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| M.J. Akbar | |
|---|---|
| Name | M.J. Akbar |
| Birth date | 11 January 1951 |
| Birth place | Jehanabad, Bihar, India |
| Occupation | Journalist, Author, Politician |
| Education | St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, Presidency College, Kolkata, Patna University |
| Known for | Journalism, Books on South Asia and Islam |
M.J. Akbar is an Indian journalist, author, and former politician known for his work in English and Urdu journalism, his books on South Asia and Islam, and his tenure as a Member of Parliament and Minister of State in the Government of India. He founded and edited several publications and wrote extensively on figures ranging from Jawaharlal Nehru to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, while later entering electoral politics with the Bharatiya Janata Party. His career has included roles as a foreign correspondent, editor, columnist, and author, and has been marked by public controversies and legal disputes.
Akbar was born in Jehanabad, Bihar and raised in a milieu shaped by debates about Partition of India and post‑colonial politics involving figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose. He attended St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and Presidency College, Kolkata, where contemporaries included students interested in the ideas of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and scholars of Amartya Sen's generation. He later studied at Patna University and began early work that engaged with reporters covering events such as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi, and regional developments in West Bengal and Bihar.
Akbar began as a reporter and columnist, working with publications that covered politics involving personalities such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Rajiv Gandhi, and institutions like The Times of India and The Indian Express. He served as a foreign correspondent reporting on diplomatic affairs connected to United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, and Pakistan, writing about leaders including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Musharraf, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger. As an editor, he founded and edited magazines that engaged with literary figures such as R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, and Amitav Ghosh, and cultural debates involving Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray. His editorial tenure intersected with media peers like Kuldip Nayar, O. P. K. Ghosh, Prannoy Roy, and institutions such as Press Trust of India, Reuters, and Agence France‑Presse.
Akbar entered electoral politics with the Bharatiya Janata Party and was elected to the Rajya Sabha representing Jharkhand before being appointed Minister of State for Human Resource Development and later Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in the National Democratic Alliance government under Narendra Modi. His political activities brought him into parliamentary debates involving leaders like Manmohan Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and policy issues that involved ministries such as Ministry of External Affairs and agencies like the Election Commission of India. He contested electoral strategy discussions alongside BJP strategists including Amit Shah and discussions about international relations involving China and United States.
Akbar authored books and edited volumes on history, politics, and biography addressing subjects such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Indira Gandhi, and the broader canvas of South Asian history. His works engaged with historiography related to the Partition of India, the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, and literary analysis of authors like Khaled Hosseini and Orhan Pamuk. He contributed essays and columns to outlets alongside commentators such as Shashi Tharoor, Gurcharan Das, Pankaj Mishra, and wrote on diplomatic episodes involving Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and Iran. Publishers and literary festivals that featured his work included Penguin Books, Oxford University Press, Tata Literature Live!, and events attended by figures like Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie.
His career was affected by public allegations and legal actions brought amid debates in media involving activists and politicians such as #MeToo movement, colleagues in journalism like Barkha Dutt and commentators like Karan Thapar. Accusations prompted responses through legal mechanisms including defamation suits and parliamentary inquiries involving institutions such as the Supreme Court of India, Delhi Police, and media bodies like the Press Council of India. These controversies intersected with wider societal conversations sparked by cases involving public figures such as Bengaluru protests, debates over freedom of expression involving sedition laws, and reactions from civil society groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Akbar's family life includes connections to cultural and professional circles in Kolkata, Patna, and New Delhi, and relatives involved in fields linked to literature and public service that placed them among acquaintances of personalities like Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, and Sunita Narain. His personal network reportedly included academic figures from institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, and University of Oxford, and interactions with diplomats from United Kingdom, United States, and Pakistan during his journalistic career.
Category:Indian journalists Category:Indian politicians