Zahid Ali Khan is an Indian journalist from

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

who is the editor-in-chief of an Urdu newspaper, ''

The Siasat Daily ''The Siasat Daily'' is an Indian newspaper published by the Siasat Press based in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana. It operates the digital news website ''Siasat'' and is the publisher of the ''Siasat English Weekly'' magazine and the ''Siasa ...

''. He has contested the

Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.

Personal life

Khan is the son of Abid Ali Khan, who was the founder of ''

''. His mother Muneerunnisa Begum was the daughter of Syed Shah Shabir Hussaini, who was the head of Hazrat

Dargah A Sufi shrine or dargah ( ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargāh'' दरगाह درگاہ, ''dôrgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervi ...

Shah Khamosh.

Political campaign

In 2009, it was announced that Khan would contest the

2009 Indian general election General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With a registered electorate of 716 million and a turnout of 417 million voters, it was the l ...

for the 70% Muslim-majority constituency of

, running as an independent candidate with the support of the regional

Telangana Rashtra Samithi The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (; BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in the state of Telangana and currently the primary opposition party in the state. It was founde ...

party,

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...

, and the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

and

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

. The incumbent was

Asaduddin Owaisi Asaduddin Owaisi (born 13 May 1969) is an Indian politician who is serving as the third and current president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) since 2008. He is a five time Member of Parliament (India), Member of Parliame ...

, president of the

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (; AIMIM) is a right-wing Indian political party based primarily in the old city of Hyderabad, It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, ...

(AIMIM) party which had held that constituency since 1984. Khan said that his aim was to "uplift ..the Muslims of the

old city of Hyderabad The Old City of Hyderabad is a walled city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India, located on the banks of the Musi River built by Qutb Shahi sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 AD. There used to be a wall surrounding the Old City, most of ...

". In February 2009, Khan was assaulted and hospitalized by unknown persons alleged to be workers of the AIMIM party. Editors of ''The Siasat Daily'' and ten other news outlets came out in support, noting government and police inaction toward increasing attacks on journalists. Owaisi defeated Khan in the election by a margin of 110,768 votes. Khan was polled 182,000 votes compared to Owaisi's 293,000. In 2014, Khan broke from the Telugu Desam Party as he was unhappy with the party's alliance with 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 ...

, feeling that this would adversely affect the Muslim community. He also rejected a ticket from the

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...

Social service

Mahmood Ali Syed Mahmood Ali (1928 – 11 July 2008; Urdu:سید محمود علی) was a Pakistani radio, film, television and stage artist. Early life and career Mahmood Ali was born in Hyderabad Deccan in British India in 1928. He began his career wit ...

, the Deputy Chief Minister of

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

, said that Khan had an important place in the country by contributing to social and journalistic fields. Khan has also taken the responsibility of burying thousands of unclaimed Muslim bodies in Islamic services.

Views

In interviews and editorials in ''The Siasat Daily'', Khan has stated that he feels that Muslims had faced injustice and had not been given power and employment in post-independence India. He also feels that Islamic culture had been under attack. He supported the state government led by Kcr to increase reservations for Muslims from 4% to 12%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Zahid Ali Politicians from Hyderabad, India Living people Telugu Desam Party politicians from Telangana Year of birth missing (living people) Journalists from Telangana Independent politicians in India 21st-century Indian politicians