M. Hamid Ansari

M. Hamid Ansari was the Vice President of India and chairman of the Rajya Sabha for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2017. A former diplomat, he served as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as high commissioner to Australia, and as permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. Ansari was a visiting professor in the Centre for West Asian and African Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and in the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. He was the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, distinguished fellow at Observer Research Foundation, member of the National Security Advisory Board, and chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. He chaired one of the five Working Groups established by the Prime Minister’s 2nd Round Table Conference on J&K in April 2006. His publications include his autobiography By Many a Happy Accident (2021), Challenges to a Liberal Polity (2022), Dare I Question? (2018), Citizen and Society (2016), Teasing Questions (2014) and Travelling through Conflict: Essays on the Politics of West Asia.