https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Syed_Ali_ZaheerSyed Ali Zaheer - Revision history2026-09-06T20:07:30ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Syed_Ali_Zaheer&diff=279102&oldid=prev->Vishwa Dev Shastri: Syed Ali Zaheer was first law minister of interim government led by Nehru.2021-04-27T18:14:46Z<p>Syed Ali Zaheer was first law minister of interim government led by Nehru.</p>
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{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --><br />
| name = Ali Zaheer علّی ظہیر<br />
| image = <br />
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| birth_date = 1896<br />
| birth_place = [[Lucknow]], India<br />
| death_date = 1983<ref>{{cite news|title=Lawyer-politician Syed Ali Zaheer passes away|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/lawyer-politician-syed-ali-zaheer-passes-away/1/372189.html|accessdate=13 September 2016}}</ref><br />
| death_place = <br />
| occupation = Lawyer, politician<br />
| education = <br />
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}}<br />
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'''Syed Ali Zaheer''' (1896-1983) سیّد علّی ظہیر an [[India]]n politician and law minister in the first cabinet formed by Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]].<br />
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==Early and family life==<br />
He was born as one of the four sons of [[Sir Syed Wazir Hasan]] at Kalanpur, Jaunpur. The family belonged to the [[Shia]] sect of [[Islam]]. <ref>{{cite book|title=1946 Cabinet Mission to India Dossier|page=5|url=http://iroatuva.org/vamun/guides/dossier/d-india.pdf|accessdate=13 September 2016}}</ref><br />
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==Career==<br />
Zaheer began his career as a barrister in the Chiefs Court of Oudh ([[Awadh]]), based in [[Lucknow]]. He took interest in politics at an early age and joined the [[Indian National Congress]]. He selected Congress as they were leading India's struggle for independence from Britain.<br />
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===Municipal politics===<br />
In the 1930s and 1940s, actively encouraged by the policy of [[Divide and Rule]], communalism was at its peak in India. Awadh, dominated by vastly rich Muslim landlords ruling an overwhelmingly Hindu peasantry, had become a hotbed of Muslim separatism, and indeed the main source of funding for the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]], which wanted to partition India and create [[Pakistan]].{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}<br />
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Since many of the land-owners of the region were Muslims, much of provincial politics in Awadh during the days of the [[British Raj]] was dominated by them. Lucknow's was represented by the political rivalry between [[Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman|Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-zaman]], a Sunni [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] leader, and Syed Ali Zaheer, a Shia Leader and a member of the Congress. Both fought elections for the Lucknow Municipal Board and the Congress won. Zaheer thus became Municipal Commissioner of Lucknow in the early 1940s.<br />
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===Later career===<br />
Since he held an important position as a member of the Congress party, Zaheer refused to jump ship and join the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] as many of his colleagues did. He was rewarded for this expedient loyalty in 1946 with the talks of independence beginning in right ernest.<ref name="indiannationalcongress">{{cite web|url=http://inc.in/about-congress/history/literature/6-Congress-and-the-Making-of--the-Indian-Nation/38-Members-of-the-Interim-Government-of-India|title=Literature Books|publisher=}}</ref><br />
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When the provisional government of India was formed, in 1946, as a prelude to independence, Zaheer was appointed Law Minister. Later, he was appointed as India's ambassador to [[Iran]], again by Jawaharlal Nehru. After his return, he resumed his legal practice.<br />
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Later, he became the Law Minister of Uttar Pradesh for two terms and also the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Pay Commission.<br />
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Though he was a lifelong Congressman Zaheer briefly left the Congress during the general elections of 1977 and joined [[Babu Jagjivan Ram]]'s Congress for Democracy (CFD).<br />
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He remained the president of the [[Shia College, Lucknow|Shia Degree College]] Management Committee and was succeeded by his son Kazim Zaheer to that post.<br />
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Syed Ali Zaheer was buried in Daliganj Karbala, which is close to the [[Shia College, Lucknow|Shia College]] there.<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaheer, Syed Ali}}<br />
[[Category:Politicians from Lucknow]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Shia Muslims]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to Iran]]<br />
[[Category:First Nehru ministry]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Cabinet of India]]<br />
[[Category:1896 births]]<br />
[[Category:1983 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]<br />
[[Category:Uttar Pradesh politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Indian barristers]]</div>->Vishwa Dev Shastri