Syed Shahnawaz Hussain

Born in a humble Muslim family of Supoul district in Bihar, Shahnawaz earned his primary education from his village only. His father was a primary school teacher and mom a home maker. He did his Diploma in Electronics Engineering from ITI, PUSA, Delhi.
Though, having no political legacy, he always aspired to join politics and was massively inspired by Late BJP stalwart and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He joined BJP in year 1994, the same year he had married to Renu Sharma after a long courtship.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had admired him for his eloquence and popularity in youth and had predicted his glorious future in politics. He contested his maiden election from the tough Kishanganj constituency in the seemanchal (frontier) region of Bihar but lost to the veteran RJD heavyweight Md Taslimuddin. Though he lost but he has made his mark as he obtained over 2 lakhs votes in this minority dominated constituency.
The very next year, the country went into the mid-term poll and Shanawaz Hussain was again fielded from the same Kisanganj seat, this time to debut in the Loksabha. He was inducted in Vajpayee government as Minister of Sports of Food Processing Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs. Later he was given the independent charge of Coal Ministry and finally in 2001 he rose up to the rank of a cabinet minister of civil aviation enroute registering the record of being the youngest cabinet minister in government of India ever. In 2003 he became the cabinet minister of textile.
In 2004, like the many BJP leaders he also lost parliamentary election from Kishanganj but in 2006 he again reached parliament as an MP by winning by-poll from Bhagalpur constituency in Bihar. Remarkably, the seat was vacated by BJP leader Susheel Kumar Modi who was sworn in as deputy chief minister in Nitish Kumar led NDA government in the state. Shahnawaz retained the seat in 2009 also but again lost to a young Shailesh Kumar of JDU by a small margin of about four thousand votes.
In 2019, he was in the fray but could not get himself ticket as a member of BJP candidate selection committee. He is the national spokesperson of BJP and has been effectively representing the party in press and media debates for decades.
In 2020 when BJP decided to move Susheel Modi to center, the party sent Shanawaz in the state. He has been elected as the member of Bihar legislative council from the same seat vacated by Junior Modi.