"Sir, my secular answer to the honourable member is that where it is in the hands of Allah, we turn to Allah, where it is in the hands of man, we turn to man." --- Mani Shankar Aiyar spoke while answering a supplementary in the Rajya Sabha on December 21, 2004. So it was self-proclaimed "secularist fundamentalist" calling forth Allah`s help to solve the routine problems his Government is finding difficult to solve.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, an Indian Politician, is a member of the Indian National Congress Party and presently serving as the cabinet Minister in Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Manmohan Singh government. In the 14th Lok Sabha, he represents the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu.

Mani Shankar Aiyar was born on 10th April, 1941 to father Late Shri V. Sankar Aiyar and mother Late Smt. Bhagyalakshmi Sankar Aiyar at Lahore (now in Pakistan). He was educated at The Doon School and St. Stephen`s College and studied economics in University of Delhi and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. On 4 January 1973, he was married to Smt. Suneet Mani Aiyar and the couple has three daughters.

Mani Shankar Aiyar has a keen interest in grassroots democracy and Indian foreign policy, with India`s neighborhood countries and West Asia in particular and the nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament is the proposed dismantaling of those nuclear weapons, particularly which are of the United States and the Soviet Union targeted on each other. For 26 years he served in the Indian Foreign Services.

In 1989 he resigned from the service to start up a career in politics and media. In the year 1991 as a Congress MP from the state of Tamil Nadu, his entry in the parliament took place. But in the 1996 he was disfigured. Again in 1999 he was re-elected. He is invited especially to the Congress Working Committee and became chairman of both the party`s political training department and the department of policy planning and coordination. besides, a well-known political columnist he has written several books on his credit, including "Pakistan Papers", "Remembering Rajiv", "One Year in Paliament", "Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist", as also edited a four-volume publication, "Rajiv Gandhi`s India".

The positions he held throughout his political life are:
Elected to 10th Lok Sabha( 1991) , Member, Committee on Environment and Forests( 1991-92) , Elected to All India Congress Committee (AICC)( 1992) , Member, Committee on Human Resource Development( 1992-96) , Member, Committee on External Affairs( ) , Secretary, All India Congress Committee( 1998) , Elected to 13th Lok Sabha (2nd term) ( 1999) , Member, Committee on Urban and Rural Development ( 1999-2004) , Member, Committee on Public Undertakings( 2002-2004) , Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha( 3rd term)( 2004) , Union Cabinet Minister, Petroleum and Natural Gas; Panchayati Raj( 23 May 2004 - onwards).

Other than politics he has been involved in several organizations too. He has been the Founder President of Society for Secularism. He has been the Consul-General in Karachi from 1978 to 82. From 1982 to 83, he has been served as the Joint Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs. He was the Special Assistant to former Congress (I) President, Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, 1989-91 and still now serving as a Trustee of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

He has been serving as a Member in the Governing Council of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies and a Member in the Court of Visvabharati from1991-96. From 1991 to 96 he has also been a Member in the Court of Aligarh Muslim University and a Member in the Court of Pondicherry University during1995-96. He has also been a Member in the Court of Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1999-2000. He has also been a member of Delhi Gymkhana Club and India International Centre, New Delhi.