Dr. Prof. M. H. Jawahirullah (born 1959) is an Indian politician currently elected as a member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 2021 from Papanasam Constituency and a former member of the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members, all of whom are democratically elected using the first-past-the-post system. The presiding office ...

from the Ramanathapuram constituency. He represents the

Manithaneya Makkal Katchi Manithaneya Makkal Katchi is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India. Its president is M. H. Jawahirullah. In the 2009 election, Manithaneya makkal Katchi contested in railway engine symbol. During the 2011 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elect ...

party, of which he is the founding member and present leader. He is also the member of

Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (Tamil Nadu Muslim Progress Conference) or TMMK is a Muslim non-governmental organisation established in the state of Tamil Nadu in India in 1995. The TMMK has described itself in news releases as "a mass base ...

Early life and education

Jawahirullah was born in Udangudi

Thoothukudi District The Thoothukkudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. On 20 October 1986, an M. G. Ramachandran-led government bifurcated the Tirunelveli district to form the district. It is shared by its boundaries w ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

from the

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. He then obtained masters in business administration (

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

) in 1983 and Master of Philosophy in 2000. He worked as a lecturer at Islamiah College,

Vaniyambadi Vaniyambadi (shortly known as Vnb) (Tamil : வாணியம்பாடி) is a town in the Tirupathur district of Tamil Nadu and the headquarter for the Vaniyambadi Revenue district comprising Vaniyambadi and Ambur. It is located about 20 ...

. In 2008, he was awarded

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

by the

for his dissertation on "Performance Evaluation and Assessment of Service Quality in Islamic Banks: A Study with special reference to Bank Islam Malaysia". He was a member of SIMI until 1989 and left the organisation due to its involvement in violence.

Activism and community service

Jawahirullah has been actively involved in the non-violent struggle for the rights of minorities especially

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

in India. He calls for coordination of all Muslim groups in India for positive development. His Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham (TMMK) organization mobilized hundreds of volunteers to help in rescue work when a tsunami struck the coast of Tamil Nadu in 2004 and it also played an important role in 2007 during negotiations to secure reservations for Muslims in government jobs. It has been praised by a

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

, M. Karunanidhi, and won an award for recruiting the highest number of blood donors in emergencies. It runs 148 free ambulances in Tamil Nadu. Jawahirullah, representing 25 Islamic trusts, societies and charities, sought a ban on

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

's then-unscreened movie ''

Vishwaroopam ''Vishwaroopam'' (titled ''Vishwaroop'' in Hindi; ) is a 2013 Indian action spy film co-written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also enacts the lead role. The film also stars Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremia ...

'' as "it will affect social harmony" and it gave the impression that "all Muslims are terrorists". The Tamil Nadu state government banned the movie from being screened in the state for a little over a week in 2013 until a compromise was agreed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawahirullah, M. H. 1959 births Living people Tamil Nadu MLAs 2011–2016 University of Madras alumni People from Thoothukudi district Indian Muslims Tamil Nadu MLAs 2021–2026 Tamil Muslims Manithaneya Makkal Katchi politicians