Shazia Ilmi

Ilmi comes from a middle-class Kanpur-based Muslim family with links to the Indian National Congress political party.^[4] Her father, Maulana Ishaq Ilmi, was the founder and editor of Siyasat Jadid, a Kanpur-based Urdu newspaper.

Ilmi was educated at St. Mary's School in Kanpur and Nainital and then at St. Bede's College, Shimla.^[1] She then completed degree courses in journalism and broadcasting at Jamia Millia Islamia and the University of Wales, Cardiff,^[3] and also completed a diploma in 16mm film production at New York Film Academy.^[5]

Her brother Aijaz Ilmi is a member and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her sister is married to Arif Mohammed Khan, a former Indian National Congress politician and Union Minister, who is currently the Governor of Kerala.^[3] Shazia Ilmi is married to Sajid Malik.^[4]

Ilmi spent 15 years in varied aspects of television news and documentary production.^[3] She has been an anchor on Star News, where she hosted and produced the popular prime time news show Desh Videsh.^[6]

Ilmi has been a member of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television.^[7] Her film titled Post Box. 418 Siyasat Kanpur, concerning the struggle for survival of an Urdu language newspaper, was screened at the IAWRT film festival in 2011^[8] and also at events such as a similar festival in Kerala.^[9] She was also a co-director, with Radha Hola, of a 1996 documentary concerning the eco-feminist Vandana Shiva. This film, called Daughter of the Earth — Portrait of Vandana Shiva, has been shown by various television broadcasters, including the Discovery Channel.^[10]

In 2011, Shazia Ilmi joined the anti-corruption campaign, that was being led by Anna Hazare, and became the urbane, Muslim, media-savvy face of Team Anna.^[3]

After the Anna Hazare campaign ended, she joined the Aam Aadmi Party, and became a member of its National Executive.^[11][12] Ilmi, along with some other AAP leaders, was briefly involved in a controversy over malpractices in fund-collection, though the allegations were never proven.^[13][14] She contested the Lok Sabha elections, 2014 for the AAP from Ghaziabad but lost to V. K. Singh.^[15] Having been unhappy with the party's leadership, she resigned her AAP party membership on 24 May 2014.^[16]

Ilmi joined the BJP on 16 January 2015 along with IPS Officer Kiran Bedi in a felicitation ceremony at the Delhi BJP office, just before the upcoming 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.^[17] She was appointed as a national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party in July 2021.^[2]

In September 2022, she moved the Supreme Court of India seeking direction to the Central government to establish a consistent and universal code for granting alimony and maintenance (Child support), aiming to eliminate obstacles.^[18]

In January 2017, Ilmi was appointed the additional director (non-official part-time independent) of Engineers India Ltd (EIL) from 27 March 2017 to 30 January 2020.^[19][20]