Biography Of Arif Mohammad Khan

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Personal Profile

1. Full Name: Arif Mohammad Khan

2. Father Name: Shri Ashfaq Mohammad Khan

3. Spouse: Sayyada Reshma

4. Children’s: Mustafa Arif and Kabir Arif

5. DOB: 18 November 1951

6. Birth Place: Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh

7. Alma Matar:

Jamia Millia, New Delhi
GS Inter-College, Bulandshahar
Aligarh Muslim University
Lucknow University

8. Current Position: currently serving as the Governor of Kerala

Introduction

Arif Mohammad Khan, who’s currently serving as the Governor of Kerala, is famously known for being a frequent party-switcher in the political arena in the past, also he remains a hot topic in the political space for being an ‘anomaly’ in the Modi era, as he holds both, significant confidence of the BJP biggies and a high governing position of Governor in Kerala while being a Muslim, and having the distinction of being the only second Muslim after Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla to be granted constitutional office amid tough Hindu nationalistic atmosphere under the ruling BJP, which is a rare phenomenon in BJP era yet.
Khan’s recent comeback on the news headlines is marked by controversies and heated debates. One such came by his recent decision on withdrawing from the post of Chancellor of Universities backed by the critical invasion of politics in the Academic field as a reason, which is drawing a lot of flak from the opposition parties and being framed as ‘illegal’, ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘childish’ given, such a pivotal role he plays in the independent and transparent functioning of Universities in the state.
“As per the law, which is passed by the legislature of the Kerala Assembly, for all the universities, the Governor is the Chancellor. He has to fulfill his duties as the Chancellor. It is mandatory.” said Kerala opposition leader VD Satheesan, on December 31, censuring Khan’s decision to quit.

Early Years Of Life, Family And Education

Arif Mohammad Khan was born on 18 November in the year 1951 to Shri Ashfaq Mohammad Khan in Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh. As Khan grew up, he developed special interests in reading and writing while he was a student. Arif married Smt. Sayyada Reshma on November 1951 from whom he has two sons, namely Mustafa Arif, who is a lawyer by profession, and Kabir Arif, a pilot by profession who’s also into organic farming. Arif went to Jamia Millia, New Delhi for his schooling. Later he joined GS inter-college, Bulandshahar followed by Aligarh Muslim University in the years 1972-1973, to do his B.A Honors. Then he pursued LL.B from Lucknow University in the years 1974 – 1977.

Initial Political Engagements

During his graduation phase only in AMU, Arif engaged himself in political ethics with his active management of the student union and was made the General Secretary of Aligarh Muslim University’s Students union from 1971 to 1972.
And later he was promoted to the post of President of the Students union from 1972-1973. He came fully into the political frame as a student leader, as he contested the first legislative assembly election from the Siyana constituency of Bulandshahar district on Bhartiya Kranti dal party’s banner but couldn’t convince people of his political lustre and was defeated.
Khan later headed on towards the Indian National Congress party and was elected to the Lok Sabha in the year 1980 from Kanpur and 1984 from Bahraich.

His Departure From Congress In 1986 Over Conflicts On Muslim Personal Law Bill

As Khan joined the Congress party, he was chosen into the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Kanpur and from Bahraich in 1984. While staying as an active member of the congress, Khan’s relations deteriorated with Rajiv Gandhi behind Gandhi’s critical turning of the Shah Bano’s progressing maintenance case into misery for Muslim women altogether.
Long back in 1978, a woman named, Shah Bano had to resort to a local court to file a maintenance plight against her husband, Mohammad Ahmad Khan, who divorced her and refused to provide her with the promised maintenance of Rs 200. Although she went on to win favors from different courts, that all ceased post-1984, the year of Rajiv Gandhi’s swearing-in, as the first prime minister of independent India. Gandhi seemingly succumbed to the soaring pressure from the Muslim hardliner’s overactive ‘interruption’ of the Indian judicial system into the Muslim personal law. And soon he enacted a law in parliament in 1986, naming “Muslim Women (Protection On Rights of Divorce) Act”, and overturned the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano’s case, and pushed through the ‘misery’ for many Shah Banos out there, in the face of, allowing the maintenance to a divorced woman only up till the period of Iddat, or till 90 days after the husband effectively divorced her.
Khan being a staunch antagonist of Islamic fundamentalism, critically called out Gandhi’s move to degrade Muslim women’s right to a dignified life by putting them on a rocky path by denying their essential financial aids after a miserably short, ‘Iddat’ or 90 days time period after the divorce. He couldn’t stand this and left congress immediately.

