india

Updated: May 31, 2019 14:30 IST

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi got the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the new Cabinet of prime minister Narendra Modi.

Naqvi is a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. The 62-year-old is a prominent Muslim face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand in 2016. Born in Allahabad, Naqvi was just 17 when he was detained at Naini Central Jail under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency in 1975. However, it was not the only time Naqvi was imprisoned. He went to jail over three dozen times for several national movements.

He was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Rampur in 1998. He served as minister of state for information and broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and as minister of state for minority and parliamentary affairs in the first Modi government.

After Najma Heptulla’s resignation on July 12, 2016, he got independent charge of the ministry of minority affairs. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in 2010, and then again in 2016 from Jharkhand.

He has served as vice-president, general secretary and spokesman of the BJP.