Shahid Siddiqui is a journalist and editor of the popular weekly Urdu newspaper Nai Duniya. He has served as a member of Rajya Sabha, representing the state of Uttar Pradesh from 2002 to 2008. Born in 1950 in Ballimaran in Delhi, Siddiqui has stood witness to the making of India, its political and social changes, from close quarters as a journalist, teacher, activist and political scientist in the last 75 years.
Siddiqui started his political career in the Indian National Congress (INC), where he served as Chairman of the Congress Minority Department from 1997 to 1999. After leaving the INC in 1999, he joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the same year; he served as National General Secretary of the party from 2002 to 2008, and later as general secretary of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a brief period. He rejoined SP in 2012, and finally moved away from active politics the same year after a fallout with the party over a political interview he conducted in his capacity as a journalist.
Known for his unabashed stances on journalistic ethics, Siddiqui launched his first fortnightly magazine Waqiat in 1971. He did a master’s in political science in 1974 and became a lecturer at Deshbandhu College under University of Delhi, where he taught till 1986. Apart from his zealous participation in politics and continued dedication to fearless journalism, Siddiqui has an ardent taste for literature, reading and writing. From a young age, he translated several English classics into Urdu and wrote short stories; he published his first English novel The Golden Pigeon in 2014.