Saira Shah

Some Lesser Known Facts About Saira Shah

• A politician, social and political activist, theatre artist, educator, and corporate trainer, Saira Shah is known for being the niece of the Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah. Naseeruddin is the younger brother of her father, Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah.

• She hails from a family of the Nawabs Of Sardhana. ^[6]YouTube

• Saira grew up in different cities across India as her father was in the Indian army.

  

• She began her corporate career in 2006 with Wipro and worked there for around two years.

  

• Thereafter, she worked with some big corporate houses in training, learning, and developmental roles.

• As a social activist, Saira has worked for various social agendas like gender equality and safeguarding democracy and secularism.

• In 2017, she acted in the short firm ‘Ek Khaas Aadmi.’ The film promoted a social message and was screened on NDTV talkies.

  

• Saira is associated with the West Bengal Federation of United Nations Association, whose main objective is to promote peace and sustainable development.

• She has also been a part of the Rotary Club of Ballygunge for a long time. Rotary Club of Ballygunge is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working in West Bengal, India.

• In December 2019, Saira protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in combination with the proposed all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). Halim was also against the educational institutions in Karnataka banning the hijab in classrooms in 2022.

• As a poet, she has organised several cultural and literary programmes in Kolkata. She has also worked with Poetry Couture, a pro-bono initiative to revive poetry and prose reading culture.

• Halim has been invited as a speaker at Kolkata literary fest many times.

• She is one of the founders of the Poetry Paradigm, a non-profit organisation based in Kolkata. The other founding members of the group include Joie Bose, Ashoke Viswanathan, Ananya Chatterjee, and Arthur Cardozo.

  

• In 2021, she delivered an independence day talk at Oakridge International School in Mohali.

  

• She has also contributed to the Kolkata-based blog The Beacon Kolkata.

• She also took part in Sampark Literary Evening.

• Halim has also chaired two sessions of the prestigious tata steel Kolkata literary meet.

• A motivational speaker, Saira has conducted many TED talk sessions in Kolkata.

  

• She began her political career in March 2022 by joining the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

• After the demise of veteran Trinamool leader and cabinet minister Subrata Mukherjee in November 2021, the Ballygunge seat became vacant, and to fill the seat, Ballygunge by-elections were organised on 12 April 2022. Halim was announced as the candidate of the CPI(M) for the 2022 Ballygunge Assembly bypolls on 29 March 2022. She contested the elections against singer-turned-politician and former Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Babul Supriyo of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

  

• During an interview, Saira recalled the day when her candidature was announced. She said,
  

  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.”

• Halim actively campaigned for the elections in the streets of Kolkata.

  

• In an interview, Halim said that although she was contesting the polls for the first time, she was exactly not new to politics. She said,
  

  I have been there, done that. Dinner table conversations have always been about politics in my home. Only this time, I am myself the candidate. The party which has been a part and parcel of my life for the last two decades offered me the challenge and I grabbed it.”

• In her spare time, she likes travelling, listening to music, reading books, and acting in plays.

• A behavioural trainer and theatre artist, Saira has conducted many reading, creative writing, and poetry workshops at national and international levels.

• In an interview, Halim revealed that growing up in a family with an army background made her a tough person. 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 from 1998-to 1999, 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, along with her husband Dr Fuad Halim, runs an NGO (clinic) named Kolkata Swasthya Sankalp. The organisation aims to cater for the poor classes.

• Halim managed her husband’s political campaigns in 2021 when he contested the West Bengal assembly election from Ballygunge Assembly Constituency.

• During an interview, Saira was asked if her husband’s political presence could fetch her votes. She said,
  

  I have my own credentials. I have actively campaigned against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act in Bengal and Delhi. I have been outspoken on the rights of religious minorities, on the issue of the hijab ban and on the rights of the LGBTQ+ community on all platforms – TV debates, digital conclaves and public meetings. The local cadres proposed my name to the party because I have my own political identity. I am going from door to door and speaking to voters. I have my vision for the constituency.”

• Despite living in various cities across India, Saira is very attached to her birthplace Kolkata. Talking about it in an interview, she said,
  

  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 an 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.”

• Saira’s aunt Ratna Pathak Shah (wife of Naseeruddin Shah) is an Indian theatre and television actress.

  

• Her father-in-law, Hashim Abdul Halim, is a former speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.