Raashid Alvi was born in Chandpur, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, on 15 April 1956, to Islama Khatoon and Malik Irfan Ahmad Alvi, a freedom fighter[2] He served as the All India general secretary of the Janata Dal [3] In 1999, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Amroha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, defeating former Test cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Chetan Chauhan by over 90,000 votes.

[6] He later joined the Congress party and was twice elected to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and served in the Indian Parliament from 2004 to 2012.

The then opposition BJP was swift to take criticize the ruling Congress over Alvi's comments.

We (BJP) celebrate every day of national importance and respect everybody, right from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, who contributed to the country.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah also opined that the issue was above party politics.