Mohammad Hamid Ansari Birthday: Lesser-known facts about the former vice president

Mohammad Hamid Ansari is an Indian politician and retired diplomat who served as the 12th vice president of India from 2007 to 2017.

In his 38 year diplomatic career, he served as the Indian ambassador to Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Here are some interesting facts about him:

Ansari, who was born to a wealthy Muslim family, completed B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh.

Ansari is married to Salma Ansari, and has three children.

In 1961 he entered the Indian Foreign Service, where he served for nearly four decades.

Ansari is the grand-nephew of former Indian National Congress president and freedom fighter Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.

He is the longest-serving chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

He resigned as NCM chairman soon after his nomination for the post of India’s Vice-President

Ansari served as the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 1993 to 1995.

He has written extensively on the Palestinian issue and taken positions inconvenient to the Indian official stance on Iraq and Iran.

He served as Indian VP from 2007 to 2017 and was the first person to be re-elected as VP after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1957