Jharkhand minister Haji Hussain Ansari laid to rest with state honours

More than 60,000 people, including several ministers, attended the funeral, during which flouting of COVID-19 safety protocol was witnessed as very few people wore masks or maintained social distancing. Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato paid floral tributes to the mortal remains of Ansari at his ancestral house before his burial.

Jharkhand Minority Welfare Minister Haji Hussain Ansari was laid to rest with state honours at his ancestral village Pipra in Deoghar district on Sunday afternoon. More than 60,000 people, including several ministers, attended the funeral, during which flouting of COVID-19 safety protocol was witnessed as very few people wore masks or maintained social distancing.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato paid floral tributes to the mortal remains of Ansari at his ancestral house before his burial. "Haji saheb's death is a big loss for the entire state as well as for me," Soren said.

Agriculture minister Badal Patralekh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam and Health Minister Banna Gupta also attended the funeral. As per the COVID-19 protocol, not more than 50 people can attend a funeral.

Asked about the flouting of the safety norms, Deputy Commissioner Kamleshwar Prasad Singh said, "I have received information that thousands of people had attended the funeral but I cannot say anything about flouting of COVID-19 safety norms as I was with the chief minister and was not present at the burial ground." Ansari, a senior JMM leader, died due to cardiac arrest at a hospital in Ranchi on Saturday evening. He was 73.

A four-time MLA from Madhupur seat in Deoghar, Ansari had contracted COVID-19 two weeks back and was being treated at the hospital. Hospital authorities and Health Minister Banna Gupta, however, said Ansari did not die due to coronavirus as he had tested negative for the infection on Friday.

Ansari and his son were quarantined at their home in March after they returned from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin.