Ex-minister Khurshid Ahmed dies at 85

BOX

One of the tallest leaders from Mewat, Ahmed was elected to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on five occasions and served as a minister in the state Cabinet thrice. He was also elected to Lok Sabha from Faridabad

********************************************************

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 17

Former Haryana minister Chaudhary Khurshid Ahmed passed away after a brief illness on Monday at the age of 85.

He breathed his last at 3 am on Monday at a private hospital in Faridabad where he was admitted three days back.

One of the tallest leaders from Mewat, Ahmed was elected to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on five occasions and served as a minister in the state Cabinet thrice. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Faridabad.

The departed leader is survived by three sons – Aftab Ahmed, Mehtab Ahmed and Anjum Ahmed – and a daughter Rukhsana.

His eldest son Aftab Ahmed represents Nuh in the state Assembly.

Chaudhary Khurshid Ahmed was born on June 20, 1934 in Dhulawat village of Taoru tehsil of Nuh district.

He ventured into politics as a student of Delhi University from where he did his post-graduation and a degree in law.

Ahmed was elected to the joint Punjab Assembly for the first time in 1962 and was elected as MLA again in 1968, 1977, 1987 and 1996.

In 1988, Khurshid Ahmed was elected to the Parliament from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat.

He served the state as Cabinet minister thrice holding important portfolios like Finance, Health and Urban Development.

From 1982 to 1984, Khurshid Ahmed remained on the post of Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board.

Ahmed will be remembered for his contribution to the spread of education in the backward Mewat region and also for the setting up of the Mewat Development Board.

He is also credited with having brought a college, JBT centre, ITI and a PHC to Nagina town of Mewat region and also for several other development works in the area.

For over three decades, politics in Mewat centred around two political figures – Khurshid Ahmed and his archrival Tayyab Hussein, an equally prominent leader of that area.

Interestingly, the politics in Mewat, now Nuh district, still centres around the sons of these two leaders – Aftab Ahmed and Zakir Hussein.

Old-timers remember Khurshid Ahmed as one of the finest orators and parliamentarian.

“Watching him participate in debates in the state Assembly was always a treat to watch. His speeches used to be mixed with Urdu couplets,” said a former journalist.

His burial in the afternoon today was attended among others by AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state Congress president Kumari Selja, former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and former MLAs Karan Singh Dalal, Udai Bhan and Zakir Hussain.

Congress MLAs, who were in Chandigarh to participate in the CM’s pre-Budget meeting, observed two-minute silence in his memory.

Hooda described Ahmed as a mass leader before leaving for Nuh to participate in the burial.

Former minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav described Ahmed as a great leader who worked with him and his father Rao Abhay Singh.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed grief over the demise of Khurshid Ahmed. In a condolence message issued here on Monday, Khattar said that Khurshid Ahmed was a senior leader and as a minister, he held important portfolios.

Khattar conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved family and prayed to the Almighty that the departed soul might rest in peace.