Mobashar Jawad “M.J.” Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author besides being the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rajya Sabha MP. He was the Editor-in-Chief and then Editorial Director of The Sunday Guardian, a weekly newspaper that he founded, until he left to join politics full-time. He has remained associated with the leading media houses and periodicals in India including India Today, Headlines Today, The Telegraph. The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle among others.

He was born oin 1951. According to his semi-fictional autobiography, Blood Brothers – A Family Saga, Akbar’s paternal grandfather was a Hindu Brahmin who lived in the small jute-mill town near Kolkata. He fell in love with a Muslim girl and married her after converting to Islam.

He has written several non-fiction books, including Byline (New Delhi: Chronicle Books, 2003), a biography of Jawaharlal Nehru titled Nehru: The Making of India, a book on Kashmir titled Kashmir: Behind the Vale, Riot After Riot and India: The Siege Within. He also authored The Shade of Swords, a history of jihad. Akbar has also authored fiction, such as the family saga Blood Brothers. His latest book is Tinderbox: The past and future of Pakistan, in January 2012 which discusses the themes of identity crisis and class struggles in Pakistan.

In 1989, he took a brief detour into politics with his election to the Indian Parliament in November 1989. He lost the seat in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. He served as late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s official spokesman.

In 2005, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appointed him as a member of the committee to draft a ten-year charter for Muslim nations on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.