Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Indian politician

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 from 2002 to 2022 and was Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha between 2021 and 2022. Naqvi was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 2010 to 2016 and from Jharkhand from 2016 to 2022.

Naqvi was born to AH Naqvi and Sakina Begum on 15 October 1957 at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, India. He studied arts and mass communication. Naqvi married Seema Naqvi on 8 June 1983 and they have a son together. Naqvi unsuccessfully contested elections for the legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh in 1980 as a candidate of Janata Party (Secular). He also contested elections as an independent candidate in 1980 Lok Sabha elections from the Ayodhya constituency. He became Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014 in Narendra Modi ministry. After resignation of Najma Heptulla 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.

According to Naqvi, a "baseless" campaign had been started by Congress party to prevent Indian Muslims from joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. 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.

Naqvi feels that Muslims don't desert other Muslims if they are given important posts in the Bharatiya Janata Party. In November 2015, when actor Aamir Khan 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".

Naqvi has said that Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 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.