Baba Siddique: The Bandra boy who turned around suburb, partied with Bollywood A-listers
Siddique came to be known equally for his lavish annual iftar parties and close ties with Bollywood A-listers such as actors Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt
MUMBAI: Baba Siddique, born Ziauddin Siddique to businessman Abdul Rahim, was a quintessential Bandra boy – he studied in St Anne’s High School and graduated from MMK College. In the mid-’90s, Siddique and his friend Asif Bhamla, former NCP leader and now a self-professed environment activist, used to run a small video cassette library and would deliver to people’s homes. “We used the money to pay our college fees,” said Bhamla.
Siddique rose from the ranks and eventually came to be known equally for his lavish annual iftar parties and close ties with Bollywood A-listers such as actors Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, as also for his contribution to the community, particularly as an elected representative who served three consecutive terms as the MLA from Bandra West.
Shining up Bandra
Madhu Poplai, secretary of the Pali Hill Residents’ Association, recalled Siddique’s relentless efforts to improve the quality of life in the area – from removing 37 hawkers to helping install cameras to curb thefts. “During his tenure as MLA for 15 years, he went out of his way to help civic activists. The flower beds on Pali Hill, the first asphalting of roads here, and the installation of CCTV cameras – they were all done thanks to his enterprise,” said Poplai.
Siddique also played a key role in the extension of the Carter Road promenade, a project completed in collaboration with the Khar Bandra Santacruz (KBS) Foundation. In 2008, ₹48 lakh was allocated from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme funds of then MP Priya Dutt to Siddique, to further enhance the promenade.
Nonagenarian activist, Anandini Thakoor, chairperson, KBS Foundation who worked with Siddique on various projects, recalled, “During his time as a minister, he helped create a giant chessboard for open-air chess sessions, provided study spaces for slum children and extended the Carter Road promenade. He even supported the construction of a pavilion for Ganpati festival celebrations and Khar Danda koli events.”
Congress MLA Amin Patel looked upon Siddique more than just a colleague but a lifelong friend. The duo were always spotted together and were inseparable at one time. “We were in Congress together for nearly 35 years. He was a people’s man,” said Patel. When Siddique became an MLA in 1999, Patel was still a corporator.
Former Congress corporator Asif Zakaria echoed similar sentiments, calling Siddique’s contributions “immense, as his body of work speaks for itself”.
Fraternising with the stars
It is in this suburb that Siddique’s political journey began under the mentorship of former MP Sunil Dutt, a Pali Hill resident, who looked upon him like a son; and when Dutt’s daughter Priya entered politics, Siddique guided her through the challenges of her career.
On Sunday, Priya Dutt posted on X: “His loss feels like the departure of a family member.”
Siddique’s political career spanned nearly five decades, beginning as a municipal corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and later serving as an MLA for the Vandre West Vidhan Sabha Constituency in 1999, 2004 and 2009. He held key roles as minister of state for food and civil supplies, labour, and FDA during his tenure, making a lasting impact on both his constituency and the larger community.
He came in touch with Bollywood personalities because of his closeness to actor-filmmaker-politician, Sunil Dutt, when the latter was an elected member of parliament from 1984 to 2005. Even as a corporator in the ’80s, he was an important member of Dutt’s inner-circle of Congress workers, alongside Suresh Shetty, politician, and Baldev Khosa, actor-turned-politician.
Even after Sunil Dutt’s death in 2005, Siddique remained a constant at their home. As an insider said, “He was Priya Dutt’s mentor in politics but eventually he distanced himself from the rest of the Dutt family, except Sanjay Dutt, with whom he had cordial relations always.’’
He was also the media’s darling. Reporters who were regulars outside the gates of Imperial Heights, the Dutt residence, before Sanjay Dutt went behind bars in 2013, under the Arms Act, remember meeting Siddique and Sanjay’s secretary, Punkej Kharbanda almost every day. In fact, the only ones who could get updates on the incarceration drama playing out in the Dutt household was the Bandra politician and the journalists who had access to him.
When Salman Khan ran into legal troubles with the May 2015 accident outside Bandra’s American Express Bakery, Siddique became a regular at the Khan household -- Galaxy Apartments, Bandstand. Salim Khan, the patriarch, leaned heavily on Siddique in this troubled phase and the politician became an integral part of the Khan home.
From the turn of the century, Siddique’s Eid party at the Taj Lands’ End (it became a fixed venue because of the proximity to Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan’s homes) became famous. A source said, “Most of the guests who came though were the ones who were close to Salman. Whether it was Shilpa Shetty, Sangeeta Bijlani, or Sophie Chaudhary, almost everyone who was on Siddique’s guest-list was close to Salman.’’ He reportedly contributed to a large in-film branding deal for one of Salman’s home productions.
When Salman and SRK had a fall out with each other in July, 2008, it was Siddique who engineered a truce in 2013 at his iftar. He was seen by most people as the one man who had the ear of both Khans. Apart from getting the two to patch up, he was reportedly always by SRK’s side when he needed advice on real estate or local permissions.
Bollywood is mourning the loss of its slain politician-friend, who was a household name with the Bandra boys—Dutts and Khans.
An insider said, “Sanjay and Salman are shaken up with the news of Baba’s demise. Both visited the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on Saturday to pay their respects. The void in their hearts will remain forever.’’
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