Abdul Ghafoor (Saharsa politician)

Early life and education

Dr. Abdul Ghafoor was born to a farmer Md. Jamal and Bibi Fatima on 5 May 1959 in a small village of Bhelahi in Saharsa district of Bihar. He finished his early education (Matriculation) from Islamia High School, Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Saharsa in 1974. He completed his higher Secondary in 1976. He graduated (B.A) from Saharsa College, Saharsa in 1979. Later on moved to Patna to pursue Masters in Arts (M.A) from Patna University in 1981. He holds a PhD degree in Urdu from Patna University.

He joined Parvati Science College in 1982 as a professor of Urdu.

Political objective

Inspired by the leadership and ideologies of Prameshwar Kunwar he was inclined towards politics from his early youth. His inspiration deepened after the famous JP movement. Being associated with the village, he has always been involved at the main issues and personally felt the basic needs of the poor people and the minority community. He always believed that they should be given an equal chance to grow, live and prosper at par with the other privileged people. He continuously strives for the upliftment of the backward and underprivileged section of the society. He has always been seen as one of the cleanest politicians of the state. Secularism and Socialism are the two pillars of his politics.

Political career

He first contested on a Janata dal ticket from Mahishi Vidhan sabha and defeated the veteran congress leader and freedom fighter Lahtan Choudhary of Congress in 1995. In 1998 when the Janata Dal split due to the differences between Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav to form Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United), he chose Lalu Prasad Yadav and joined RJD. He won convincingly in 2000 from an RJD ticket by a huge margin of approximately 20,000 votes defeating Surendra Yadav, an independent candidate. In the debacle and toppling of Lalu Yadav in 2005 election, he lost from Mahishi to Surendra Yadav marginally. The assembly could not be formed due to unclear mandate hence state was forced into fresh election. In the re-election he was asked to shift his constituency to Saharsa Vidhan Sabha Constituency. Accepting the party decision he contested from Saharsa in Oct 2005 election and lost to BJP's Sanjiv Jha by approximately 6000 votes.

He worked hard and connected to the masses[citation needed] in the villages of his native assembly Mahishi and was reluctant to bounce back into the Bihar politics. His dedication and non tiring effort was rewarded and was given back his home constituency of Mahishi in 2010 elections. Though Lalu Yadav's RJD was very badly defeated, he came victorious as the lone RJD candidate from the Koshi region defeating RajKumar sah of JD(U)by a margin of 1717 votes.

Election 2015

Assumed to be a direct fight between the Grand alliance of RJD, JD(U) and INC, Vs NDA. RJD contested election on 101 Seats, JDU on 101, Congress on 41. Dr. Abdul Ghafoor once again contesting from the Mahishi seat defeated the nearest rival Chandan Kumar Sah by a comprehensive margin on 26,135 votes. This Victory would make Dr. Ghafoor the longest serving MLA from Mahishi. Grand Alliance got a Landslide victory by claiming 178 out of 243 seats while BJP+ managed a mere 58 seats. However, this alliance lasted only 20 months when Nitish Kumar resigned on 26th July 2017 at 5 PM following JD(U)'s remarriage to BJP and re-forming the government on 27th July 2017 at 10 AM

Dr. Abdul Ghafoor was sworn in as the Minority Welfare minister in the Nitish Kumar government on 20 November 2015.. He was in charge of the ministry until the resignation Mr Nitish Kumar on 26th July 2017 following his breakaway from Mahagathbandhan and subsequent re-joining NDA.

Others

He was also the chairman of Bihar State haj Committee and held the post between 2003 and 2006.

He is active on social media and is easily reachable by public via Twitter - https://twitter.com/DrAGhafoor and on Facebook -

Details of election affidavit can be found here