Haji Hussain Ansari (born – 3 October 2020) was an Indian politician and a leader of the

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberation Front''; JMM) is a State political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. It has one seat in the 17th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of th ...

(JMM). He served as Minister of Minority Welfare and Registration Department in the

Government of Jharkhand The Government of Jharkhand also known as the State Government of Jharkhand, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Jharkhand and its 24 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Gover ...

since 28 January 2020. Ansari was the first and only Muslim to become minister in the state of Jharkhand. He was elected to the Jharkhand Assembly on the JMM ticket four times from

Madhupur Assembly constituency Madhupur Assembly constituency is an assembly constituency in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Overview Madhupur Assembly constituency covers: Madhupur and Karon Police Stations and Kusmil, Chanddih, Pathra and Basbariya gram panchayats in Jas ...

in 1995, 2000, 2009 and 2019 respectively. He also acted as the leader of the opposition in 2004.

Life

Ansari was born in the village of Pipra near Madhupur. Ansari started his political career with 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 Em ...

in the 1980s. In the early 1990s he joined

which was under the leadership of

Shibu Soren Shibu Soren ( Santali: ᱥᱤᱵᱩ ᱥᱚᱨᱮᱱ) (born 11 January 1944) is an Indian politician who thrice served as Chief Minister of Jharkhand, first in 2005 for 10 days (2 March to 12 March), then from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2009 to ...

. He contested the election for the

in 1995 and won the election. Together with Soren Ansari he played an important role in the movement for statehood of Jharkhand. He was again elected MLA in 2000 for the Madhupur constituency. He was elected as leader of the opposition in 2004. He was elected once more in the

2009 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election Elections for the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly were held in December 2009. It was a contest between three alliances The Indian National Congress (INC), The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its major ally Janata Dal (United), and the Jharkhand ...

. During 2010 Ansari served as chairman of the

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

committee of Jharkhand. On 10 October 2010 he was named Minister for Minority Welfare in the Third Arjun Munda ministry. He thereby became the first Muslim minister in the government of Jharkhand. In August 2013 he was named Minister in the First Hemant Soren ministry. He was elected once more in the

2019 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Jharkhand, India, from 30 November to 20 December 2019 to elect the 81 members of the 5th Jharkhand Assembly, 5th Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. Results were declared on 23 December 2019. The pre-electi ...

. On 28 January 2020, he was appointed Minister of Minority Welfare and Registration in the

Second Hemant Soren ministry This is a list of ministers from Second Hemant Soren cabinet starting from December 2019. Hemant Soren is the leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, who was sworn in the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 29 December 2019. In the current government, 6 m ...

Personal life

Ansari underwent

open-heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

in 2018. He tested positive for

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 COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

in September 2020, and entered the Medanta hospital in

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

. He died there on 3 October 2020, aged 70 or 73, due to

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

, the day after testing negative for COVID-19. After his death the Chief Minister of Jharkhand,

Hemant Soren Hemant Soren (born 10 August 1975) is an Indian politician from Jharkhand, who is currently the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Previously, he had also served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from July 2013 to December 2014. He is also the presid ...

, announced a two-day state mourning period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansari, Haji Hussain 20th-century births Year of birth missing 2020 deaths Activists from Jharkhand People from Deoghar district Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India 21st-century Indian Muslims Bihar MLAs 1995–2000 Jharkhand MLAs 2000–2005 Jharkhand MLAs 2009–2014 Jharkhand MLAs 2019–2024 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha politicians State cabinet ministers of Jharkhand