Former Kerala minister and senior leader of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Cherkalam Abdullah, passed away on Friday. He was 76 years old.
Abdullah was at home in Cherkalam in Kasaragod on Friday, when he suffered a cardiac arrest, IANS reported.
He had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mangalore for quite some time, reportedly for heart-related ailments. He was shifted to his home on Thursday as per his wishes.
He was born on September 15, 1942, to Barikkad Mohammed Haji and Asyamma.
Abdullah was minister for Local Self-Governments in the Congress-led AK Antony government from 2001-04. He was a four-time legislator from Manjeswaram constituency in Kasaragod district, representing IUML from 1987.
IUML is an ally of the Congress, which currently leads the Opposition in the state.
He lost the 2006 Assembly polls and since then didn’t return to the fold of electoral politics. But he was active in the party and was a member of the party state committee.
He began his political career as a student leader and worked his way up the party order.
He had also held different posts at the district leadership of the party. He was state treasurer of the IUML and also Kasargode district chairman of the United Democratic Front, apart from being a Waqf Board member and the district General Secretary.
It was during his stint as minister, that the women empowerment programme of the state government, "Kudumbasree", especially in the Muslim-dominated areas in the northern districts of the state got strengthened.
Later, he made a mark as the Chairman of the Committee on the Welfare of the Backward Class Communities.
IUML senior leader PK Kunhalikutty MP and the party state president Panakkad Sayed Hyderali Shihab Thangal had visited him in hospital recently.
Abdullah is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
With IANS Inputs