Seema Mustafa

Seema Mustafa (b 20 April 1955) is an Indian journalist. She is the former Political Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper published in India. Her op-ed column appeared on Saturdays. These were syndicated to several newspapers, including The Deccan Chronicle from Bangalore, India and The Dawn newspaper of Pakistan. With the sacking of Asian Age editor M.J. Akbar over the defence of an anti-Congress, anti-Indo-US Nuclear Deal op-ed written by Seema, Seema resigned from the Asian Age as well.

Biography

Seema Mustafa was born in Delhi on April 20th, 1955. She graduated with a BA in Political Science from Lucknow University in Uttar Pradesh. Seema's father Lt Col Syed Mustafa was in the Indian Army and she is related to the socialist freedom fighter Rafi Ahmed Kidwai from her mother's side. Rajya Sabha MP Anis Kidwai was her grandmother from her mother's side. Seema has two elder brothers, SP 'Bobby' Mustafa, Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s group treasurer and head of M&A , , and Kamal Mustafa, now retired but once the Managing Director & Head of Global Mergers and Acquisitions for Citybank. She was married to a businessman from Delhi, and is now divorced with two children, both attending college.

Seema is agnostic.

Career

Seema Mustafa began her journalist career in Lucknow with the Pioneer before becoming the only woman journalist with the Patriot in 1979. Later she also worked for many major newspapers, including The Telegraph and Indian Express before joining The Asian Age in 1997.

She has received several journalistic awards, including the prestigious "Prem Bhatia Award for Excellence in Political Reporting and Analysis" in 1999 for her coverage of the Kargil war in May–July 1999.

Seema Mustafa left the Asian Age in 2008 and is currently Editor of COVERT, a fortnightly political magazine.

Writing style

Seema has been noted to have a characteristic leftist and socialist view point. Many of her articles criticise government policy, and generally reflect pro-minority, secular and feminist slants. She has lashed out at many influential sections of the political spectrum. She has defended Indian Muslims against the charge of being anti-national and pro-Pakistani.

Involvement in politics

Seema was a member of VP Singh's Janata Dal party and is said to be closely associated with him. The fact that she wrote his biography seems to strengthen this assertion. She has apparently contested UP Assembly Elections under the Janata Dal Ticket.

She contested the Lok Sabha General elections twice from Domariaganj in Uttar Pradesh, once as an Independent in 1996 and previously as a member of ICS(SCS) (a break away faction of the Congress(S)) in 1991 and lost both times, coming 10th and 4th respectively.

Lately, she has been linked to an Indian Marxist Communist Party, the CPI(M) on the issue of opposing the Government of India's stance on the anti-Iran vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency to appease the USA. She is part of the CPI(M) Committee to Campaign for an Independent Foreign Policy.

Of late, she has written actively in opposition to the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement.

Publications

Mustafa, Seema (1995). The Lonely Prophet: V.P. Singh, a Political Biography. New Delhi: New Age International.
Mustafa, Seema; Anuradha M. Chenoy and Initiative for National Renewal and Empowerment of the People (1995). The Scam: The Cover-up and Compromise. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern.