Does Anyone Know the New Head of the NCM?

A Little-Known Face Appointed the Chairman of the National Commission of Minorities

By A Staff Writer

Who is Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi?
Just as there were queries as to who is Ram Nath Kovind, the Presidential candidate of the ruling BJP, people are in a quandary as to who is Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, the newly appointed chairman of the National Commission for Minorities.
Mr. Rizvi, a little known BJP activist from Uttar Pradesh was quietly rewarded with the post on May 26. Reports suggest that he worked for the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during general elections in 2014 in Varanasi and had served as Chairman of the UP Minority Finance Development Corporation.
Conventionally, a well known Muslim face, either a retired bureaucrat, or a supreme court judge or a minister (long after his political sanyas) were appointed as the head of the NCM. But the Modi Government has chosen to appoint a party activist and filled the Commission with other BJP activists as members, even though they represent varied communities designated as religious minorities.
A Government communiqué said, “Shri Rizvi has been actively participating in social service. He worked for the improvement of the basic facilities and working conditions of Beedi workers and Weaver community in Uttar Pradesh. He also worked for Communal Harmony and National Integrity(sic)”.
Of the four other members appointed to the Commission, two belong to the BJP. They are Sunil Sanghi who was convener of Anya Bhasha Bhashi Cell of Gujarat BJP. George Kurian is vice president of Kerala BJP. The Commission had no chairman and members during the last four months when all its members had retired. The last Chairman was Mr. Naseem Ahmed, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre.
Two others appointed members of the panel are Maharashtra social activist Sulekha Kumbhare from the Buddhist community and Vada Dasturji Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor belonging to the Parsi community. Dastoor is head priest of Zoroastrian community and president of Udvada Athorman Anjuman while Kumbhare has been rewarded for supporting BJP’s campaign in 2015 Assembly elections in Maharashtra.