Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is an Indian politician and a member of the Central Election Committee of Bharatiya Janata Party. He is one of the national spokespersons of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Hussain was the Minister of Textiles and the Minister Civil Aviation in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He has been the Minister of Industries of the Government of Bihar since 9 February 2021 To 9 August 2022.

Personal life

Hussain was born on 12 December 1968 to Syed Nasir Hussain and Nasima Khatoon in Supaul, Bihar. He has a Diploma in Engineering (Electronics) from B.S.S.E., Supaul and ITI, Pusa, Delhi. He married Renu Sharma on 12 December 1994, with whom he has two sons.

Political career

Hussain was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 from Kishanganj constituency. He was appointed as a Minister of State in the Third Vajpayee ministry and held various portfolios such as food processing industries, youth affairs and sports and human resource development at different times. He was given independent charge of the Ministry of Coal in 2001 and was elevated to the rank of a Cabinet Minister with Civil Aviation portfolio in September 2001, thereby becoming the youngest Cabinet Minister ever in the Government of India. Later he held the Textiles portfolio as Cabinet Minister from 2003 to 2004. He is often referred to as 'The Original Youth leader'.

Though he lost the 2004 general elections, he re-entered the Lok Sabha in November 2006 in a by-election when he won the vacant seat of Bhagalpur constituency in Bihar. He entered the 15th Lok Sabha again from Bhagalpur in 2009. He contested the Lok Sabha election in 2014 from Bhagalpur again but lost with a small margin. He helped Bhagalpur to be named under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Smart Cities Scheme. Due to his efforts, Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express got a halt at Naughachia Railway station.

On 21 January 2021, Hussain was elected unopposed to Bihar Legislative Council. On 9 February 2021, He was inducted as a cabinet minister in the Seventh Nitish Kumar ministry. He was the Minister of Industries of the Government of Bihar.

Facts

• Shahnawaz Hussain is one of the most prominent leaders of the BJP. He is considered as the Muslim face of the BJP with a strong Hindu base, along with Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Najma Heptulla.
• While studying for his Diploma in Engineering, he was introduced to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by a friend. He was shocked on being introduced and invited to the RSS; as at that time, he believed that RSS was their enemy. People around him had told him that the RSS hates Muslims and was a Hindutva based organization. After being persuaded by his friend, he paid them a visit and interacted with them and other BJP leaders. Thereafter, he started to understand the ideology of the RSS.
• He had worked as an engineer in a few private companies before entering into politics.
• In 1991, he joined the National Executive’s body of the BJP’s Youth Wing and worked under Uma Bharti.
• He proved to be an inspiration to many new workers in the BJP; as he joined the party at the grassroots level and went on to become the All India Secretary of BJP’s Youth Wing.
• His wife, Renu Sharma, is a Hindu with whom he had an inter-caste marriage. He had to wait 9 years to marry her; as he had to convince their families for the marriage and after they agreed, he got married to Renu in 1994. Although, their families did not get along after their marriage and had differences between them.
• He has two sons and a daughter, and after the birth of his first son, their families came together as one and diminished their differences.
  In 1999, he went on to be elected to the 13th Lok Sabha for the first time from the Kishanganj Constituency of Bihar.
  On 13 October 1999, he was included into the Atal Bihari Vajpayee‘s Cabinet as the Minister of State (MoS), Food Processing Industries.
• He then moved on to become the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, and thereafter, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development.
• On 7 February 2001, he was given the independent charge of Coal Ministry by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Shahnawaz claims the record for being the youngest Cabinet Minister ever in The Government of India’s history at the age of 30 when he was given the rank of a Cabinet Minister for the Civil Aviation portfolio by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• After that, he was entrusted with the responsibility of the Cabinet Minister for Textiles Ministry on 24 May 2003.
• Later on, he went on to become the National Spokesperson of the BJP in the Parliament on 17 December 2009.
• He has been elected to the Lok Sabha for 3 times consecutively.
• Shahnawaz Hussain also managed to bring in Bhagalpur in the list of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Smart Cities Mission.
• In the 2014 general elections, Shahnawaz Hussain lost from the Bhagalpur seat; resulting in him not returning to the Lok Sabha for the 4th term in a row.
• On 23rd January 2016, he received a threat letter from the ISIS; which reportedly contained objectionable language in English and Urdu. He reported this in North Avenue Police Station.
• On 26 September 2023, Shahnawaz Hussain suffered a heart attack following which he was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. Hussain later underwent an angioplasty at the hospital.