SAIRA SHAH HALIM

Activist | Educator | Politician

Saira Shah Halim (born 27 February 1978, Kolkata), the CPI(M) candidate for the 2024 General Elections, is a social and peace activist, educator, politician, theatre artist, three-time TEDx speaker and writer.

Raised in various parts of India and the Gulf due to her father's army career, she travelled across the country and experienced a variety of cultural and social environments.

Saira returned to Kolkata - the city of her birth - in the year 2000. As a young, newly-married woman determined to make her mark, she started working with MNCs and corporate houses. She began her career in the corporate world, working with top multinational corporations in multiple training and development roles. Some organisations she worked for are WIPRO, WEBEL, etc.

Hanging up her corporate boots after 17 years, she metamorphosed into one of the more prominent social and gender activists of the country.

Saira has been a strong advocate for the marginalised and disenfranchised – she was associated with the farmers’ movement, the anti CAA and NRC protests, and has protested against educational institutions in Karnataka banning the hijab in classrooms.

She is associated with multiple associations and platforms promoting secularism, democratic values, gender equality and diversity(LGBTQ), and has worked on various social agendas reflecting these values.

An extremely well-known face on national television, Saira voices her progressive and secular opinions vociferously, sometimes with hostile anchors and co-panelists for company.

Saira made her political debut in March 2022 with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She contested in the Ballygunge Assembly by-poll, demonstrating her commitment to political activism and change. She broke the TMC-BJP binary, and defeated two national parties, the BJP and the Congress, increasing the CPIM vote share from 5% to 30%, — she lost narrowly thanks to rigging.

Early life and background

Though Saira Shah Halim was born in Kolkata, her father’s Army background took her to Punjab, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu (Ooty). She even spent two years in Riyadh, where her father was posted as India’s defence attaché in the Gulf.

She finished high school from Lawrence School, Lovedale, graduated from Sophia Girls College in Ajmer, and later pursued a Master’s in English literature.

She had a long and successful career as a business development and communications trainer with the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (Webel), WIPRO, among other multinational firms, before gravitating towards social work and activism.

Saira is the daughter of Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah, the celebrated former Deputy Chief of the Indian Army and former Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. It may be recalled Lt Gen Shah quelled the Gujarat Riots in 2002.

Saira is also the niece of the legendary film actor Naseeruddin Shah and the daughter-in-law of Hashim Abdul Halim, the former and longest-serving speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

Her brother is the actor and motivational speaker Major Mohommed Ali Shah (Retd).

Saira is married to Dr. Fuad Halim, a politician and medical practitioner, with whom she founded the NGO Kolkata Swasthya Sankalp, aimed at aiding the underprivileged. During Covid, Dr Halim conducted dialysis procedures for Rs.50 for poor patients and also donated plasma 7 times. Patients hailed him as a ‘saviour’.

They have two daughters, who are both pursuing their education.

Family

Activities

Saira is an outspoken spokesperson for liberal and secular forces on national media - she is a regular on all national TV channels, participating in myriad social and political issues – she regularly appears on India Today, Republic, NDTV, ABP, etc.

Saira is a columnist with India Today and writes regularly for The Sunday Guardian, The Gulf News, ABP, The Print and many other national and international publications; she usually writes on policy and governance.

She is a regular speaker at literary festivals nationally and internationally: Times Litfest, Bangalore Poetry Festival, Arth Literary Festival, Kumaon Literary Festival, Ahmedabad International Literature Festival, the Adab Literature Festival in Karachi. She is a three-time TEDx speaker.

Saira is a theatre personality, having acted in many plays, and a film, “Ek Khaas Aadmi”.

Amongst many awards, she has also been felicitated with the SAARC Women's award by the SAARC Women's Association for her cultural, literary and bi lateral contributions, in Dhaka, 2019.

She has been a part of Poetry Couture, an initiative to revive the culture of poetry and prose reading. She is one of the founding members of the Poetry Paradigm, a non-profit organization based in Kolkata. She is a patron of the arts in Kolkata, and frequently launches new authors and poets.

In 2023, she representedIndia at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, where she spoke about the significant contributions of Indian women from independence to the present day.

She was also invited to speak at a seminar at the Tajik National University in 2022, where she presented a paper on 'India Model as the Foundation for Eurasian Digital Integration.'