Mohammed Ali Shabbir

Mohammed Ali Shabbir (born 15 February 1957) is an Indian politician who served as the Leader of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council from 4 April 2015 to 22 December 2018.

Shabbir Ali comes from an agricultural family in Kamareddy. He began his political career with the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) in the late 1970s. His father, the late Mohammed Masoom, was a senior Congress leader who donated his house to establish a regional Congress office; the present Kamareddy DCC office is located in the same premises.

After graduating with a degree in Commerce, Shabbir Ali joined the Youth Congress and actively participated in party activities. In 1989, he, along with other Youth Congress members, was jailed for 29 days for storming the Legislative Assembly to protest against remarks made by a TDP minister against Rajiv Gandhi. That same year, he contested the Kamareddy Assembly seat on a Congress ticket and won with a large majority. At the age of 32, he was inducted as a minister in the cabinet of Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy, handling portfolios such as Wakf, Sugar, Fisheries, Khadi and Village Handicrafts.

In 1993, Shabbir Ali became India’s first Minorities Welfare Minister, after playing a key role in the creation of the country's first Minorities Welfare Department. For the first time, ₹2 crore was allocated in the 1993–94 budget under 'Welfare of Minorities'. This model was later adopted by other states and, in 2006, a dedicated Minority Affairs Ministry was established at the national level. In 1994, he initiated the proposal for reservations for the Muslim community and persuaded then Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy to issue a government order (G.O. MS No. 30, dated 25 August 1994) providing reservations for Muslims and 14 other backward classes. However, the initiative could not progress further after the Congress lost the 1994 and 1999 elections.

At Shabbir Ali's request through APCC in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress President Sonia Gandhi included a promise of 5% reservation for Muslims in the party's 2004 election manifesto. Shabbir Ali won the 2004 elections from Kamareddy with a margin of over 52,000 votes and was inducted into Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet. The reservation policy was implemented within 58 days of assuming office, but the percentage was reduced to 4% following a High Court order, in line with the Supreme Court's 50% ceiling on reservations. The policy continues in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and has benefited nearly two million poor Muslims.

During his tenure from 2004 to 2009, Shabbir Ali held portfolios including Information & Public Relations, Energy, Coal, Minorities Welfare, Wakf, Urdu Academy, and NRI Affairs. He also served as the District In-charge Minister for Greater Hyderabad during the implementation of major infrastructure projects such as the international airport, the 162 km Outer Ring Road, and the 11 km expressway. He also oversaw development activities as In-charge Minister for Kadapa district for two years.

On 1 July 1997, Shabbir Ali survived an assassination attempt when Naxalites planted claymore bombs to prevent him, then MP M. Baga Reddy, and others from unveiling statues of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in Machareddy mandal. Five Congress workers were killed, and nine others were seriously injured in the attack.

Within the party, Shabbir Ali has served as State General Secretary and Vice-President of the AP Youth Congress, and as DCC President of Nizamabad for five years. He was later appointed General Secretary and Vice-President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, and in 2008, he became an executive member of the APCC and a member of the Pradesh Election Manifesto Committee.

Shabbir Ali was elected as a Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council on 14 March 2013 for a term lasting until March 2019. He served as Leader of Opposition in the Council from 4 April 2015 to 22 December 2018.

He was nominated as a star campaigner for elections in Goa (January 2017), Karnataka (2018), and Bihar (November 2020), and he actively participated in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

On 3 June 2022, Telangana Congress leaders offered a "chadar" at the Dargah Hazrat Yousufain in Nampally to pray for Sonia Gandhi’s speedy recovery from COVID-19. Participants included Shaik Abdullah Sohail (Minorities Department chairman), Nuthi Srikanth (OBC cell chairman), Sameer Waliullah (former Hyderabad Congress Minorities Department chairman), Syed Nizamuddin (TPCC spokesperson), Feroz Khan, Osman Mohammed Khan, Mateen Shareef, and other senior leaders.

Shabbir Ali was nominated by the Congress to contest from the Nizamabad constituency for the 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly elections. He was also appointed as SC, ST, OBC and Minority Affairs Advisor to the Telangana Government, with the rank and status of Minister of State.

References

External links

The Hindu articleThe Hindu article (2)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabbir, Mohammed Ali
1957 births
Living people
Indian National Congress politicians from Telangana
Andhra Pradesh MLAs 1989–1994
Andhra Pradesh MLAs 2004–2009
People from Kamareddy district