Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian politician and was the Union Minister of Minority Affairs. He had served as a Member of Parliament in the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

from 2002 to 2022 and was Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha between 2021 and 2022. Naqvi was a Member of Parliament in the

from

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

from 2010 to 2016 and from

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

from 2016 to 2022.

Early and personal life

Naqvi was born to AH Naqvi and Sakina Begum on 15 October 1957 at

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

, India. He studied

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples o ...

. Naqvi married Seema Naqvi on 8 June 1983 and they have a son together.

Political career

Naqvi was jailed at the age of 17 in 1975 during the period of

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

at the Naini Central Jail in

due to his political activities. As a student leader, he had also participated in the activities of the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

. Naqvi unsuccessfully contested elections for the legislative assembly of

in 1980 as a candidate of Janata Party (Secular). He also contested elections as an independent candidate in 1980 Lok Sabha elections from the

Ayodhya Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became th ...

constituency. He was elected to the 1998 Lok Sabha from

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, and subsequently given the post of Minister of State for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with additional charge of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (2001-2003) in the

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

government. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2016. He became

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014 in Narendra Modi ministry. After resignation of

Najma Heptulla Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian politician. She was the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia from 2017 to 2023, until Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin was elected as new Chancellor on 14 March 2023. She was a six time member o ...

on 12 July 2016, he got independent charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. He took oath as cabinet minister in Narendra Modi's cabinet on 30 May 2019 and continued with the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Views

Congress

According to Naqvi, a "baseless" campaign had been started by Congress party to prevent

Indian Muslims Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the third-largest number of Muslims in the world. ...

from joining the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. Naqvi has also said that he does not harbour the allegations of Congress that as BJP came to power, there was nobody to cause riots against the minority community.

Muslims

Naqvi feels that Muslims don't desert other Muslims if they are given important posts in the

. For the party to increase support amongst the Muslims; he opines that they should feel that they are "equal citizens of this country", and also "understand that the bill on Muslim Personal Law will not take away their right to practise their religion". In addition, the party should also make them aware of the works done by the Vajpayee government. Naqvi has also said that there is "no justification" for the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

. In November 2015, when actor

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. Referred to as "Mr. Perfectionist" in the media, he is known for his work in a variety of film g ...

said that he felt of leaving the country, Naqvi defended by saying that he had made the comment "in a hurry or maybe under influence from others".

BJP and RSS

Naqvi has said that

and the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

are two "separate entities" and each of them has different views on different issues. According to him RSS is a nationalist organization and not an "anti-national" one.

Books

Naqvi has written three books - Syah (1991), Danga (1998) and Vaisali (2008).

References

, - , -

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naqvi, Mukhtar Abbas Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh Politicians from Prayagraj People from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh University of Allahabad alumni 1957 births Living people Indian Shia Muslims Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Narendra Modi ministry Ministers of minority affairs Rajya Sabha members from Jharkhand Janata Party (Secular) politicians