Ahmedbhai Muhammedbhai Patel (21 August 194925 November 2020), also known as Ahmed Patel, was an Indian politician and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. He was the political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Patel has represented Gujarat for eight terms in the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

; three times in the lower house or

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

(19771989) and five times in the upper House or

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(19932020). He was also the treasurer of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

(20182020).

Early life

Patel was born on 21 August 1949, in the small village piraman, Ta-Ankleshwar, dist- Bharuch-based agriculturalist family, as the third child of Mohammed Ishaakji Patel and Hawaben Mohammedbhai in the western Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. His father was a social worker. He went on to join the Youth Congress, the youth wing of the

Political career

Patel started his political career by contesting local body elections in the Bharuch District of Gujarat in 1976. He was selected by the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in 1977 to contest elections for the Sixth Lok Sabha from Bharuch. He went on to win the elections, and also won subsequent

elections in 1980 and 1984, continuing to represent Bharuch in the Parliament through 1989. In 1985, he went on to become the Parliamentary Secretary to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In 1987, in his capacity as Member of Parliament, he had helped set up the Narmada Management Authority to monitor the

Sardar Sarovar Project The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River in Navagam near the town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, in the state of Gujarat, India. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to four Indian sta ...

. He was appointed the secretary of the Jawahar Bhavan Trust in 1988 and is credited with having completed the construction of the Jawahar Bhavan in time for Nehru's birth centenary celebrations. In 2005, Ahmed Patel was inducted into the

for his fourth term. Though considered Sonia Gandhi's chief strategist, he chose to keep out of the UPA government in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha between 2004 and 2014. Patel is only the second Muslim after

Ehsan Jafri Ehsan Jafri (1929 – 28 February 2002) was an Indian politician and former member of the 6th Lok Sabha for the Congress Party, who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre. A Special Investigating Team appointed by the Supreme Court of ...

to be elected as a Lok Sabha MP in

. He served as political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress. He had served as the parliamentary secretary to the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. He had also been appointed as the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee in 2018, replacing senior party member

Motilal Vora Motilal Vora (20 December 1928 – 21 December 2020) was an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress (INC). He served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (1985–1988; 1989). He was born in Nimbi Jodha, Jodhpur State, British ...

. His last election to the

in 2017, was heavily contested with the Gujarat state legislators being taken away to the southern state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

in order to prevent dissent, and select defectors being disqualified for revealing their ballots before casting them. This ended up being the first

election from Gujarat to be contested in decades, while prior candidates had been elected unopposed.

Political legacy

During the

UPA Government United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...

regime between 2004 and 2014, Patel was one of the chief troubleshooters, coordinators and translators between the government and party. In 2005, he had got Bharuch included as one of the first five districts to be covered under the then launched Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, to boost electrification in the district. The Sardar Patel bridge to de-congest traffic between the twin cities of Bharuch and

Ankleshwar Ankleshwar (sometimes written Ankaleshwar) is a city and a municipality in Bharuch district in the state of Gujarat, India. The city is located 14 kilometres from Bharuch. Ankleshwar Industrial Association (AIA) is the largest organisation of t ...

has also been one of his contributions to the region. The establishment of Sardar Patel Hospital & Heart Institute in Ankleshwar is also credited to his efforts He was considered a part of the power center in the Congress party due to his proximity to the president, Sonia Gandhi.

Personal life

Patel was married to Memoona Ahmed Patel in 1976. The couple had a daughter and a son. He was known to keep a low profile and rarely interacted with the media.

Death

He died on 25 November 2020, due to multiple organ failure stemming from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. He had been admitted to the

Medanta Global Health Limited, d/b/a Medanta, is an Indian hospital chain based in Gurgaon, India. The chain was started in 2009 by cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan and Sunil Sachdeva. History In 2004, cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan began working on Me ...

Hospital and was in the ICU upon being diagnosed with COVID-19. His dead body was taken to his ancestral village in Gujarat, and was buried there.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Ahmed 1949 births 2020 deaths India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 Deaths from multiple organ failure Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Indian Muslims Indian National Congress politicians Lok Sabha members from Gujarat People from Bharuch district People from Gujarat Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat