Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted in Hindi, “He was a simple man with conviction and a mass leader. May God give peace to the soul of Haji saheb and strength to his family during this period”
RANCHI – Jharkhand’s Minority Welfare Minister Haji Hussain Ansari died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday at a private hospital in Ranchi after testing negative for Covid-19 on Friday.
He was admitted to hospital 10 days ago after he had been tested positive for the virus.
“He died on Saturday at 4 pm. He spoke to us on Friday after he tested negative (for the virus) and it seemed that he would soon recover. We are deeply saddened by his death,” a person known to the minister was quoted by Indian Express as saying.
Ansari had recently undergone heart surgery.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted in Hindi, “He was a simple man with conviction and a mass leader. May God give peace to the soul of Haji saheb and strength to his family during this period.”
State Health Minister Banna Gupta said that Ansari’s death was a personal loss to him. Union Minister Arjun Munda also condoled his death.
Ansari, 73, was elected from the Madhupur constituency in the 2019 Assembly elections on a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ticket. He was previously elected from the seat in 1995, 2000 and 2010.
In March, Ansari and his son were quarantined at their home after Jharkhand’s special branch flagged the son as a returnee from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. However Ansari had denied that his son had visited Delhi at that time.
