Thalekkunnil Basheer, a senior Congress leader, died at the age of 77

Thalekkunnil Basheer, a senior Congress leader and former Member of Parliament, died on Friday morning in Thiruvananthapuram at the age of 77. For the past few months, he had been ill.

From 1984 to 1991, Basheer, a prominent Muslim face in Kerala’s Congress, served in the Lok Sabha for two terms. He had previously served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1977 to 1984.In 1977, Basheer was elected to the state legislative assembly from the Kazhakootam constituency. However, he resigned as a legislator a few months later to allow for a bye-election to elect senior Congress leader A K Antony to the assembly. Antony had not been a member of the Kerala assembly when he took office as chief minister in April 1977. Antony ran for and won a bye-election in October 1977 after Basheer resigned as a Kazhakkoottam legislator.

He was a law graduate who had also served as the general secretary and a member of the executive committee of KPCC. Basheer wrote several Malayalam books, including ‘Velicham Kooduthal Velicham’ (Collection of Articles), ‘Rajeev Gandhi: Surya Thejassinte Ormakku’, ‘Mandelayude Nattil; Gandhijiyudeyum’ (Travelogue), and ‘K Damodaran Muthal Berlin Kunjananthan Nair Vare’.

The death of the Congress leader was mourned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan. Basheer, according to Vijayan, stood for political values and had always shown a keen interest in society’s larger interests. Basheer, according to Satheesan, has made an impact in the political and cultural arenas. He went on to say that he represented the values of the Congress in politics and that he had served as a role model for others.

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