Manish Tewari was born on 8 December 1965[3]Chandigarh, India to V.N. Tiwari, an author of Punjabi language and professor at the Panjab University; and Amrit Tewari was a dentist who worked as Professor and Head, Oral Health Sciences Center, and Dean at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. His father was killed by militants in 1984 at his house no. 84 Sector 24, Chandigarh. This happened early morning and was a few months before Operation Blue Star. His mother died in 2018 following a cardiac arrest.[4] Tewari's maternal grandfather, Sardar Tirath Singh was a lawyer and a minister in Congress' government in the state of Punjab.
Manish Tewari addressing a Press Conference on ‘Digitization and related issues’, in New Delhi.
Tewari was the president of National Students Union of India from 1988 to 1993[5] and Indian Youth Congress(I) from 1998 to 2000. He lost the 2004 Lok sabha elections but successfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections by defeating Shiromani Akali Dal's candidate Gurcharan Singh Galib by a margin of over 100,000 votes. He was Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Tewari, an advocate by profession, presently practices in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts of Delhi as well as Punjab and Haryana.
As a member of parliament he has been active in drafting a Private member's Bill to bring the intelligence agencies under parliamentary oversight.[6] While he was scheduled to contest polls from his constituency Ludhiana, in March 2014 he was admitted to hospital for heart ailment.[7] Days later he expressed his unwillingness to contest parliamentary elections owing to his ill health. He has been replaced by Ravneet Singh Bittu, the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.[8]
Manish Tewari was a speaker at Bridge India's webinar on "India's foreign policy: Taking stock at the end of Year One"[9] In 2022, it was reported that Tewari may be a candidate in the 2022 Indian National Congress presidential election.[10]
Manish Tewari addressing the gathering, at Mullanpur, District. Ludhiana of Punjab on 23 October 2013