Country’s Oldest MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq Dies at the Age of 94

Lucknow: Dr Shafiqur Rahman Barq, the Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, who was considered the oldest MP of India, died on Tuesday morning in a private hospital in Moradabad of UP.

He was admitted to the hospital on January 29 because of a kidney infection.

The SP chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed condolences on his demise. In the first list of SP for the coming Lok Sabha polls, Barq was made the party candidate from Sambhal.

Barq’s grandson Ziaur Rahman Barq is SP MLA from the Kundarki assembly seat of Moradabad district.

Barq entered politics in 1967 when he came in contact with Chaudhary Charan Singh. He became MLA from Sambhal in 1974 from Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD). He became MLA from Lok Dal in 1985 and Janata Dal in 1989. He was also the minister of the Home Guard department in the Mulayam government in 1995 when he joined the SP.

In 1996, he won the Moradabad Parliamentary seat on an SP ticket. He became MP of Moradabad for three consecutive terms. In 2019, he won from the Sambhal constituency on the SP symbol.

Barq was also the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee.