| Birth Date: | 2 April 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Office1: | Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Term Start1: | 2015 |
| Office2: | Spokesperson of India Against Corruption |
| Term Start2: | 2011 |
| Term End2: | 2012 |
| Party: | Bharatiya Janata Party 2015– present |
| Otherparty: | Aam Aadmi Party till 2014 |
| Alma Mater: | St. Bedes College, Shimla |
| Occupation: | Social Activist, Journalist, Politician |
| Spouse: | Sajid Malik |
| Relations: | Reshma Arif (sister) |
Shazia Ilmi (born 1970) is an Indian politician and the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party since July 2021.[1]
Before joining politics, Ilmi was a television journalist and anchor at Star News, where she led a media campaign for an anti-corruption bill (to institute an ombudsman popularly known as the Jan Lokpal Bill).[2] She started her political career with the Aam Aadmi Party and was a member of its National Executive before she left the party in May 2014 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2015.[3]
Ilmi comes from a middle-class Kanpur-based Muslim family with links to the Indian National Congress political party.[4] Her father, Maulana Ishaq Ilmi, was the founder and editor of Siyasat Jadid, a Kanpur-based Urdu newspaper.
Ilmi was educated at St. Mary's Convent High School in Kanpur and Nainital and then at St. Bede's College, Shimla.[5] She then completed degree courses in journalism and broadcasting at Jamia Millia Islamia and the University of Wales, Cardiff, and also completed a diploma in 16mm film production at New York Film Academy.[6] Her brother Aijaz Ilmi is a member and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her sister is married to Arif Mohammed Khan, a former Indian National Congress politician and Union Minister, who is currently the Governor of Kerala.[7] Shazia Ilmi is married to Sajid Malik.[3]
Ilmi spent 15 years in varied aspects of television news and documentary production.[2] She has been an anchor on Star News, where she hosted and produced the popular prime time news show Desh Videsh.[8]
Ilmi has been a member of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television.[9] Her film titled Post Box. 418 Siyasat Kanpur, concerning the struggle for survival of an Urdu language newspaper, was screened at the IAWRT film festival in 2011[10] and also at events such as a similar festival in Kerala.[11] She was also a co-director, with Radha Hola, of a 1996 documentary concerning the eco-feminist Vandana Shiva. This film, called Daughter of the Earth — Portrait of Vandana Shiva, has been shown by various television broadcasters, including the Discovery Channel.[12]
In 2011, Shazia Ilmi joined the anti-corruption campaign, that was being led by Anna Hazare, and became the urbane, Muslim, media-savvy face of Team Anna.[2]
After the Anna Hazare campaign ended, she joined the Aam Aadmi Party, and became a member of its National Executive.[13] [14] Ilmi, along with some other AAP leaders, was briefly involved in a controversy over malpractices in fund-collection, though the allegations were never proven.[15] [16] She contested the Lok Sabha elections, 2014 for the AAP from Ghaziabad but lost to V. K. Singh.[17] Having been unhappy with the party's leadership, she resigned her AAP party membership on 24 May 2014.[18]
Ilmi joined the BJP on 16 January 2015 along with IPS Officer Kiran Bedi in a felicitation ceremony at the Delhi BJP office, just before the upcoming 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.[19] She was appointed as a national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party in July 2021.[1]
In September 2022, she moved the Supreme Court of India seeking direction to the Central government to establish a consistent and universal code for granting alimony and maintenance (Child support), aiming to eliminate obstacles.[20]
In January 2017, Ilmi was appointed the additional director (non-official part-time independent) of Engineers India Ltd (EIL) from 27 March 2017 to 30 January 2020.[21] [22]