LS adjourned to pay homage to Bismillah

Shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan died of cardiac arrest early on Monday at a Varanasi hospital at the age of 91.

The Lok Sabha on Monday observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect to two departed people—shehnai legend Ustad Bismillah Khan and MP K Paidithalli Naidu—and then adjourned for the day.

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Bismillah Khan died of cardiac arrest early on Monday at a Varanasi hospital at the age of 91, while Naidu, MP from Bobbili, in Andhra Pradesh, passed away on Aug 19 after an illness at the age of 36.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said: "Ustad Bismillah Khan had single-handedly popularised the classical instrument shehnai. He was also secular in his outlook."

While the nation was saddened by the demise of the maestro, his universal appeal would continue to mesmerise generations, he said.