Oldest MP, a leading voice on Muslim affairs, SP’s Shafiqur Rahman Barq passes away

PARLIAMENT lost its oldest member on Tuesday morning, with the passing of Shafiqur Rahman Barq aged 93 at a hospital in Moradabad. The five-time MP from Sambhal in western Uttar Pradesh was set to recontest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket.

Even while Barq had been afflicted with several age-related issues in recent years, he was known to speak his mind, especially on issues pertaining to the Muslim community, which often landed him in the headlines.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav was among the first to express grief over the death of the veteran leader, calling it “very tragic”.

Feroz Khan, an SP state working committee member and close confidant of Barq, told The Indian Express that his body was being brought to Sambhal from Moradabad. “He was critical for the last few days,” Khan said, adding that Barq’s death was “a huge loss for the people of Sambhal”.

Barq, who was married to the late Quresha Begum, is survived by his son, Mamluk Ur Rahman, a Muslim cleric in Sambhal. Barq’s grandson Ziaur Rahman is currently an MLA from the Kundarki constituency in the Moradabad district.

Barq was born in 1930 in Sambhal’s Deepa Sarai to parents who were daily-wage workers. He studied at Agra University, before returning to Sambhal. Having learnt medicine as a doctor’s assistant, he started being consulted by patients suffering from minor ailments.

He began his political career after joining ranks with socialist leaders, including SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.

He was first elected as an MLA from Sambhal in 1974 on the symbol of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal. In the subsequent elections of 1977, 1985 and 1989, he was elected from the same seat on different symbols. In