By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Jorhat (Assam): Assam’s first woman member of Parliament, Begum Mafida Ahmed died in Jorhat on Friday morning following old age ailments. She was 88.
Begum Ahmed joined Congress in 1943. She was elected as an MP from Jorhat constituency in 1957 on a Congress ticket. She and Maimoona Sultan of Bhopal were the first Muslim women MPs.
She won 1957 elections to the second Lok Sabha by defeating her Syed Abdul Malik of CPI with convincing margin.
In 1962 Lok Sabha elections she lost to Rajendra Nath Baruah of Praja Socialist Party with just 907 votes.
Her last election was for 1971 Lok Sabha which she fought on Congress(O) ticket and was able to win only 3453 or 1.86% of votes. Congress(I) candidate Tarun Gogoi won the seat that year, who is now chief Minster of Assam.
After the death of her husband Asanuddin Ahmed in 1975 she had been living a solitary life in her residence, ‘Mafida Kutir,’ in Jorhat. Begum Ahmed is survived by two brothers, one sister and a host of relatives.
She was born into the well-educated Muslim family of Assam. She penned four books, “Biswadeep Bapuji”, “Bharator Nehru”, “Mehtaabe Islam” and “Noore-Hasana.”
She performed Hajj in 1976.
Begum Ahmad was very active socially, she was at different times associated with a number of organizations, including Red Cross Society, Jorhat District Mahila Samity, Tezpur District Mahila Samity, Jorhat Civil Hospital Advisory Committee, Jorhat Blind School, Jagannath Barooah College and DCB Girls’ College. Ahmed was also the president of Mahila Majlis.
She was buried in Jorhat Qabristan same evening.