Sheikh Shahjahan: Undertrial lodged at Basirhat Correctional Home. Erstwhile lord of Sandeshkhali, in North 24-Parganas. Named in around a dozen criminal cases of land grab and sexual harassment.

Sheikh Shahjahan: Resident of room No. 501 at the New Boys’ Hostel of Medical College, Kolkata. Final-year MBBS student. Son of a farmer in Birbhum.

The former Trinamool Congress strongman — who has been at the centre of state politics for months — and the 24-year-old medical student are namesakes.

The same name does not bother the latter. What does is one paintbrush that is used to malign his community. It hurts more when it comes from the Prime Minister of the country.

“I have watched his election speeches. He is going after the name (of Shahjahan of Sandeshkhali). He is projecting the entire Muslim community in a bad light. It is sad to see politics has stooped so low,” said Shahjahan, a first-generation learner who hails from Raghunathpur village, 40km from Suri, the district headquarters of Birbhum, and around 250km from the heart of Calcutta.

“The Prime Minister is projecting Shahjahan as the representative of all Muslims. If Sheikh Shahjahan is guilty, he should get the most severe punishment. But this divide-and-rule politics is very dangerous,” said Shahjahan of Birbhum.

On May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a rally in Nadia: “In Sandeshkhali, such big atrocities occurred on the Dalit sisters. People across the country raised a demand for action. But the TMC continued to protect the oppressors.... I want to ask the TMC government. Is it only because the name of the oppressor was Shahjahan Sheikh?”

Bringing up the identity of Trinamool’s former strongman at Sandeshkhali, Modi targeted the ruling party’s alleged politics of appeasement, as has Union home minister Amit Shah.

The saffron ecosystem has been trying hard to push a narrative that in Sandeshkhali, the victims are marginalised Hindu families and the key perpetrators are Muslims. The Trinamool Congress is also hitting back, citing multiple “sting videos” to bolster its claim that some of the Sandeshkhali allegations were a BJP conspiracy against Bengal’s ruling party.

The younger Shahjahan — his namesake from Sandeshkhali is 45 — keeps track of news but missed voting in Birbhum on May 13. He went home for a 15-day break before the final-year course started the same day.

“I could have stayed back and voted. But that would mean skipping a day’s classes. I did not want that,” he said. In the final year, he has four
main subjects — medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatrics. In between theory and practical classes, he has to see patients in wards.

“My parents have undertaken a lot of pain for my education. To see me become a doctor is the dream they cherish. I want to give my 110 per cent to realise that dream,” said Shahjahan.

Shahjahan was named by his father, who owns a small parcel of land on which he grows rice twice a year. The most famous person to have answered to the name — which means the king of the world — was Mirza Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram, also known as Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal ruler in the 17th century.

Shah Jahan, who erected many splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal in Agra, is also the target of Right-wing diatribe. He has in the past been dubbed a “symbol of lust”.

The father of Birbhum’s, and now Calcutta’s, Shahjahan rears livestock — mainly chicken — for some extra income, besides being involved in farming.

Shahjahan’s mother is a homemaker. He has two elder sisters and one younger sister. All of them are now married. “My parents are illiterate. But they have always encouraged us to read. Two of my elder sisters have completed Class XII. My younger sister is a graduate,” he said.

Shahjahan is an example for his village, where the majority of the young men move to cities to work as migrant labourers or in some other informal sector. Some of them learn how to drive heavy vehicles. The majority of those who stay back take up farming.

When he is home, the young Shahjahan treats villagers. “My father has told me not to take money from villagers when I start practising formally,” he said.

At the medical college, Shahjahan helps the poor who come from districts and “look absolutely clueless”. He tries to get them appointments
with the right doctor so their treatment is not delayed further.

Shahjahan is a product of the Al-Ameen Mission, a charitable organisation that runs several residential schools in Bengal. With students like Shahjahan, the Mission is continuously breaking the stereotype of Muslims as a community not inclined to education, or only to religious learning — a tool often used to damn them.

He scored more than 90 per cent in Class X and around 85 per cent in Class XII.

Since Sandeshkali, and its protagonist, made it to the headlines, the younger Shahjahan has been the target of occasional taunts. But “mostly in jest and friendly banter”, he said.

During a recent practical test, an external examiner asked his name. “When I answered, he paused, looked at me and smiled,” said Shahjahan.

He sees bias and polarisation in the world outside but feels the atmosphere at the medical college is different.

The 190-year-old institution is one of the oldest schools teaching western medicine in Asia. It is considered one of the cradles of scientific education in India.

“I have never witnessed any form of bias in my batchmates, juniors and teachers,” he said. “I have heard, read and seen so much controversy over the hijab. In medical
college, several women students wear the hijab and train to become doctors. There is no discrimination,” he said.

This Shahjahan loves his cricket and turns up at Eden Gardens to root for KKR.