Zafar Sareshwala is an Indian businessman, owner of Parsoli Corporation, [1] [2] and former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University. [3] A member of the strict Tablighi Jamaat branch of Islam, [1] [4] Sareshwala has gained considerable public attention for being a strident supporter and a close confidant of Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India. [1]
Sareshwala is a mechanical engineer by training and considered an expert in Islamic banking and finance. In 2001, he organised protests in Delhi against the burning of copies of the Qur'an by Hindus. [2] His family businesses incurred huge losses in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and he was part of a group of Indian expatriates considering filing against Modi at the International Court of Justice for his role in the violence. [1] Sareshwala and Modi subsequently settled their differences, with Sareshwala and his brother meeting cordially with Modi on a visit to London in 2003, [2] [5] and developing close business and political ties since then. Sareshwala's decision to move his family back to India from London in 2005 was said to be on the urging of Modi himself, with Modi asking: "Will you continue serving the British as a slave?" [1] [2] Since Modi's political ascent to Prime Minister, Sareshwala claims that only by engaging with Modi and the BJP will the interests of Muslims in Gujarat be advanced, and cites multiple examples of political achievements resulting from his links with Modi. [1] However, this position has brought intense criticism upon Sareshwala from fellow Muslims and human rights activists, with many critics accusing him of opportunism, and one commentator dubbing him "Modi's PR man in the Muslim world". [2] Sareshwala receives much hate mail comparing him with Indians who aided the British during the colonial era. [1]
In 2010 Sareshwala, along with Parsoli and its other directors, was barred from the capital market by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for share fraud, for a seven-year period. SEBI took this action against Parsoli and its directors after establishing that the company's directors had defrauded shareholders and transferred shares to themselves. [6] [7] In July 2013 Parsoli's broker registration was cancelled in connection with further violations. [6]
Sareshwala's appointment in 2015 as Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University was strongly criticised by Muslim groups and other groups affiliated with the university, who alleged that the appointment was a reward for Sareshwala's support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. [6] Sareshwala's term as chancellor of the university ended in May 2018. [8]
Zafar Sareshwala has three children. [1]
The Bharatiya Janata Party 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 the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of December 2023, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician who has served as the 14th prime minister of India since May 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Varanasi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation. He is the longest-serving prime minister from outside the Indian National Congress.
Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad ; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following India's independence, he became the First Minister of Education in the Indian government. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad; the word Maulana is an honorific meaning 'Our Master' and he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.
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Maulana Azad National Urdu University is a Central University located in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana. It was named after Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Minister of Education, a freedom fighter in India's struggle for independence, and a scholar of Islam and Urdu literature. It was the only Urdu university in India until the second university was built in the city of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh in 2015.
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Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi 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.
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 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial riot incidents, there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months; statewide, there were further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population of Gujarat for the next year.
Vijaybhai Ramniklalbhai Rupani is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2016 to 2021 for two terms. He was a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, representing Rajkot West. He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party.
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Syed Zafar Mahmood is an Indian civil-servant and former 'Officer on Special Duty' for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On March 9, 2005, the Prime Minister appointed the 'Sachar Committee' to study the "social, economic and educational status" of India's minority Muslim community. Mahmood worked with the Sachar Committee to submit its report to the Government of India within two years on November 17, 2006. He has since given numerous talks in and outside India on the topic. In his presentations at Case Western Reserve University and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government he has commented on the steps forward to bridge the economic, social and educational divide of Indian Muslims.
Amit Anil Chandra Shah is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 31st Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the 1st Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the 10th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2014 to 2020. He has also served as chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since 2014. He was elected to the lower house of Parliament, Lok Sabha, in the 2019 Indian general elections from Gandhinagar. Earlier, he had been elected as a member of the upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, from Gujarat from 2017 to 2019.
The 2002 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections were held in December 2002; they necessitated by the resignation of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the dissolution of the legislative assembly in July 2002, 8 months before its term was due to expire. Modi resigned due to widespread allegations that he had taken insufficient action to prevent the riots that took place a few months earlier. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was led by Modi, with the Indian National Congress being the chief opposition.
Narendra Modi, the 14th Prime Minister of India, has elicited a number of public perceptions regarding his personality, background and policies.
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Our Hindu Rashtra is a book about Hindu majoritarianism in India by journalist Aakar Patel, published by Westland Books in 2020. It surveys historical documents, government committee reports, court judgments, media archives, and records personal anecdotes on a range of issues. It argues that India is today a Hindu state in practice, and that the erosion of secularism in India began soon after India became independent, although the process accelerated after the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister in 2014.
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