Famous Islamic scholar and author Maulana Wahiduddin Khan passed away on Wednesday night at the age of 96. Besides other diseases, he was tested corona positive too.
Born in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, he was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in his earlier days. But 15 years later he dissociated himself and took a different line. He founded Islamic Centre in Delhi and launched an Urdu magazine Ar-Risala in 1976. Later English and Hindi editions also hit the stand in 1984 and 1990 respectively.
He was awarded with Padma Vibhushan earlier this year and Padma Bhushan in 2000. He has left behind two daughters and two sons—one of his sons is Zafar-ul-Islam Khan, former chairman of the Delhi Minority Commission.
The Maulana was known for his moderate views and was critical of radical thinking.
Apart from the Maulana another person to lose his life in the last 24 hours to COVID-19 was Ashish Yechury, son of CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and Indrani Mazumdar. He was about 35 and breathed his last in Medanta Hospital, Gurugram early on April 22.
He was in the ICU since April 12 and was recently showing signs of improvement. But his condition deteriorated and he passed away early on Thursday morning.
After graduating from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, he had worked for several media-houses, including the Times of India, New Delhi.
Among those who condoled his death included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK leader M K Stalin, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and other politicians cutting across party lines.
In the last 24 hours 2,104 people lost their lives due to the pandemic in India. In all 3.14 lakh corona positive cases were reported. This is the highest reported case of COVID-19 positive in a single day in the whole world.
