A. R. Antulay

Barrister Abdul Rahman Antulay
1st Union Minister of Minority Affairs
In office 29 January 2006 – 19 January 2009
President	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Pratibha Patil
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Salman Khurshid
26th Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare
In office 11 June 1995 – 16 May 1996
President	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Prime Minister	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Preceded by	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Succeeded by	Sartaj Singh
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation
In office 17 January 1995 – 16 May 1996
President	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Prime Minister	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Preceded by	Vidya Charan Shukla
Succeeded by	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 09 June 1980 – 12 January 1982
Governor	Sadiq Ali Om Prakash Mehra
Ministry and Department	General Administration Home Affairs Planning Information and Public Relations Information Technology Water Resources Water Supply Sanitation Command Area Development Forest Department Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minority Development and Aukaf Khar Land Development Earthquake Rehabilitation
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	Babasaheb Bhosale
Leader of the House Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office 09 June 1980 – 12 January 1982
Governor	Sadiq Ali Om Prakash Mehra
Speaker of the House	Pranlal Vora Sharad Dighe
Deputy Leader	Jawaharlal Darda
Preceded by	Sharad Pawar
Succeeded by	Babasaheb Bhosale
Leader of The House Maharashtra Legislative Council
In office 21 February 1975 – 16 May 1977
Chief Minister	Shankarrao Chavan
Chairman of the House	Vitthal Sakharam Page
Deputy Leader	Sundarrao Solanke
Preceded by	Pratibha Patil
Succeeded by	Vasantdada Patil
Cabinet Minister Government of Maharashtra
In office 05 December 1963 – 01 March 1967
Governor	Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit P V Cherian
Chief Minister	Vasantrao Naik
Ministry and Departments	Finance Public Works (Excluding Public Undertakings) Planning Co-operation Higher and Technical Education Fisheries Department
In office 01 March 1967 – 13 March 1972
Governor	P V Cherian Ali Yavar Jung
Chief Minister	Vasantrao Naik
Ministry and Departments	Public Works (Including Public Undertakings) Energy, New and Renewable Energy Transport Protocol Water Supply Soil and Water Conservation Parliamentary Affairs Sanitation Ex. Servicemen Welfare Ports Development Minority Development and Aukaf
In office 13 March 1972 – 20 February 1975
Governor	Ali Yavar Jung
Chief Minister	Vasantrao Naik
Ministry and Departments	Law and Judiciary Special Assistance Social Justice Environment and Climate Change Public Health Housing Rural Development Industries Textiles School Education Medical Education Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Sports and Youth Welfare Agriculture Food and Drug Administration Horticulture Khar Land Development Employment Guarantee Minority Development and Aukaf
In office 21 February 1975 – 16 April 1977
Governor	Ali Yavar Jung
Chief Minister	Shankarrao Chavan
Ministry and Departments	Law and Judiciary Public Works (Including Public Undertakings) Water Resources Marketing Mining Department Ex. Servicemen Welfare Khar Land Development
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1989–1998
Preceded by	Dinkar Patil
Succeeded by	Ramsheth Thakur
Constituency	Kolaba
In office 2004–2009
Preceded by	Ramsheth Thakur
Succeeded by	Raigad Lok Sabha constituency
Constituency	Kolaba
Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office 1962–1972
Preceded by	New Constituency
Succeeded by	A. Shakur A. Karim Ukaye
Constituency	Shrivardhan
In office 1980–1985
Preceded by	Ravindra Raut
Succeeded by	Ravindra Raut
Constituency	Shrivardhan
Personal details
Born	(1929-02-09)9 February 1929 Raigad, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	2 December 2014(2014-12-02) (aged 85) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Political party	Indian National Congress

Abdul Rahman Antulay (9 February 1929 – 2 December 2014) was an Indian politician. Antulay was a union minister for Minority Affairs and a Member of Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha of India. Earlier he had been the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra, but was forced to resign after being convicted by the Bombay High Court on charges that he had extorted money for a trust fund he managed. Later, the Supreme Court of India gave him clean chit in that case.

Antulay belonged to the Congress party. In the 2009 Indian general elections, he lost to Anant Geete from the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra. He is the first Muslim chief minister of Maharashtra.

