Calcutta:
Until a few months ago, Sandeshkhali island in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was just a dot on the map. But in recent months, this nondescript island has made national headlines and emerged as a major flashpoint between the opposition and the ruling Trinamool Congress, thanks to local strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.
On the face of it, there are accusations and counter-accusations between rival political parties in the run-up to the general election. But scratch the surface and what emerges is a mind-boggling story of Shahjahan's meteoric rise to power and how he managed to turn this island into his fiefdom.
The beginning
Shahjahan's journey to becoming Sandeshkhali's strongman started much before the Trinamool Congress came to power. Not much is known about his educational background. In his nomination papers for the panchayat polls, the educational qualification column was vacant. Local media reports say that in the early 2000s, Shahjahan could be seen on the sidelines of cars plying between Sandeshkhali and neighboring Sarberia, hailing passengers and collecting their money. His maternal uncle, a Muslim Sheikh, was a local CPM leader and the panchayat head. Sheikh gave Shahjahan his first break and the ambitious cousin started looking after the local fish trade. He was not yet a leader and worked largely in his uncle's shadow, helping him in elections and keeping in touch with local party leaders.
However, his wealth began to grow and it did not go unnoticed. It is around this time that Shahjahan began to define his identity. He helped local residents during crisis situations. Whether it was arranging money for a wedding or helping parents struggling to pay for their children's education, Shahjahan was the man to go to.
Around 2010, he felt the winds of change blowing against the ruling CPM, even before his uncle did. According to local media reports, Shahjahan gradually started distancing himself from the CPM as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress gained ground ahead of the 2011 polls. Shahjahan's calculation proved correct as the Left's 34-year rule ended and the Trinamool came to power.
Meanwhile, Trinamool leader Jyotipriya Mallick, who is now in jail in a corruption case, kept an eye on the ambitious cousin. According to local reports, Mallick planned to deal a fatal blow to the CPM by using Shahjahan to counter the influence of his uncle, the Muslim Sheikh. In 2013, Sheikh Shahjahan joined the Trinamool Congress. The tide had turned and the nephew and his uncle trumped. So much so that the Muslim Sheikh was forced to join Trinamool a few years ago.
A mountain of wealth
Three palatial houses, colored white, blue and yellow, tower over Akunjipara More near Sandeshkali. The blue and white houses are inhabited by Shahjahan's relatives. The 50-year-old strongman lived in yellow before fleeing the Enforcement Directorate raid. Documents filed for panchayat polls stated that Shahjahan owns 17 cars, 43 large tracts of land – around 23 hectares – and jewelery worth over Rs 2 crore. His bank balance was almost Rs 2 crore. The strongman called his profession 'business' and his annual income was almost Rs 20 lakh.
However, local residents claim that his actual assets are much more. But where did the money come from? Local leaders say he owned two brick kilns and was regularly seen there. That wasn't all. Shahjahan's aides collected a share from every fishmonger in the area. With firearms in their belts, his men went from one fish farmer to another, collecting the strongman's “wage” every month, according to local reports. His fear in the area was so great that no one dared to oppose it.
Accusations of land grabbing
Over the past decade, agricultural production in Sandeshkhali has declined rapidly and fish farming has grown exponentially. Behind this was Sheikh Shahjahan. Local residents talk about the strong man's oft-repeated expression: nona jole sona fole (Gold grows in salt water). However, his 'gold farming' ways have led to serious accusations of land grabbing. Several farmers told NDTV how Shahjahan took control of the land. His men would breach dikes to divert salt water to farmland. “They flooded our land with salt water so that we cannot grow crops here. (Shahjahan's aides) Uttam Sardar and Shibu Hazra did this. Now they are farming lobsters,” said a local farmer.
Another farmer claimed they were forced to farm fish. “Why do we grow fish when we have this land? We used to grow rice and live on it. We grew crops and fed ourselves. Fish and rice were enough. Now everything has stopped. There are no vegetables and there is no harvest. Our cows “We have nothing to eat because there is no grass. What will we do? We will die.”
According to local farmers, protest would carry a hefty fine. “We are protesting now because we cannot cope anymore. They pick us up and beat us. This is the situation. We cannot sleep at night,” said a farmer who did not want to be identified.
The goal was simple: convert land into fish farms and rake in the profits. Every piece of land, including a pedestrian field named after him, was on Shahjahan's radar as he built his fief, locals say.
The extortion network
Locals claim that they would get only a small share of the money that reached their accounts through the welfare schemes of the Center and the state government. This also applied to payments for work under MGNREGA, the rural job guarantee scheme.
“We might get Rs 500. They did not give us the rest,” said a local resident, addressing Shahjahan's aides.
“Shahjahan's men would pick us up from our house. We should take the money and give it to them. They would hand over Rs 500 to us. 'Take this, we won't give you the rest,' they said,” said another. A protest would lead to a beating, they claimed.
Another group of men said that payment for building roads or digging ponds would also be taken away by Shahjahan and his men. “This road was built, but we didn't pay for it. When we dug a pond, we didn't get any money for it. Not a single rupee. If we said anything, they picked us up and beat us.”
Where is Sheikh Shahjahan?
The Sandeshkhali strongman has been missing since a team of Enforcement Directorate officials faced an attack from the gang when they raided his house in Sandeshkhali in January. Recent allegations of harassment by women have created a political storm and prompted state police to crack down. Shahjahan's aides Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar have been arrested, but he is still on the run. State police chief Rajeev Kumar said a 10-member committee is probing the events in Sandeshkhali.
“A total of seventeen arrests have been made,” he told reporters on Saturday.
The top police officer said the state police are not trying to hide anything and appealed to villagers to come forward with their complaints. Police are also organizing camps in the area to deal with complaints of land grabbing and extortion.
One woman has reported rape. Basirhat police chief HM Rehman said, “The complaints we received from the Sandeshkhali police team and the police station did not mention any cases of rape. However, one woman has filed a complaint with the court for rape. take action.”
However, the officer said that they have not received any complaint specifically mentioning Shahjahan Sheikh. The main opposition BJP has accused the Trinamool Congress government of protecting the strongman and called for strict action.