NEW DELHI: A day after he collapsed in Parliament following a heart attack, Kerala MP E Ahamed passed away this morning at 2:15 am at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital where he was admitted yesterday.
In an unfortunate turn of events, the 78-year-old Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Ahamed was taken ill during President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament.
Initially, the Parliament staff tried to give Ahmed first aid but when his condition did not improve, he was rushed to the RML hospital.
Edappakath Ahamed was the longest serving Parliament member from Kerala after GM Banatwala, he was a member of Lok Sabha for 26 years in seven terms from 1991. During 2004 -2009, he served as the Minister of State for External Affairs. From April 2009 to January 2011, he was Minister of State for Railways. He assumed charge again as Minister of State of External Affairs on 24 January 2011. Ahamed also held the additional charge of the Ministry of Human Resource Development from July 2011 to October 2012.
One of the longest Indian representatives to UN from 1991 to 2014, the part he played in the release of hostages from Khandahar in 2004 was widely appreciated. During his tenure in the Parliament, he has been a member of several parliamentary committees including External Affairs, Railways, Civil Aviation and Tourism, Public Undertakings, Science and Technology, Environment and Forests. Ahamed was also the Chairman of the Government Assurance Committee. Nominated by the Government of India as Co-Chairman for the High Level Monitoring Mechanism (HLMM) between India and Qatar in November 2011.
His first term to LS was from Manjeri, a fort of Muslim League. He repeated the feat in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He moved to neighbouring Ponnani in 2004 and emerged as the solo member of UDF from Kerala in LS. In 2009 He returned to which was changed to Malappuram and went on to become a member of the UPA cabinet.
However, his tryst with parliamentary politics begins with the electoral victory in 1967 from Kannur Assembly Constituency. Then he moved to Koduvally in 1977. Then he represented Tanur thrice, 1980, 1982 and 1987 which bolstered his bond with the Malappuram district. From 1982 to 1987, he served as Cabinet Minister for Industries in the cabinet headed by K Karunakaran in Kerala Government. From 1981 to 1983 he was the Chairman of the Kannur Municipal Council.
He moved into the leadership of Muslim League as a founding leader of Muslim Student Federation,its student movement. The first General Secretary of MSF was a reporter and Sub Editor of Muslim League Mouth piece Chandrika during student days. Later, as an advocate he practiced in Thalassery District Court and Kerala High Court.
From 1971 to 1977, Ahamed was the founding Chairman of the Kerala State Rural Development Board. From 1979 to 1980 he was the Executive Chairman of the Kerala State Small Scale Industries Development Corporation.
Born to Abdul Khadar haji and Edappakath Nafeesa Beevi on April 29, 1938 in Kannur city, Ahamed graduated from Govt. Brennen College in Tellicherry and later obtained a law degree from the Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram.
His wife Suhra had preceded him. He is survived by sons Raees and Naseer and daughter Fauza Sherzad.