Salman Khurshid Alam Khan 

(born 1 January 1953) is an Indian politician, designated

senior advocate, eminent author and a law teacher. He was the Cabinet Minister of
the Ministry of External Affairs. He belongs to the Indian National Congress. He is a lawyer,
and a writer[1] who has been elected from Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency in the
General Election of 2009. He belongs to the Farrukhabad area. Prior to this he was elected
to the 10th Lok Sabha (1991–1996) from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency. He
became the Union Deputy Minister of Commerce in June 1991, and later became the
Union Minister of State for External Affairs (Jan. 1993 – June 1996).[2] He started his
political career in 1981 as an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
under the prime ministership of Indira Gandhi.

Contents

 1Early life and education

 2Political career
 3Political Offices
 4Political Views
 5Writings
 6Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust and Operation Dhritrashtra
 7References
 8External links

Early life and education[edit]

Born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, he is the son of Khurshed Alam Khan[3] a former Union
Minister of External affairs, Government of India, and maternal grandson of Zakir Hussain,
the third President of India. He is of Pathan descent, tracing his ancestry to the Afridi tribe.[4]
He studied in St. Xavier's High School, Patna,[5] Delhi Public School, Mathura Road.[6] He
obtained B.A. (English and Jurisprudence) from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and later did
M.A., Bachelor of Civil Law at St Edmund Hall of Oxford University.[2] He also taught as
lecturer in Law at Trinity College, Oxford.

Political career[edit]
Salman started his political career as an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's
Office, during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi in the early 1980s. Later he became
the Deputy Minister of Commerce in the Government of India. In 1991, he won the election
to parliament from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh and was
appointed Minister of State for External Affairs by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. He lost
the election of 1996 and it was not until 2009 that he returned to Parliament.
In the General Election of 2009, he was elected as Member of Parliament
from Farrukhabad, winning as a candidate of the Indian National Congress, with 169,351
votes. He became the Union Minister of State (with Independent Charges) of Corporate
Affairs and Minority Affairs in the Government of India. He took over as Minister on Friday,
29 May 2009. In the Cabinet reshuffle of 12 July 2011, he was made Cabinet Minister for
Law and Justice, and for Minority Affairs, in the Government of India. One of his disciples,
Zishan Pervez, had been his constituency co ordinator for the General Election in
Farrukhabad in the year 2010.
He came 4th and lost his deposit in the Lok Sabha elections 2014 contesting from the
same constituency of Farrukhabad. In the next parliamentary election (2019), he stood 3rd
in with 55,258 votes.[7] He got only 5.51% of the total votes polled and lost his deposit again.
Political Offices[edit]
He has been the President of the Uttar Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee twice. He
was also the President of the Delhi Public School Society and Dr. Zakir Hussain Study
Circle and PATRON of Mother Teresa Memorial Trust/Mother Teresa Foundation.

Political Views[edit]
Salman Khurshid appeared for Students Islamic Movement of India, a group banned in
India and frequently charged by Indian authorities with terrorist activities, as its defence
lawyer, appealing the 2002 ban; in June 2006 the Supreme Court of India rejected the
appeal noting "the appeal against the ban should be first argued before the tribunal
established for the purposes". Asked about his appearance, Khurshid said :
I would refuse a client only when I am personally satisfied that taking up the case would go
against the ethics of the profession. A lawyer has to appear for an accused. It is my
constitutional duty. A party and the government too cannot pre-judge an organisation.[8]

Khursid with John Kerry, Secretary of State, United States in 2013, during his term as the External
affairs minister

In 2009, Salman Khurshid criticized the partition of India, opining that a united India would
have been better than a divided one.[9]
In 2009, incumbent president Sirajuddin Qureshi beat Salman Khurshid for the presidency
of India Islamic Cultural Centre.[10] Campaign for the election was very intense which
became high-profile with Khurshid's entry in the fray.[11]