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 The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

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

from

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

from 2010 to 2016 and from

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in 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 and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

from 2016 to 2022.

Early and personal life

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

, India. He studied

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

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

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

. Naqvi unsuccessfully contested elections for the legislative assembly of

in 1980 as a candidate of

Janata Party (Secular) The Janata Party (Secular) was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain in July, 1979. On 16 July 1979, Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian National C ...

. 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 holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...

constituency. He was elected to the 1998 Lok Sabha from

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

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

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014 in

Narendra Modi ministry Modi ministry may refer to: Union Council of Ministers * First Modi ministry, the 22nd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019 * Second Modi ministry, the 23rd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2019 onwards ...

. After resignation of

Najma Heptulla Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian politician. She is the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia since 2017. She was a six time member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, between 1980 and 2016, and ...

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, approximately 172.2 million people identifying as adherents of Islam in 2011 Census. India is also the country with the second or third largest number of Muslim ...

from joining the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

. 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, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hin ...

. In November 2015, when actor

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

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 ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

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 Allahabad 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 Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Narendra Modi ministry Ministers of Minority Affairs Rajya Sabha members from Jharkhand Janata Party (Secular) politicians