M. J. Akbar is a distinguished writer and Member of Parliament for BJP. During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India’s first weekly political news magazine, Sunday in 1976, and two daily newspapers, The Telegraph in 1982 and The Asian Age in 1994. He has also been editorial director of India Today and The Sunday Guardian.

He first served as an elected Member of Parliament between 1989 and 1991, and returned to public life in March 2014, when he joined the BJP and was appointed a National Spokesperson during the historic general elections that brought the party to office with a simple majority under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In July, 2015 he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. In July, 2016 he was elected for another term, this time from Madhya Pradesh.

He is also the author of several internationally acclaimed books, including India: The Siege Within; Nehru: The Making of India; Kashmir: Behind the Vale; The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity; Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan; and Blood Brothers, a novel. In addition there have been four collections of his columns, reportage and essays.

In 2004, he was named a member of the committee set up by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to draft a ten year charter for Muslim nations at a special conference in Mecca. In March 2006 he joined The Brookings Institution, Washington, as a Visiting Fellow in the Brookings Project on U.S. Policy towards the Islamic world. He also serves as chairman of the trust for the Calcutta Muslim Orphanage.