One name at the center of the storm in the Bihar elections is that of Usama Shahab, son of the late Mohammad Shahabhuddin, a politician-turned-don who once epitomized terror in Siwan, Gopalganj and Saran districts.
But unlike his father, Mr Shahab, 31, has a calm demeanor and his unkempt hair and unkempt beard make him very different from his father. He doesn’t like to talk much and keeps to himself during the campaign.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Mr. Shahab from Raghunathpur Assembly constituency, replacing sitting MLA Harishankar Yadav. Mr. Harishankar and the RJD candidate from Siwan, Awadh Bihari Choudhary, always accompany Mr. Shahab during the campaign and it is the sitting MLA who speaks.
Mr Shahab is also not very media friendly and avoids journalists. One of his supporters in Hussainganj, Farhan Khan, said the RJD candidate was not talking to the media because “you people take something and play something else after editing it”. “He doesn’t want to get into any controversy because his life is already full of controversy,” he said.
Mr Shahab, who is standing for election for the first time, has to contend with his father’s legacy, yet he tries his best to connect with the local people. He may not speak in front of a crowd, but he tries to blend in with people by shaking hands. People give him a warm welcome.
The only time he was seen addressing a rally was two days ago when RJD leader and chief ministerial candidate of the INDIA Bloc Tejashwi Yadav was in Raghunathpur campaigning. Mr. Yadav suddenly asked Mr. Shahab to address the crowd and ask for votes. For a few seconds, the latter appeared nervous and stared at Mr. Yadav. He then spoke in Bhojpuri and asked people to vote for the INDIA bloc so that Mr. Yadav can become the Chief Minister. He spoke of rampant corruption at the block level. There was a pause when he said that “the poor earn ₹10,000 every day”, prompting laughter from the crowd, but he corrected himself and said, “I mean every month” and finished his speech in one minute.
In Sonbars, the villagers weighed him in apples – 119 kg. He later posted a message on social media: “The love and blessing I received from being weighed by apples in Sonbars was a deeply emotional and inspiring moment for me. It is not just an honor but a symbol of people’s unwavering faith, warm affection and desire for change.”
While the younger generation sees hope in Mr. Shahab, the elders still remember the time when Siwan’s name was in the headlines due to Shahabuddin’s reign of terror. BJP is using this in its campaign. Union ministers Amit Shah and JP Nadda have already criticized the RJD for giving ticket to Mr Shahab. Both said that to build Shahabbudin’s son was to bring back the “Jungle Paradise”. Last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adtiyanath told a rally in Siwan that the “khandani mafia” (mafia family) wanted to regain control.
But some voters don’t mind the name Shahabuddin. “We don’t care what others say about Osama. Shahabuddin was the past and Osama is the present. People call his father a criminal but he helped many needy and poor people irrespective of caste and religion,” said Mohammad Shadab, a resident of Firozpur village.
Mr Shahab, who has two criminal cases pending against him, is pitted against Janata Dal (United) candidate Vikas Kumar Singh alias Jishu Singh, who is a close associate of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. During the campaign, he asked people to remember the days of great fear in Siwan.
Muslims control the Raghunathpur Assembly constituency along with the Yadavas. Rajputs and other upper castes are in large numbers, making it a competition of backward and forward communities. Raghunathpur constituency includes Pratappur, the ancestral village of Shahabuddin, where Rajputs are in large numbers.
“I don’t think it is a good sign to compare Shahabuddin with his son. Usama has always kept a low profile in Siwan and is hardly seen. This is the first time we are seeing him up close,” said Manish Kumar Singh, a resident of Pratappur.
Shahabuddin was very close to the family of Lalu Prasad and the most important leader of the MY (Muslim-Jadav) equation on which Mr. Prasad ruled Bihar for 15 years. After Shahabuddin’s death in 2021, the RJD maintained a distance from his family. His wife Hena Shahab unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections four times, thrice on an RJD ticket and once as an independent.
Shahabuddin, a four-time MP, died while serving a life sentence in a double-murder case in Tihar Jail in May 2021 during Covid.
Published – 03 Nov 2025 20:50 IST
