'Akhand Bharat' row: Meet Al Jazeera anchor who is making news over Ram Madhav's 'Your ISIS' remark

New Delhi: This Al-Jazeera journalist would have never imagined that one day he would be making headlines in India in connection with Islamic State, courtesy BJP's general secretary Ram Madhav.

Mehdi Hasan shot to limelight in India after BJP's national general secretary Ram Madhav during the course of an interview with him, said "your ISIS" to the Muslim anchor. Visibly shocked, Mehdi Hasan repeated "my ISIS," a number of times. Also, realising his error, Ram Madhav laughed.

The moment my latest @AJHeadtoHead guest, the BJP's gen sec, referred to me & ISIS with the line 'your ISIS...' (!) https://t.co/HWY8B4wdNy — Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) December 26, 2015

Here are a few things to know about the award-winning journalist Mehdi Hasan:-

1)- Mehdi Hasan, a British journalist, broadcaster, author and political commentator, is the presenter of both UpFront and Head to Head. Ram Madhav's 'your ISIS' remark came during Hasan's Head to Head show.

2)- Prior to Al Jazeera, he worked for Huffington Post UK; he was political director there. 

3)- Mehdi Hasan has been named one of the 100 'most influential' Britons on Twitter, and was included in the annual global list of 'The 500 Most Influential Muslims' in the world ('The Muslim 500').

4)- Hasan's debate-winning speech at the Oxford Union on Islam and peace went viral online.

5)- Hasan is also the author of two books - a biography of former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and an e-book on debt and the financial crisis.

(Information mentioned above as per his official profile on Al Jazeera's website)

WATCH VIDEO -

BJP spokesperson Ram Madhav goofing up like PM during interview with @mehdirhasan #earthquake pic.twitter.com/03bfr0XdyA — Rita Tornad (@Ritatornad) December 25, 2015

Ram Madhav during his interview with Mehdi Hasan had said that RSS believes that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will one day reunite again not by war but through "popular goodwill", comments that were made public on the night Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Lahore for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif.

"The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) still believes that one day these parts, which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and Akhand Bharat will be created," he told Al Jazeera, the Doha-based channel.