Ahmed Patel was a prominent veteran politician of the Indian National Congress (INC), known for his behind-the-scenes political maneuvers and management skills. He served eight terms as a member of Parliament, three in the Rajya Sabha and five in the Lok Sabha. His political legacy came to an end on November 25, 2020, when he died of multiple organ failure after a month-long battle with COVID-19.
Wiki/Biography
Ahmed Patel was born on Sunday, August 21, 1949 (aged 71 at the time of his death) in the village of Piraman in Bharuch district, Gujarat. His full name was Ahmedbhai Mohammadbhai Patel. He completed his Bachelor of Science (BSc) in 1976 from Shree Jayendrapuri Puri College of Arts and Science, Bharuch (South Gujarat University, Surat). During his college years, he had joined the cooperative bank movement along with his father. Thereafter, he took up public service. Later, he joined the Youth Congress of India. He rose from the grassroots and his skills and loyalty to the party helped him become one of the top politicians of the Indian National Congress (INC).
Family and caste
Ahmed Patel was born into a peasant family.
Parents and siblings
Patel is the third child of Mohammad Ishqi Patel and Hawaben Mohammad Bey. His father, Mohammad Ishqi, was one of the pioneers of the South Gujarat Cooperative Union movement in the 1960s, which opposed the exploitation of small borrowers by private financiers.
Wife and children
In 1976, he married Memoona Ahmed Patel. Memoona was born into a freedom fighter family and worked closely with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. He has two children, Faisal Patel (son) and Mumtaz Patel (daughter). Both his children stay away from politics. Faisal Patel is an alumnus of Harvard University and is now an entrepreneur, while there is no information known about his daughter Mumtaz Patel.
From left to right: Faisal Patel (Ahmed’s son), Memona Patel (Ahmed’s wife), Shabana Azmi (actress), Ahmed Patel and Javed Akhtar (writer)
Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal Patel and daughter Mumtaz Patel
Political career
Ahmed Patel started his political career in 1976 when he successfully contested the local body elections in Piraman village on behalf of the Indian National Congress at the age of 27. The Indian National Congress (INC) was impressed by Patel’s work and fielded him to represent the Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency before the 1977 Lok Sabha elections after the internal emergency was lifted in 1977. He won his first Lok Sabha election by defeating Sulaiman Esuf of the BJP by a huge margin of more than 63,000 votes. He subsequently won the Lok Sabha elections in 1980 and 1984, retaining the seat for two consecutive terms. In 1984, he became the first parliamentary secretary to the newly elected Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi along with Arun Singh and Oscar Fernandez.
Ahmed Patel, Arun Singh and Oscar Fernandes sworn in as parliamentary secretaries to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
In 1986, during the Rajiv Gandhi administration, he was appointed as the head of the Indian National Congress’ Gujarat unit and served in that position for two years. In 1995, he was first elected to the Rajya Sabha and was subsequently re-elected for four terms. In 2001, he was appointed secretary to Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi and served in that position until 2017.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel
He served as treasurer of the All India Congress Committee from 2018 until his death in November 2020.
die
Ahmed Patel died of multiple organ failure at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, more than a month after he was diagnosed with Covid-19. Ahmed Patel’s body was buried next to his parents’ grave in his ancestral village of Piraman.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attends Ahmed Patel’s final rites along with his son and daughter
net worth
His net worth at the time of his death was Rs 5.3 crore.
Facts/Trivia
- Ahmed Patel was an avid sportsman in his early years. He also served as the captain of the university cricket and badminton teams.
- Apart from politics, he is also active in philanthropic endeavours, especially in his native Bharuch. He has also adopted the village of Vandari under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna scheme.
- Ahmed Patel, who was elected three times from Bharuch constituency, is one of two Muslim MPs elected to the Gujarat Lok Sabha so far. The first was Ishaan Jafri of the Indian National Congress, who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
- Ahmed Patel is known to be a low-key person who stays away from controversies.
- He believes that modern society has only two pillars: universal health care and quality education.
- He believes that the maturity of a society can be simply judged by the way it treats its elderly and disabled children.
- He firmly believed in empowering women. He believed that women were the backbone of the country and if women were weak, the country would be weak.
- He believed in unity in diversity and considered it the main strength of the country.
- Ahmed has always hoped that young people would engage in politics and take it as a serious profession because he believes that only young people can bring decisive changes to a country’s system.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education