His Minister-ship As A Hop, Skip, Jump Away

Khan kicked off his political career as a minister in Congress and was elected to the Lok sabha in 1980 from Kanpur and, 1984 from Bahraich. Which he soon left, behind conflicts with the then Pm, Rajiv Gandhi over the ‘overturning’ of the famous ‘Shah Bano vs Mohammad Ahmad Khan’ case. Khan later headed on to join the Janata dal and was re elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989. During his Janata dal phase, Khan served as Union minister of ‘Civil aviation’ and ‘Energy’.
He again migrated in 1998, from Janata dal to Bahujan Samaj Party and again entered the Lok sabha from Bahraich. Khan held ministerial responsibilities from 1984-1990.
Khan finally landed in BJP in 2004, calling the Congress party communal like any other party, and unsuccessfully contested the lok sabha election as a BJP candidate that year from Kishanganj constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He later resigned from BJP too, reasoning he was ‘ignored’ by the Saffron party. Finding no decent stability at political base, khan finally moved away from that in 2007, for a significant time period, only to come out as the Governor of Kerala on September, 2019. Khan is considered to be the catalyst behind the landmark move of abolition of triple talaq under BJP rule. He also asked the congress to extend essential support to the BJP for this noble cause for the dignity of Muslim women.

Khan Being A Vocal Critic Of Islamic Fundamentalism And His ‘reformist Agenda’

Arif Mohammad has been a staunch critic of Muslim extremism and its critical treatment of Muslim women out there. He aggressively censured the radical trends within Islam, especially those which bring a rough patch in Muslim Women’s lives. He has been constantly involved in, calling out for greater social reforms in the Muslim community. Being an aggressive advocate of the ‘radical changes’ in Islam, he didn’t bother fighting for the same often, even at the cost of his political career.
His first signs of ‘rebellion against Muslim fundamentalism showed when he exited the popular Congress party while disapproving Rajiv Gandhi’s stance on the popular ‘Shah Bano vs Mohammad Ahmad Khan’ case. Arif simply couldn’t stand the ‘attack’ on Muslim women’s dignity through the calculated act of curtailing the basic duration of granting of Maintenance amount to the divorced Muslim women.
He defined the narrative of Muslim people’s repression as a ‘Myth’ of perpetual victimhood that the ’liberal’ crowd has been feeding the Muslim community for ages. Khan stressed on the root cause of the Muslim community’s backwardness is the regressive religious beliefs that certain Muslims still base their heads on.
“How did they (Muslims) become so poor? Sir Syed said no one has made us poor,” Khan had said. “When the British started English medium education, a few years later 8,000 maulvis gathered and said that the English schools are a threat to Islam and opposed the education of Muslim children in English medium schools. So who is responsible for keeping us poor?” Said Khan on the narrative of the victimization of Muslims in the current scenario and ‘Hindu Supremacy’, in an interview with a news platform, TheWire.
Arif’s rigid support to the Landmark ‘Triple Talaq abolition’ move under Modi’s rule was yet another sample of his rock-hard conflicts and abhorrence towards regressive practices surrounding Muslim women. For which, he is also popular as ‘Champion of Muslim Women rights’.

Acquiring Kerala‘s Governor Position

Khan recently came out as a strong advocate of pm Modi’s political moves and ‘agendas’. He started tilting towards the BJP’s stances with his vocal support to Modi’s move to criminalize triple talaq, also asked Congress to support BJP for this cause. He didn’t stop here, most of his interventions yet, have been in support of the Union government’s decision. He has been vocal about the needs of an ‘extreme’ approach against Pakistan and called out those who wanted bilateral conversations with Pakistan to continue.
Apart from toeing BJP in the ‘Anti Pakistan’ route, Khan has favoured Modi’s major step of revoking article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir also, he commended Modi for his this move. On the other hand, Khan has been staying mum about the growing Hindu fundamentalism and sense of insecurity among minorities due to that.
For the BJP, Khan was a ‘golden ticket’ to Kerala, a state where the saffron wave couldn’t dominate since a long time. Khan being a Muslim and him playing an aggressive advocate to radical reforms in Islam seemed a significant ‘Trump card’ to the Modi government for their dreams of colouring Kerala saffron. While Muslims stand second to Hindus in terms of population in Kerala, BJP saw a perfect candidate in Arif Mohammad Khan for the Governor’s role, to attract the crucial votes from Muslims in Kerala also, gaining the chances to attack the alleged growth of Islamic fundamentalism there through Arif’s tough stances on the same, and shocked the entire Saffron Army along with the opposition parties by appointing a ‘Khan’ to a significant role of Governor of Kerala.

Positions Held In His Political Journey

1. [1977-1980]

Member, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Member, Library Committee
Deputy Minister, Excise, Prohibition and Muslim Wakf, Uttar Pradesh

2. [1978-82]

Secretary, All India Congress Committee
(Indira) [A.I.C.C.(I)]

3. [1980-84]

Elected to 7^th Lok Sabha

4. [1980-82]

Committee on Public Undertakings

5. [1982-83]

Union Deputy Minister, Information and Broadcasting

6. [1983-84]

Minister of State, Agriculture

7. [1984-89]

Re-elected to 8^th Lok Sabha (2^nd term)

8. 1984

Union Minister of State, Energy

9. [1984-85]

Minister of State, Industry and Company related affairs

10. 1985

Minister of State, Home Affairs

11. [1985-86]

Minister of State, Energy
(Department of Power)

12. [1989-91]

Re-elected to 9^th Lok Sabha (3^rd term)

13. [1989-90]

Union Cabinet Minister, Energy with an additional charge of Ministry of Civil Aviation

