Roohi Zuberi


Roohi Zuberi is a social worker, who has been fighting for women's rights for more than three decades. Her family has a long political and social lineage, she is also an active politician herself and works with the Indian National Congress.
Zuberi had served as a Senior Cabinet Member in the Aligarh Muslim University. Afterwards, she became Vice President and also President of the Students' Union.
She is always vocal for women's right and gives her opinion on crimes against women and believe that crime should not be mixed with politics. In a rape incident in Aligarh in 2019 she reportedly said said that there should be no politics on this very shameful incident. A criminal is a criminal and has no religion. We lost a daughter due to the negligence of the police. When the family went to the police station, then if the activism was shown, the incident could have been averted.

Accomplishments

As a student at the university, she became district president of the National Students' Union of India.
Zuberi is a vocal advocate of minority rights. In 1986, she established the Women's Welfare Society throughout Northern and Central India. It reinforces women's rights among the poor, provides legal and career counselling and training programmes for women and weaker sections of the society and assists in solving domestic violence cases free of cost.
In 2000, she contested for the post of Mayor of Aligarh on the Indian National Congress ticket. Zuberi advocated that there was the need of enacting a Muslim matrimonial code, e.g. the bride's consent in marriage negotiations and also of reforming Muslim Personal Law within the limit of Shariah.
On 30 January 2014, she was appointed to the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee's Executive Committee member.

Present post

Political career history

Roohi Zuberi belongs to a family of Marehra in Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father, the late Mr. Bashir Mahmood Zuberi was a freedom fighter in Indian Independence Struggle against British Raj. He was also a social worker, a politician and the Chairman of Marehra Municipal Board. During his life, he gave much of his personal property up for the development and welfare of the local population. The B. M. Zuberi Hospital in Marehra, a civil government hospital, is named after him.
Mrs. Zuberi is also related to Maulvi Bashir Uddin who spent all of his assets to establish Islamia College in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh in 1888 which was a similar effort to establish another university as happened in the case of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College. He was a Congressite who wore Khadi and also published a highly respected paper al-Bashir. He was awarded Padma Shri, but he did not go to receive it, just as he did not go to receive the title of Khan Bahadur. Former President of India Dr. Zakir Hussain was also a student of this institution.
She is also the daughter-in-law of mathematician and former Parliamentarian Dr Sir Ziauddin Ahmad, one of the mentors of Aligarh Movement and Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, who served as Vice Chancellor for three terms and later became the Rector of Aligarh Muslim University.
Matin Zuberi, was her maternal uncle and a scholar of international relations. Professor Zuberi was born at Marehra in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh on 15 July 1930. After obtaining his master's degree from Aligarh Muslim University, he went to St. Anthony's and Balliol colleges in the University of Oxford. On his return home, he was appointed senior fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He joined JNU in 1978 and continued there till 1995.
As a professor of international politics and disarmament studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Zuberi was an academic observer of international nuclear developments. His contributions went beyond academics. In three stints — 1990–91, 1998–99 and 2000–01 — he was a member of the National Security Advisory Board. On the last occasion he participated in the preparation of the Draft Indian Nuclear Doctrine. Earlier, he was a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development. Prof. Zuberi was also a member of the executive council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the governing body of the Society of Indian Ocean Studies.

Education qualification

She started her education in her hometown Marehra and thereafter moved to Aligarh for higher education. Her alma mater is Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Roohi Zuberi is married to Ahmad Zia-ud-din and they have three sons, Md. Zia-ud-din, Shahbaz Zia-ud-din, Sheeraz Ahmad and a daughter Sadaf Ahmad.