Ghulam Nabi Azad

Ghulam Nabi Azad is a politician who has served as a Union minister in several governments, as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2022 in the field of public affairs, from Jammu and Kashmir ^[1].

Early years

Azad was born on 10 May 1948 at Soti in Bhaderwah, Doda district, and took an MSc in zoology from Kashmir University ^[2]. As a student he was drawn to Gandhian ideas, and from 1970 to 1973 he was honorary secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Jammu and Kashmir ^[2]. He later chaired the Rajghat Samadhi Committee in 2004–05 ^[2].

In Parliament and government

He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Washim, Maharashtra, in 1980 and 1985, and was a member of the Rajya Sabha five times ^[2]. He was a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee many times and a member of its Working Committee from 1987 ^[2]. He served as a Union minister of state from 1985 to 1987, as Union minister of parliamentary affairs from 1991 to 1996 and of civil aviation and tourism from 1993 to 1996, when an open skies policy allowed private airlines to fly ^[2].

He was Union minister of parliamentary affairs and urban development in 2004–05, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from November 2005 to July 2008, and Union health minister from 2009 to 2014, the period in which India became polio-free ^[2]. As chief minister he planned the tulip garden in Srinagar ^[2]. He was Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2014 to 2021 ^[2].

He received the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2015 ^[2].