Khan, Mujibur Rahman2

Khan, Mujibur Rahman2 (1910-1984) journalist and litterateur, was born at village Uluyati in netrokona on 23 October 1910. He passed the Entrance examination from the local Anjuman High School (1928) and Bachelor of Arts (1934) from ananda mohan college in mymensingh. He enrolled in the Department of English at calcutta university but left without completing his MA.

Mujibur Rahman then joined Harua High School in 24 Parganas as headmaster. Apart from teaching, he also was involved with journalism. He was the associate editor (1936-39) of the daily azad and later its associate editor (1939-65). He also worked as editor of the weekly Comrade (Kolkata), the monthly mohammadi (Dhaka) and daily Paigam (1965-1971). After the liberation of Bangladesh, he became editor-in-chief of the Azad.

Mujibur Rahman was associated with various social, literary and cultural organisations. He was founder vice-president of the All Bengal Anti-Fascist Writers' Guild, secretary of the bangiya mussalman sahitya samiti (1944), founder-convener of the east pakistan renaissance society (1954), general secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council and vice-president of the bulbul lalitakala academy. He was also elected to the first Constituent Assembly of India (1946).

Mujibur Rahman wrote a number of books on literature, history, biography etc. He narrated the experiences of Indians in England in Bilate Pratham Bharatbasi (1939). His other writings include Pakistan (1942), Sahityer Simana (1974), Sahitya O Sahityik (1971), Mahanabi (1980), Amader Itihas, Sahityer Buniyad, etc.

For his contribution to literature and journalism, Mujibur Rahman was awarded the Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam by the Pakistan government and the Ekushey Padak (1980) by the Bangladesh government. He died on 5 October 1984 in Dhaka. [Md Harun-or-Rashid]