Chaudhary Zakir Hussain (born 2 October 1962) is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He serves as administrator of the Haryana Waqf Board and is the National Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Party Minority Morcha from Haryana. He is a three term former member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from Nuh and Taoru.
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Early life
Zakir Hussain is an ethnic Meo. As a member of the Tayyab Husain Clan, he comes from a significant political dynasty in the Mewat region of Haryana and Rajasthan. His grandfather, Yasin Khan, served as Member of Punjab Provincial Assembly and Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1926 to 1946 and 1952 to 1962 respectively. His father Tayyab Husain was a Member of Parliament from Gurgaon and Faridabad in the Lok Sabha in 1971 and 1980 respectively. His father is also the only person to serve as a Cabinet Minister in the state governments of three different states at three different times.
Hussain graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Kurukshetra University in 1981 and completed his Bachelor of Law (LLB) from Delhi University in 1985.
Political career
Zakir Hussain is a career politician who is associated with Aaya Ram Gaya Ram politics. His father was also known to switch political parties many times. His father changed political parties 3 times in one MLA term. Zakir has been a part of the Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Indian National Lok Dal. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the state elections in 2019.
Hussain started his political career in 1991, under the banner of his father, as an independent politician from the Taoru constituency. Preceding his win, his father had won elections on the seat three consecutive times. He lost to Suraj Pal Singh in 1996 and later reclaimed the seat under the Indian National Congress in the next term.
Hussain lost the 2005 elections from the Taoru constituency, and then the constituency was abolished. In 2009, He decided to contest the Indian general elections from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency. He joined the Bahujan Samaj Party and lost to the Indian National Congress candidate, Rao Inderjit Singh. After facing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, he then moved on the Sohna constituency, which re-established by merging the subdivisions of Sohna and Taoru. He contested from the Bahujan Samaj Party and lost again to the Indian National Congress candidate by a close margin of 505 votes.
In 2014, he re-contested the Indian general elections under the Gurgaon constituency from the Indian National Lok Dal. He lost again to Rao Inderjit Singh, who had switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
After facing defeat again, he moved on the Nuh constituency, where he contested under the same party. He won the elections and decided to switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party right before the 2019 elections. He contested the 2019 elections under the Bharatiya Janata Party, however, he had to face defeat again.
Controversies
Involvement in the 1993 Mewat Riots
During the communal unrest that gripped the Mewat region following the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, Hussain—then the MLA for the Taoru constituency—found himself and his father, Tayyab Husain, drawn into the resulting political controversies.
As the regional climate deteriorated, intense political rivalries emerged as a significant factor in the escalating tensions. Zakir Hussain and his father, prominent political figures in the area, were accused by some members of the local community of attempting to exploit the communal volatility to consolidate their political influence among the Meo population. These accusations were notably leveled by their long-standing political rivals, the family of Khurshid Ahmed. While authorities directly charged Khurshid Ahmed and his son Aftab Ahmed with instigating the riots, the involvement of the Husain family remained a subject of intense local debate, contributing to the broader atmosphere of suspicion and distrust toward both local political leadership and law enforcement in the wake of the violence.