Darakhshan Andrabi

Syed Darakhshan Andrabi (born 1974), also written as Darakshan Andrabi, is an Indian politician from Jammu and Kashmir. She is the Chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board, a position she has held since March 2022, and serves with the rank of Minister of State. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and serves on its National Executive. She is also the first woman and the first BJP leader to head the J&K Waqf Board.

Early life and education Andrabi was born in 1974 in Jammu and Kashmir. She is the daughter of Syed Ghulam Nabi Andrabi. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urdu language from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in 2008.

In the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, she contested the Sonawar assembly constituency in Srinagar as the BJP candidate. She was defeated by Mohammad Ashraf Mir of the Jammu & Kashmir People's Democratic Party.

She served as a Member of the Central Waqf Council under the Government of India prior to her appointment to the J&K Waqf Board.

In 2021, she was appointed as a member of the BJP National Executive.

Chairperson of the J&K Waqf Board On 16 March 2022, Andrabi was unanimously elected as Chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board at its first meeting under the Central Waqf Act, 1995, held at Hajj House in Jammu. The board had been newly constituted and its members appointed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India.

Controversies Hazratbal shrine plaque incident (2025) In September 2025, the Waqf Board under Andrabi's chairmanship placed a plaque bearing the national emblem at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar following renovations. The move drew criticism from local political leaders and religious figures, who argued that the use of the emblem at a religious site was inappropriate. Unidentified persons subsequently broke and removed the plaque. Andrabi responded by calling for FIRs against those who had objected to or removed the emblem and characterised the act as a form of militancy. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti were among those who publicly criticised the placement of the emblem.