A grassroots Muslim leader, who has grown big over the years following his robust agitations on several issues in Bhopal, MLA Arif Aqueel represents the minority community in Digvijay Cabinet.A lawyer by profession, he commands a good following in Bhopal where started his political career as a student leader about more than two decades ago.Born on January 14, 1952 at Bhopal, he holds degrees of M.Sc, M.A, B.Ed and LL.B. A Lawyer by profession, he has keen interest in social service and sports and he has excellent command on Urdu as well as Hindi.
Active in students politics since 1972, he was Vice-president of of MP Youth Congress as Madhya Pradesh NSUI. He has also been a member of Bar Council and Waqf Board and president of Saifia College students union in Bhopal. He had also been Director, Nagrik Bank.
First elected to MP Legislative Assembly in 1990 and again in 1998 from North Bhopal constituency, he was inducted as a Minister of State in the Council of Ministers led by Digvijay Singh on Dec 6, 1998 and later elevated to the Cabinet rank.