters flee the stifling atmosphere and drudgery of Siwan. But scratch the surface and the bitter past comes up.
Now languishing in a Bhagalpur jail, the tall and well-built Shahabuddin is no longer the threat that he used to be before his arrest, say Siwan residents but quickly add that there is no way to tell what the future holds in its belly. While many admit that Shahabuddin still commands a huge following but the rule of law established, in what is certainly one of the most difficult districts of Bihar, has ensured that some people can now talk freely against him and be out of their home till late in the night.
But most of the residents still refuse to take his name or say anything against him fearing a brutal retribution by his musclemen, many of whom still reside in Siwan and take orders from him. During his heydays, no one dared to take his name and he was called “sahab”.
“Even if today Shahabuddin calls anyone, then that person has no option but to follow the orders. His terror is still there though it is not that same as it used to be 15 years back,” says a 30-year-old medical store owner at Siwan’s Babunia Chowk.
Near the Siwan railway station a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, campaigning for the Assembly election, recalls the period when Shahabuddin ruled the area with an iron fist brooking no dissent. “As soon as the sun would set, everyone used to rush to our homes. His goons would routinely rob traders. There was no justice. Not many people dared to approach the police and even those who did found it almost impossible to get a case registered. Murders and disappearance of those opposing Shahabuddin was routine affair. Many people have still not been traced,” he said.
Swanky showrooms of branded cloths, cars, mobiles and even small malls have sprung up in Siwan in the last few years which the people credit to the Nitish Kumar rule and arrest of Shahabuddin. But its residents want more. They say during the time when Shahabuddin was lording over Siwan, hundreds of businessmen fled the area. There was massive flight of people as well as capital as his men used to routinely extort protection money.
“There was a Shahabuddin tax which his men levied at the station. Those working in the Gulf were asked to pay Rs 200 after alighting from the train. I myself paid it several times. I don’t know how they managed to find out who was coming by train. They used to have all the details like the person’s name, address, family details, train and berth number too. No one dared to refuse. After all who wants to die for Rs 200,” says a mobile shop owner who worked in Dubai for almost 10 years before returning to Siwan in 2009.
“Now there is rule of law. But there is a fear that Shahabuddin may be let off and then the reign of terror may return. We don’t want it,” he adds.
The same is the case in rural Siwan. Villagers talk in hushed tones about him and that too on the condition that their names and photos won’t be used. A villager in Nautan says even the gods don’t know how many have been killed by Shahabuddin and his henchmen in Siwan.
“Siwan became a notorious place when Shahabuddin was free. Let him rot in jail. No one was safe. If we had to visit Siwan, we made sure that we returned before it became dark. We missed several important work due to this. Marriages used to be held secretly or else a large amount as protection money had to be paid,” he added.
Shahabuddin entered electoral politics by winning the 1990 Bihar Assembly election on a Janata Dal ticket. He won again in 1995 and then became a Lok Sabha MP in 1996. He returned to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 as a Rashtriya Janata Dal member and is considered to be close to former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad.
He was barred from contesting in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections following his conviction in a kidnapping case. Instead his wife Hena Shahab contested from Siwan against his long-time rival Om Prakash Yadav of the BJP but she lost.
Yadav’s aides recall that Shahabuddin ensured that his opponents were not even allowed to campaign in Siwan. Anyone putting up posters and campaign material of his rival faced his wrath. They say that several people who worked for Yadav, who was with the Janata Dal United then, were allegedly killed by Shahabuddin’s men.
The criminal-politician was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2007 in the 1999 abduction of Chhote Lal Gupta, a Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) worker. Gupta was never traced and is believed to have been killed by Shahabuddin.
Shahabuddin faces charged in nearly four dozen cases many of them relating to murder, kidnapping and attempt to murder. One of the most talked about case is the “acid bath and murder” of two brothers Girish Raj and Satish Raj. The duo’s brother Rajiv Roshan who was the prime witness in the macabre murder was also shot dead allegedly by Shahabuddin’s men and son Osama. His name also figures in the murder of Chandrashekhar, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University president, who was shot dead in Siwan on March 31, 1997.
Shahabuddin has been routinely transferred to jails outside Siwan as he used to run his terror empire from within the prison campus. He is currently lodged in Bhagalpur jail in eastern Bihar.
But his writ still runs in Siwan and many claim that the ticket distribution by the Mahagathbandhan in the district bears his stamp. Mahagathbandhan rivals say he has also issued an appeal to his supporters to make sure that his candidates win the election from Siwan.
Janata Dal United leader Babloo Prasad alias Babloo Chauhan faces sitting BJP MLA Vyas Deo Prasad in Siwan constituency with CPI (ML) (L) candidate Jamil Ahmad also putting up a strong fight. The communist parties have a strong and loyal vote bank in the district and they have put up candidates in all the eight seats.
The main fight in Ziradei is between JDU candidate Ramesh Singh Kushwaha, BJP’s Asha Devi and Amarjit Kushwaha of CPI (ML) (L). In Darauli RJD’s Parmatma Ram faces Satyadeo Ram of CPI (ML) (L) and BJP candidate Ramayan Manjhi.
Raghunathpur is witnessing a three-cornered fight between Amarnath Yadav of CPI (ML)(L), RJD candidate Harishankar Yadav and Manoj Kumar Singh of BJP. At Daraundha BJP candidate Jitendra Swami is in locked in a tough battle with Kavita Singh of JDU and Jayshankar Pandit of CPI (Marxist).
Shyam Bahadur Singh of JDU is fighting against Irfan Ahmad of CPI and Baccha Pandey of Lok Janshakti Party. Devesh Kant Singh of BJP, Satyadeo Prasad Singh of RJD and CPI candidate Tarkeshwar Yadav have locked horns in Goreakothi while Maharajganj has Munshi Singh of CPI (M) battling it out against Kumar Deoranjan Singh of BJP and JDU’s Hemnarayan Sah.
Siwan votes in the fourth phase on November 1.
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