Shafiqur Rahman Barq, India’s oldest parliamentarian, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 94 after prolonged illness.
According to media reports, Barq took his last breath at a private hospital in Moradabad city of Uttar Pradesh.
Barq was the Member of Parliament for the Samajwadi Party (SP) and hade been re-selected as a candidate by the party for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Mourning the death of the oldest parliamentarian, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said in Hindi: “The demise of senior Samajwadi Party leader and several-time MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq Saheb is extremely sad. May his soul rest in peace. May the bereaved family members get the strength to bear this immense sorrow. Heartfelt tribute!”
The party also paid rich tributes to Barq.
Apart from Yadav and the Samajwadi Party, President Droupadi Murmu also lamented the MP's death.
“The news of demise of Shri Shafiqur Rahman Barq, a veteran Member of Parliament is a sad news. He devoted several decades to public service. I extend my condolences to his family members and followers,” Murmu said in a tweet.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party chief Jayant Chaudhary, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after breaking with with Samajwadi Party, also paid rich tributes to the oldest member of the current Parliament.
“My condolences on the death of Shri Shafiqur Rahman Barq ji. He was a leader with a real connect with the grassroots!” Chaudhary said.
Barq caused controversy in Parliament when he stated that the Indian national song Vande Mataram was against Islam and Muslims should not sing it.
He was also criticised for supporting the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and comparing the organisation — which has its roots in the 19th-century Indian Deobandi movement — to Indian anti-colonial freedom fighters. He was charged over those comments August 2021.