Ali Anwar Ansari (born 16 January 1954) is an Indian journalist, social activist and politician. He is the founder of Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, concerned with fighting discrimination against lower-caste and Dalit Muslims. He was a two-time Member of the Parliament of India for Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, representing Janata Dal (United), until his expulsion from the party in September 2017 for opposing the party leadership decision to break from the Mahagathbandan and instead partner with BJP. Early life and journalism career Anwar was born in 1954 into a weaver family in Dumraon, Bihar. His father was a mill worker, involved in trade union activism via the Communist Party of India affiliated All India Trade Union Congress. This influenced Anwar into becoming involved in leftist politics as a high-school student and became a card-carrying member of the CPI. Anwar became the chief reporter for CPI's Hindi newspaper, Janashakti, seeking to document and publicize the state of the poor under feudalism and the fight against caste and class oppression. Anwar, however became disillusioned with Communism as he felt it was also dominated by upper caste leaders who were themselves prone to casteism. In his view, CPI's focusing solely on class and ignoring caste perpetuates caste-based hierarchy. He stopped being a member of CPI after 20 years. He continued his journalism work with Navbharat Times, Jansatta and then Swatantra Bharat, still focusing on caste oppression amongst both Hindus and Muslims. He broke stories on how there were separate barracks and kitchens for Police officers of different castes in Patna and how people of upper castes would receive fake Backward Caste certificates to obtain government jobs. In 1996, Anwar won the KK Birla Foundation fellowship for journalism to study the lives of Dalit and backward caste Muslims in Bihar. This reporting led to a book titled Masavat ki Jang (Fight for Equality) Pasmanda activism In 1998, Anwar formed the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (PMM) to serve as an umbrella organization fighting to deliver rights to Dalit and backward Muslims. Anwar's argument, as stated in Masavat ki Jang is that Indian Muslims are not a homogenous community and existing organizations only serve upper-caste Muslims. The book details the monopolization by upper-caste 'Ashraf' leaders of civil society organizations such as madrasas and personal law boards, representative institutions (Parliament and State Assemblies) and departments, ministries and institutions that claim to work for Muslims (minority affairs, Waqf boards,