While the political milieu in Bihar was already in turmoil, everything has been brought back into flames again after the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) decision to field Osama Shahab as a candidate from the Raghunathpur Assembly seat in Siwan for the 2025 elections.
From the onset of his candidacy widely understood to be an act aimed at consolidating the traditional Muslim-Yadav (MY) vote in the area with a history of Shahabuddin family influence, Osama, son of the infamous gangster-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin, will today enter the electoral arena.
Osama Shahab is 31 years of age and born to a legacy of power politics laden with strong-arm rule from his father.
His election affidavit describes his formal education as having passed Matriculation (10th grade) from the CBSE board in 2010.
Currently, he is described in official affidavits as a ‘Social Worker’, which only temporarily fulfills by this one entry the gaping hole left with the assassination of his father from Bihar politics: a certain angry entry with a grand descent into the deeper abyss of chaos.
Controversy and Legal Tussle
Osama Shahab’s nomination has definitely flustered the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its marquee leaders such as UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The criticism has drawn from the infamous past of his father Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was a four-term MP and convicted gangster known to have run a parallel administration in Siwan, with over 30 criminal cases against him including murder and kidnap.
Adityanath, in his addresses on the hustings, directed at RJD for endorsing a “mafia family” as opposed to the government policy that affords ‘zero tolerance’ on crime.
The BJP is accusing the RJD ceaselessly of attempting to bring back the ‘Jungle Raj’ in Bihar by contesting candidates with criminal backgrounds.
As for Osama, he is not entirely untouched from the legal issues; his affidavit reportedly has two pending criminal cases against him, including charges related to criminal trespass and rioting, reminding us about the African conditions he has inherited.
The Dynasty’s Political Calculus
In other words, RJD has taken a calculated risk seeking to gain from the strong residual loyalty to the Shahabuddin name among a sizeable section of the people in Siwan.
Osama’s mother Hena Shahab contested for the Siwan Lok Sabha seat several times but did not succeed, often splitting votes when she contested as an independent owing to the RJD’s internal friction with the family post the death of Shahabuddin in 2021.
By giving Osama the ticket, RJD has officially rehabilitated the family, with the intent of galvanizing a consolidated MY unity around which the Mahagathbandhan’s success in this strategic belt depends.
Raghunathpur is, therefore, a high stakes battle in which the election will double as a referendum on whether the Bihar electorate will endorse the new generation of a disputed political dynasty or will outrightly reject something the opposition is calling a comeback of ‘mafia politics’.
A recent media graduate, Bhumi Vashisht is currently making a significant contribution as a committed content writer. She brings new ideas to the media sector and is an expert at creating strategic content and captivating tales, having working in the field from past four months.
