Shahid Siddiqui

For the Pakistani academic, see Shahid Siddiqui (professor).

Shahid Siddiqui
Personal details
Born (1951-08-15) 15 August 1951 (age 73)[1]
Ballimaran, old Delhi
NationalityIndian
Political partyCongress (1997-99)
Samajwadi Party (2002-08)
Bahujan Samaj Party (2008-09)
Rashtriya Lok Dal (2010-12)
Samajwadi Party (January 2012-July 2012)
Alma materUniversity of Delhi
OccupationPolitician, Journalist

Shahid Siddiqui is a former member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament representing the state of Uttar Pradesh from 2002 to 2008. He is a journalist and the chief editor of the Nai Duniya, an Urdu weekly published from New Delhi.[2]

Early life

Siddiqui was born in 1951 to a family of journalists and writers. His father, Maulana Abdul Waheed Siddiqui, was a journalist and a leader in India's freedom movement.[3] Shahid was the youngest among his siblings. His eldest brother Ahmed Mustafa Siddiqui Rahi was an author and the editor of several Urdu dailies including Nai Duniya.[4] His brother Khalid Mustafa Siddiqui was the editor of Urdu digests Huma and Pakeeza Anchal and Hindi magazine Mahekta Anchal.[5]

He showed interest in writing in the Urdu language when he was twelve years old.[6] He studied political science at Zakir Husain Delhi College (then known as Delhi College) and in 1971, merely a year into college, he started an Urdu fortnightly titled Waqiat. Siddiqui was a leader of Students' Federation of India during his university days.[7][8] Waqiat closed down in 1973 and Siddiqui revived the daily newspaper Nai Duniya as a weekly magazine in the same year, whilst still being a university student.[3][6][4] He went on to teach political science at Deshbandhu College from 1974 to 1986.[8]

In 1986, Siddiqui became the first journalist to be arrested under the now repealed act TADA. He was imprisoned for 15 days for publishing an interview with the founder of Khalistan movement Jagjit Singh Chohan.[9][10]

Political career

Siddiqui began his political career with the Indian National Congress and was the head of its Minority Cell from 1997–99.[11] He subsequently joined the Samajwadi party and was its National General Secretary from 2002 to 2008 and its Rajya Sabha member till he quit the Samajwadi party on 19 July 2008 and joined its arch-rival, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He was expelled from the BSP on 14 December 2009 for speaking out against its leader, Mayawati.[12] He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal on 12 April 2010.[13] He cited his support for the RLD chief, Ajit Singh's demand for the creation of the state of Harit Pradesh as the reason for his joining the RLD. Prior to the 2012 Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election, Siddiqui resigned from the RLD in protest against its alliance with the Congress party and returned to the Samajwadi party.[14][15]

Expulsion from Samajwadi Party

He was expelled from Samajwadi Party in July 2012 for interviewing Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on post Godhra anti minority riots for which Modi is accused of failing to control in time. Modi in that interview had said "Hang me if I am guilty". The cover-page interview ran into six pages and covered issues like state of Muslims in Gujarat, post-Godhra riots and other sensitive issues.[16] Siddiqui termed Samajwadi party's stand of disowning him as a mere joke, saying "I had joined the party in presence of all major Samajwadi Party leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav. So this joke is really sad."[17] It is reported in media that his expulsion from Samajwadi Party has irked Muslim leadership.[18]

References

  1. ^ Jeffrey, Robin (1997). "Urdu: Waiting for Citizen Kane?". Economic and Political Weekly. 32 (13): 631–636. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4405219.
  2. ^ "Nai Duniya". Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Nai Duniya". Akhbar Urdu. 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b Sohail Siddiqui, Ahmed (14 August 2018). "Ahmad Mustafa Siddiqui Rahi – A tribute on his birthday 14th August". Two Circles. Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  5. ^ Sohail Siddiqui, Ahmed (6 July 2018). "Khalid Mustafa Siddiqui Publisher, Editor, Owner of Popular Urdu Magazines no more". Two Circles. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Shahid Siddiqui". HarperCollins Publishers India. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  7. ^ Shah, Rajiv (30 July 2012). "Comrade Shahid Siddiqui". Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b "The Golden Pigeon". Advance Information Catalogue. HarperCollins. October 2014.
  9. ^ "'No regrets about interviewing Modi'". Open The Magazine. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  10. ^ Kishwar, Madhu (2008). Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws. SAGE Publications. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-7619-3637-4.
  11. ^ "Bio of Shahid Siddiqui". Shahid Siddiqui. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  12. ^ "Mayawati expels Shahid Siddiqui from BSP". The Hindu. 14 December 2009. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Shahid Siddiqui joins RLD". Indian Express. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  14. ^ Subrahmaniam, Vidya (29 December 2011). "Shahid Siddiqui quits RLD". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  15. ^ Rai, Manmohan (9 January 2012). "UP Assembly polls: RLD's leaders Anuradha Chowdhury, Shahid Siddiqui join Samajwadi Party". Economic Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  16. ^ "Modi interview fallout: SP expels Shahid Siddiqui". 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012.
  17. ^ "After disowned by SP, Shahid Siddiqui calls party move as joke". The Times Of India. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  18. ^ Srivastava, Piyush (29 July 2012). "Shahid Siddiqui's expulsion from SP irks Muslim leadership". India Today. Retrieved 12 May 2019.