Life

He was born in Konkani Muslim Family to father Shri Hafiz Abdul Gafoor and mother Zohrabi in the village Ambet village, near Mahad Raigad, Maharashtra, India. He was married to Nargis Antulay and the couple have one son and three daughters. After appearing for B.A. examination, he studied Barrister-At -Law, educated at Bombay University and Lincoln's Inn, London.

Antulay was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 1962 to 1976, during which time he served in the Maharashtra state government as Minister of State for Law and Judiciary, Ports and Fisheries and then as Minister of Law & Judiciary, Building, Communication and Housing from October 1969 to February 1976. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1976 to 1980; in 1980, he was again elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from June 1980 to January 1982. He was forced to resign his post after allegations of corruption and a conviction in an extortion case. He again got elected in 1985 election to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and remained until 1989, when he was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha. He was re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991. From June 1995 to May 1996, he was Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and from February to May 1996 he was additionally in charge of Water Resources. In 1996 he was re-elected to the 11th Lok Sabha, and in 2004 he was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha. He was Union Minister for Ministry of Minority Affairs (India) under Manmohan Singh's government.

He started his career as active social worker in 1945. As a social worker his notable achievements include construction of (i) a jetty on the bank of Savitri River, Bankot (Khadi) Creek through local people offering free labor (shramdan in Marathi) to complete the task. He also worked with his own hands along with the villagers of Ambet; (ii) road between the village Ambet and Lonere Goregaon (then in Kolaba, now in Raigad district) to connect his village to NH-17. He had a keen interest in the uplifting of the weaker sections of the society and as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra had launched Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana (a monthly financial aid scheme for poor and destitute), pension and housing facilities for legislators and media persons, and many more initiatives. He had also announced that he would get back the Bhawani sword — the sword used by iconic Maratha king Shivaji which now lies in the British Museum in London.

He had to resign from the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra due to allegations of his involvement in corruption. However, the Supreme Court cleared him of all allegations years later. The charges were seen as political ploy to malign him and arrest his political growth. When cleared by the Supreme Court, he said "I had done nothing wrong. I was targeted by political rivals but they failed. I suffered some setbacks, but they could not destroy me."

Antulay died from chronic Kidney failure on 2 December 2014 while being treated at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.

Upon Antulay's demise, noted criminal lawyer J.P. Mishra, who represented Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ramdas Nayak in the corruption cases he had filed against Antulay, paid rich tributes to his old adversary. He acknowledged Antulay as "an administrator par excellence", whose heart always beat for the poor and downtrodden. "He was a truly great human being. He set up the trusts for the benefit of the poorest people in society, but they became his undoing. Even during the trial, he was always amiable and soft-spoken, never harbouring animosity or ill-will against anybody," said Mishra, who is now the BJP North Mumbai unit president of the BJP.

Literary works

He has also published several books:

• Parliamentary Privilege (compilation of his five articles published in the Times of India);
• Mahajan Report - Uncovered;
• Appointment of a Chief Justice;
• Democracy- Parliamentary or Presidential? (compilation of his speeches and interviews).

Controversies

He resigned as Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the Bombay High Court convicted him of extortion on 13 January 1982. The court ruled that Antulay had illegally required Bombay area builders to make donations to Indira Gandhi Pratibha Pratishthan trust, one of several trust funds he had established and controlled, in exchange for receiving more cement than the quota allotted to them by the Government. He was later granted bail by the court. However, the Supreme Court later cleared him of the allegations.

Again after November 2008 Mumbai attacks he has raised a controversy by saying that the end of Hemant Karkare, of the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra, killed in the attacks, may be related to his investigation of the 2006 Malegaon blasts, leading to questions about the Mumbai attacks. Later he changed his stand and told Parliament he had not talked about who killed the police officers but about who "sent them in the wrong direction". His party, Congress, distanced itself from his statements. The then US ambassador, in some of the US embassy cables, accused that this early dismissal, then followed by tacit promotion, indicates that "the Congress Party will readily stoop to the old caste/religious-based politics if it feels it is in its interest."