Salman Khurshid (born 1 January 1953) is an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and an author. He was Minister of External Affairs from October 2012 to May 2014 in Manmohan Singh‘s government, after serving as Law Minister. He is a grandson of Zakir Husain, the third President of India.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Salman Alam Khan Khurshid |
| Born | 1 January 1953, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Age | 73 |
| Party | Indian National Congress |
| Offices | Minister of External Affairs (2012–2014); Law and Justice (2011–2012); Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs (2009–2011) |
| Constituency | Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh (1991–1996, 2009–2014) |
| Education | St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; St Edmund Hall, Oxford (B.C.L.) |
| Spouse | Louise Khurshid |
| Children | 4 |
Early Life
Khurshid was born into a family of scholars and politicians. His father, Khurshed Alam Khan, was a Union minister and state governor. He studied at Delhi Public School and St. Stephen’s College and read law at Oxford, where he also taught for a time at Trinity College.
Career
In the early 1980s he was an officer on special duty in the Prime Minister’s Office under Indira Gandhi. He built a practice at the Supreme Court and was designated a senior advocate. He won Farrukhabad in 1991 and served as Deputy Minister of Commerce and then Minister of State for External Affairs under P. V. Narasimha Rao, defending India’s position on Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1994. He twice headed the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
Re-elected in 2009, he held Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs, became Law Minister in 2011 and succeeded S. M. Krishna as External Affairs Minister in 2012. He lost his seat in 2014.
He has continued to practise law and write. In 2025 he was part of one of the all-party delegations India sent abroad after Operation Sindoor.
Books
Personal Life
He is married to Louise Khurshid, who has also contested elections, and they have four children. The couple run a trust in Farrukhabad for people with disabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Salman Khurshid born?
Salman Khurshid was born on 1 January 1953 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India and is 73 years old.
Featured image: Salman Khurshid, then Minister for Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs, speaks at Chartered Accountants’ Day celebrations, New Delhi, 1 July 2010. Photo by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
