Syed Ali Zaheer (1896-1983) سیّد علّی ظہیر was an Indian politician and law minister in the first cabinet formed by Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

Early and family life

He was born as one of the four sons of Sir Syed Wazir Hasan at Kalanpur, Jaunpur. The family belonged to the

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

sect of Islam.

Career

Zaheer began his career as a barrister in the Chiefs Court of Oudh (

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

), based in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. He took interest in politics at an early age and joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. He selected Congress as they were leading India's struggle for independence from Britain.

Municipal politics

In the 1930s and 1940s, actively encouraged by the policy of

Divide and Rule Divide and rule policy ( la, divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their ter ...

, communalism was at its peak in India. Awadh, dominated by vastly rich Muslim landlords ruling an overwhelmingly Hindu peasantry, had become a hotbed of Muslim separatism, and indeed the main source of funding for the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

, which wanted to partition India and create

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Since many of the land-owners of the region were Muslims, much of provincial politics in Awadh during the days of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

was dominated by them. Lucknow's was represented by the political rivalry between Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-zaman, a Sunni

leader, and Syed Ali Zaheer, a Shia Leader and a member of the Congress. Both fought elections for the Lucknow Municipal Board and the Congress won. Zaheer thus became Municipal Commissioner of Lucknow in the early 1940s.

Later career

Since he held an important position as a member of the Congress party, Zaheer refused to jump ship and join the

as many of his colleagues did. He was rewarded for this expedient loyalty in 1946 with the talks of independence beginning in earnest. When the provisional government of India was formed, in 1946, as a prelude to independence, Zaheer was appointed Law Minister. Later, he was appointed India's ambassador to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, again by Jawaharlal Nehru. After his return, he resumed his legal practice. Later, he became the Law Minister of Uttar Pradesh for two terms and also the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Pay Commission. Though he was a lifelong Congressman Zaheer briefly left the Congress during the general elections of 1977 and joined Babu Jagjivan Ram's Congress for Democracy (CFD). He remained the president of the Shia Degree College Management Committee and was succeeded by his son Kazim Zaheer to that post. Syed Ali Zaheer was buried in Daliganj Karbala, which is close to the Shia College there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaheer, Syed Ali Politicians from Lucknow Indian Shia Muslims 20th-century Indian lawyers Ambassadors of India to Iran First Nehru ministry Members of the Cabinet of India 1896 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Indian judges Uttar Pradesh politicians Indian barristers