Ex-minister Abdul Majeed no more

Veteran Politician of the East M.A. Abdul Majeed, 85, passed away at the Sammanthurai Base Hospital on Tuesday after a brief illness.

Late Abdul Majeed who hails from a family in Vanniya in Sammanthurai entered local politics in 1954 and was elected chairman for the Sammanthurai Town Council till 1960 and thereafter took to National Politics. Late Majeed contested the Pottuvil seat in March 1960 and in July 1960, 1965 and 1970 and won the seat. He then switched to the Sammanthurai Electorate in 1977 and retained the constituency till 1994.

He was a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Inter-Parliamentary Union and represented Sri Lanka at their meetings in Kuala Lumpur in 1971 and in Gautamala in 1988. Majeed served as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Lands (July 1977 to October 1978), Deputy Power and Highways Minister (October 1978 to February 1980), Power and Energy Deputy Minister (February 1980 to April 1981) and Post and Telecommunication Deputy Minister (August 1981 to February 1989).

He was also the District Minister for Batticaloa from August 1981 till February 1989. Majeed won the General Election in 1989 and from 1991 to 1994, he was Handloom Industries Deputy Minister and retired from politics in 1994. Majeed, an old boy of Batticaloa Shivananda Vidyalaya and Jaffna Central College is the first Graduate of the East and he is popularly known as 'BA Majeed'.His 'Janasa burial' was held at Sammanthurai Malayadikkiramam Muslim Burial Grounds in the presence of a large gathering including religious dignitaries, politicians and educationists.