14. 1998

Re-elected to 12^th Lok Sabha (4^th term)

15. [1998-99]

Minister of community on External Affairs and
Sub-Committee-II
Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Home affairs

Engagement In Recent Controversies

Khan’s very recent involvement in a controversy started when he gave a proposal to the VC of Kerala University in his capacity as a Chancellor of Government Universities, to confer upon an honorary doctorate in Literature to president Ram Nath Kovind. Though the proposal was immediately turned down by the VC, he wrote back an extremely erroneous and ‘Casteist’ language on the letter allegedly insulting the Dalit president. This shocked Arif to the core and he penned down a rageful letter to the Pinrayi Vijayan Government over the University’s conduct in the same matter.
Khan was allegedly heckled by eminent historian Irfan Habib during Khan’s inaugural address at the Indian History Congress in December 2019. Some attendees blamed Khan for misusing the platform to deliver a political speech. Irfan had asked Mohammad Khan to quote Godse instead of Gandhi and Azad to justify his stance on CAA.
A video of Arif Khan went viral in November 2021 which showed him hurling abuses and thrashing the SDMC staff in Southeast Delhi’s Shaheen bagh for allegedly removing his posters and hoardings from the area.
Khan wrote an unprecedented letter to Kerala’s Cm Pinarayi Vijayan in 2021, spilling his utter discomfort with the rising political interference in administrative affairs of Universities in Kerala, and his wish to step down as the Chancellor of Universities. He also urged Pinarayi to take over as the new Chancellor of Universities in Kerala.

His Love For Writing

Khan has been a fan of writing since his school days. His authored book, “Text and Context: Quran and Contemporary challenges” published by Rupa and co., made it to the best seller book of the year 2010. He has been actively writing articles and columns related to Islam and Sufism.

‘Samarpan’ As His Dearest Investment Into Aiding Physically Challenged People

Keeping immense interest in the rehabilitation of physically handicapped people, Arif Mohammad Khan started an NGO named, ‘Samarpan’ along with his wife, to aid and facilitate differently-abled people.

Top 13 Interesting Facts About Arif Mohammad Khan

Khan is the only Muslim apart from Najma Heptulla to be granted constitutional office under BJP.
He is famous for his firm belief in the Constitution, even believed to be stepping down from his Chancellor of State University’s post due to rising intrusions of the state government in fulfilling his constitutional obligations.
Khan was the youngest Union Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.
Apart from politics, Khan has well-established credentials as a scholarly intellectual. He has successfully made a place in the world of intellectuals, scholars, academics.
Arif earned a subtle title of, ‘Anti- Sharia’ on his name after his raging stance against the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) bill rolled by the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
After leaving Congress behind differences of opinions with Rajiv Gandhi, on the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Bill, Khan went on to join more other parties then received an offer from Sonia Gandhi to rejoin the Congress but he ignored that and headed on to join BJP.
Khan is principally against the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak’s idea of a Hindu Rashtra.
He has previously held the portfolio, of Civil Aviation and Energy in the V.P. Singh-led Janta Dal government.
Khan is actively engaged in reforms in Islam and, effective policymaking. He is also associated with various think tanks, given multiple lectures regarding the same.
He had also served as Deputy Minister, Information and Broadcasting, and, Union Minister of State. While holding portfolios such as Agriculture (1983-84), Energy ( 1984 and 1985-1986) Industry and Company affairs ( 1984-1985), and, Home affairs (1985).
Khan was once a member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the 100^th IPU Conference in Moscow, in 1998.
He joined the office as the 22^nd Governor of Kerala on 6^th September 2019.
Khan is actively involved in the promotion of Education and the anti-dowry campaign. He also was a member of Cricket and Badminton clubs such as Gymkhana Club, New Delhi, and, India international center, New Delhi.

Some FAQs Or Also Ask Question

When was Arif Mohammad Khan born?

Arif Mohammad Khan was born on 18 November in year 1951 to Shri Ashfaq Mohammad Khan in Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh.

How many children does Arif Mohammad Khan have?

Arif Mohammad Khan married to Smt. Sayyada Reshma on November, 1951 from whom he has two sons, namely Mustafa Arif, who is a lawyer by profession and Kabir Arif, a pilot by profession who is also into Organic farming.

Which are the books written by Arif Mohammad Khan?

Arif Mohammad Khan was a fan of writing since his school days. His prominent work named, “Text and Context: Quran and Contemporary Challenges” is a compilation of his thought provoking articles which were once published in various newspapers and magazines. Those articles basically reflect a comprehensive understanding of the message and spirit of Quran and prophetic traditions.

Which Party does Arif Mohammad Khan serve?

Arif Mohammad Khan is an Indian politician who is currently associated with Bhartiya Janata Party, serving as the 22nd Governor of Kerala. He has been involved in various other parties too before such as, Indian National Congress, Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party.

When did Arif Mohammad Khan joined the BJP party?

Arif Mohammad Khan hopped on to various political parties before finally landing on the BJP party in 2004, but he unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate that year. He later rejoined the BJP party in 2015 post the swearing in of Narendra Modi as a Prime Minister

Sanober Shaikh

Writer

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