Kolkata: This Monday, actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah put out calls seeking support for their niece, Saira Shah Halim, who is all set to make her political debut next week as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate in the by-election to the Ballygunge assembly constituency in south Kolkata.
In a video endorsing Halim and lambasting the ruling Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) candidate, Babul Supriyo — whose past with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a major talking point in this bypoll — the actors said, “The choice before voters is a clear one. Would you like your representative to be a caring, compassionate and committed person, or would you prefer a turncoat opportunist who is also a serial hatemonger?”
The Ballygunge by-election will be held on 12 April. The seat, a TMC stronghold since 2006, became vacant with the death of veteran Trinamool leader and cabinet minister Subrata Mukherjee in November last year. The BJP has fielded Keya Ghosh, while the Trinamool candidate is singer-turned-politician Supriyo, a former BJP leader and Union minister who defected to the TMC last year.
During his campaign for Ballygunge, Supriyo has faced criticism, with Muslim organisations in particular decrying comments he made as a BJP MP and opposing his candidature.
He has been at the centre of a number of controversial incidents, and in 2018, when he visited his then-parliamentary constituency of Asansol to meet victims of communal violence, he was charged with rioting by the state police, and was caught on camera threatening to “skin” protesters alive.
Asked about her political opponent, Saira Shah Halim said: “Babul Supriyo has no credibility. His defamatory comments are his biggest drawback.”
‘Kolkata has given me my identity’
Less than a month ago, when the CPI(M) first announced her as its candidate, the activist was mostly known as the wife of party leader Fuad Halim, a doctor who was the CPI(M)’s candidate in Ballygunge during last year’s assembly elections.
“We were leaving for a trip to Assam when I got a call from the senior leadership asking me if I could fight this battle. I was surprised but I was ready,” Saira told ThePrint, recalling the day her candidature was announced.
But the political debutant has garnered much attention while campaigning. She’s the daughter of Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd), a decorated Army officer and Naseeruddin’s brother, whom she cites as an inspiration. Her experiences growing up as an Army kid made her tough, she said.
“I’ve seen tough terrain at a very young age. My father was posted in Punjab during the 1990s when the insurgency was peaking, and in 1998-99, he was the commanding officer in Manipur during the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) insurgency. I vividly remember going to school in large convoys, because there was always news of the Army being ambushed,” Saira continued.
Born at Command Hospital in Kolkata, Saira has travelled extensively across the country — but she identifies with the city of her birth.
“Due to my father’s postings, I have lived in many places, I studied at a boarding school in Ooty, did my college from Rajasthan. An Army family never really has attachment to any one place — that’s how we’ve been brought up — but it’s Kolkata that has given me my identity. This is my city, and I am proud to serve the people of this state,” she added.
A mother of two, Saira is a well-known activist in Kolkata who took part in the protests against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and, more recently, during the row that erupted over educational institutions in Karnataka banning the hijab in classrooms.
“Saira is vociferous and approachable. When no one spoke about Bengal’s ambassador Shah Rukh Khan’s son’s arrest, Saira raised her voice. These factors surely make Saira a good choice for the CPI(M),” her husband, Fuad Halim, told ThePrint, referring to Aryan Khan’s arrest from a cruise ship in connection with a drugs case last year. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appointed Shah Rukh Khan West Bengal’s brand ambassador in 2012.
During the 2021 West Bengal assembly election, when Fuad Halim was contesting from Ballygunge, it was Saira who managed his campaign. The couple also run a free dialysis centre for the underprivileged in Kolkata.
Also read: No manpower, little resources — Left’s Bhabanipur campaign reflects state of party in Bengal
TMC stronghold
With a mixed, urban, educated population, Ballygunge has been a key Trinamool constituency since 2006. It’s synonymous with the late Subrata Mukherjee, who represented it in the 1970s as a Congress MLA, and from 2011 to 2021 for the TMC. There are some 2.5 lakh voters, who comprise a mix of Bengali and Hindi speakers, with Muslims making up a significant chunk of the electorate.
In the 2021 assembly elections, Mukherjee, the TMC candidate, scored a 70 per cent vote share, while the BJP’s Lokenath Chatterjee came a distant second with a little over 20 per cent, and Fuad Halim got 5.61 per cent.
This time around, while Babul Supriyo is holding meetings and driving around to garner support, Saira Shah Halim is concentrating on aggressive door-to-door campaigning.
“I live in Ward 68, but I have not yet seen any Trinamool campaigning here,” Mukherjee’s sister, Tanima, told ThePrint.
“No one can match up to Dada (Mukherjee); he has left a vacuum. The TMC will win but people here don’t know what kind of politician Babul Supriyo is. Maybe the vote percentage will drop. But I have seen Saira Shah Halim campaign, she’s good,” added Tanima.
Opposition to TMC’s pick
Several Muslim groups have expressed their opposition to Supriyo’s candidature. West Bengal Imams Association chairman Mohammed Yahya told ThePrint, “We always supported the Trinamool Congress for their secular image, but today we feel deprived.”
“Several Muslim organisations have written to the chief minister, but we’ve not heard back. Minister Firhad Hakim told us that it was Didi’s choice, and not to oppose it. We will not vote for Babul Supriyo and that’s our stand,” he added.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sourjya Bhowmick, author of Gangster State: The Rise and Fall of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, said, “Babul Supriyo definitely has an advantage — during by-elections, the people of Bengal tend to vote in favour of the ruling party. BJP’s Keya Ghosh isn’t a political heavyweight.”
“However, Saira Shah Halim’s candidature is going to increase the CPI(M)’s vote share this time. The roaring rampage in Birbhum and student leader Anis Khan’s reported murder may turn a certain number of Muslim votes towards the CPI(M). Saira’s image is clean and she’s against the turncoat Babul, whose controversial remarks against the minorities may help her fetch additional votes,” he added.
Both cases Bhowmick referred to have led to criticism and allegations against the ruling party. Eight people were burned to death in a mob attack in a village in Birbhum district after the murder of a local TMC leader on 21 March. And Anis Khan, a former activist with the CPI(M)’s student wing and later, the Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front, was found dead outside his home in February after four men — allegedly policemen, one of whom was in uniform — arrived at the house.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
Also read: India needs a party like CPI(M). But it finds no takers outside Kolkata colleges now