WHEN RAHUL MET ANOTHER GANDHI
“Oh, how come you are a Gandhi?” asked Congress’ prince Rahul Gandhi. The Congress vice-president was amused to meet a young Muslim boy (now 33 years old) during the party’s “Aam Admi Ka Sipahi’ training and orientation programme in Hyderabad in 2008. The boy was earlier “elected” in the internal polls of the Indian Youth Congress, which were organised to catch young talent. The scheme was Rahul’s brainwave. Coming from a farmer’s family of Chamaparan, from where Mahatma Gandhi had launched her Satyagraha movement, the youth had told Rahul, “Sir, my name is Shuja Gandhi.” And this had amused the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family. “Are you from Gujarat?” Rahul had asked him. This writer was also intrigued when he met Shuja at the Congress headquarters the other day. He told us what he had told Rahul Gandhi: that his full name was Md. Shujaullah Khan, but he writes “Shuja Gandhi”, and that he belonged to Bihar. He said that he had acquired the “Gandhi” tag when he was in school in Aligarh in 1993-98. “My fellow students used to call me ‘Gandhi’ as they said that I, because of my thick spectacles, reminded them of Mahatma Gandhi. Over the years, I humbly accepted this as my surname. Now, I am known as Shuja Gandhi everywhere, including my native place,” the young “party recruit” said. He did BSc from the Bihar University in 2002-2005. Shuja Gandhi recalls that Rahul had chuckled after hearing his “Gandhi story” and wished him all the best with a broad smile. Shuja met Rahul five-six times after that; the last meeting was in 2016. He was in Delhi a few days ago, trying to meet Rahul. Shuja was born in a family of freedom fighters, who stood shoulder to shoulder with giants in the heartlands of Champaran. Shuja’s native place is Kesaria, a small town in East Champaran. His father’s uncle Md. Hedaytuallh Khan was the president of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee in 1992-92 and earlier Speaker of the State Assembly in 1989-90. His father Md. Zafarullah Khan was a local panchayat leader in Kesaria, East Champaran. “Though now I am a social and political worker of the Congress, I remain a farmer at heart,” he points out. Shuja has now been in active politics for 12 years. He has worked in Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Karnataka and Nagaland. He has also served as the Secretary of the Bihar Congress. “Seeing my dedication, I have been given an opportunity to work at the cradle of Congress’ bastion—Rae Bareli and Amethi,” said Shuja. “This year, I have established the Champaran Foundation on completion of Bapu’s 100 years of Champaran Satyagrah,” he added. He is working on a project to open libraries in Bihar’s rural areas. His livelihood depends on cultivation and rent from a few shops in his ancestral place. “Of course,” he said, “I love being a Gandhi.”