Raashid Alvi () is an Indian politician who served as a member of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

from both the

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

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 ...

. He is currently a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party.

Early life

Raashid Alvi was born in Chandpur,

Bijnor Bijnor () is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.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 ...

, on 15 April 1956, to Islama Khatoon and Malik Irfan Ahmad Alvi, a

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

Political career

He served as the All India general secretary of the Janata Dal In 1999, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Amroha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, defeating former Test cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Chetan Chauhan by over 90,000 votes. He had unsuccessfully contested the same seat in the 1996 elections. He served as the Parliamentary Party leader of the

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

from 1999 to 2004. He was expelled from the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2004 after he had accused party president

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born Kumari Mayawati Das; 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of t ...

of working under BJP pressure and taking bribes for allotting party tickets. He later joined the Congress party and was twice elected to the Rajya Sabha from

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and served in the Indian Parliament from 2004 to 2012. He also served as an official spokesperson of the Indian National Congress. Alvi failed to get a Rajya Sabha renomination and was dropped as the party spokesperson in 2013.

Controversies

In 2009, he stoked a major controversy when he said that he saw 'no reason' to celebrate the Kargil victory. "Kargil isn't a thing to be celebrated. The war was fought within our territory. We didn't even come to know when the Pakistani army crossed over and built bunkers inside our territory. It's only the NDA which may celebrate," he said. The then opposition BJP was swift to take criticize the ruling Congress over Alvi's comments. "The UPA should not think along political lines. We (BJP) celebrate every day of national importance and respect everybody, right from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, who contributed to the country. There should be a similar approach from the Congress," said BJP leader

Prakash Javadekar Prakash Keshav Javadekar (born 30 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former parliamentarian. He served as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change two times, from May 2014 to July 2016 and from May 2019 to July 2021. Java ...

. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah also opined that the issue was above party politics. "Kargil should be celebrated by everyone," he said.

References

External links

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Raashid Alvi's Profile on Jan Pratinidhi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvi, Raashid Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Living people 21st-century Indian Muslims 1956 births India MPs 1999–2004 Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh Alvis Telugu politicians Janata Dal politicians Bahujan Samaj Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Bijnor district People from Amroha district Indian politicians disqualified from office