Nawab Ali Haider Khan (11 February 1896 – 30 June 1963) was a Bengali noble and politician.^[1]

Early life and family

Khan was born on 11 February 1896 to an royal Bengali Shia family known as the Nawabs of Longla based in the village of Prithimpassa in South Sylhet (then under the North-East Frontier province of the British Raj). The royal family are descended from Sakhi Salamat, a Persian nobleman from Greater Khorasan, who settled in Prithimpassa after being granted land there by the Lodi sultans of Delhi in the 15th century. Khan's father, Nawab Ali Amjad Khan, was an honorary magistrate by occupation. His mother, Syeda Fatima Banu, was the daughter of Syed Aminuddin Hasan of the Narpati Saheb Bari in Chunarughat, Habiganj and a descendant of Syed Nasiruddin.^[2]

Career

The Assam Legislative Assembly was founded in 1937, and Khan won a seat in its first elections in the South Sylhet (East) constituency. Khan served as Assam's Minister of Agriculture in the cabinet of Sir Muhammed Saadulah. From 1942 to 1946, he was the Minister of Power and Water Development in Gopinath Bordoloi's cabinet. He was also the leader of the Independent Muslim Party. In 1945, he led his party into an alliance with Assam Congress and its coalition partners which included the likes of Bordoloi and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (who later became the President of India). Bordoloi considered Khan as their mainstay.

In 1950, he hosted King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and Governor-General Khwaja Nazimuddin at his estate for four days and went hunting with them.

Personal life

In 1917, he married Nawabzadi Husna Ara Begum, the eldest child of Nawab Wasif Ali Mirza of Murshidabad. They had three children - Ali Safdar Khan, Syedunnessa Begum and Ali Sarwar Khan. He also had a son named Ali Dawar Khan.

Death

Khan died on 30 June 1963, in the village of Prithimpassa.

References