Matin, Abdul
Matin, Abdul (1926-2014) leadership role in language movement, leftist politician, popularly known as ‘Bhasa [language] Matin’. Abdul Matin was born on 3 December 1926 in a modestly rich peasant family at village Dubalia in Chauhali upazila under Sirajgang Sub-division (now district). His father’s name was Abdul Jalil and mother was Amena Khatun. His father went to Darjeeling for resettlement after his home was vanished in the river Jamuna. Abdul Jalil was able to manage a petty job there. His son, Matin was admitted in to the local Maharani Viddyalaya. Upon completion of primary education from here, he was admitted in to Darjeeling Government High School from where he passed Entrance (equivalent to Matriculation/SSC) examination in 1943. Then he got himself admitted in to Rajshahi College. After passing Intermediate from this College in 1945, he got admitted in to B.A. (pass course) in Dhaka University. After obtaining B.A. degree in 1947, he earned Masters in International Relations from the same University.
While he was studying in Dhaka University, Abdul Matin got involved in active politics. He was included in to a 14-member Convening Committee of the opposition East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League established on the initiative of Bangabandhu on 4 January 1948. He was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing the newly founded body in the greater Pabna district. He took active part in the 1948-1949 movement of class-4 employees of Dhaka University. On charge of it, he was punished by the University authority expelling him from the Hall (student dormitory) as a resident student while he was a student of M.A. class. In 1952, when East Pakistan Jubo [Youth] League was founded, he was elected one of its Joint Secretaries.
The most glorious chapter in Abdul Matin’s political career was his resounding role in the language movement. It may be recalled that, in 1948, in his Convocation speech in Dhaka University at Curzon Hall, the founder of Pakistan and its first Governor-General Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared: ‘Urdu alone shall be the state language of Pakistan’. Such a declaration evoked ‘No No’ protest from a section of students attending the Convocation. Abdul Matin was one among the protesters. Preceding the second phase of the language movement, a committee was formed on 11 March 1951 under his leadership named ‘Dhaka Visvabidhalaya Rastrobhasa Sangram Parishad’ to muster strong the demand for Bengali as one of the state languages. On 31 January 1952, at a representative meeting held in Dhaka District Bar Library presided over by Maulana Bhasani, the President of Awami Muslim League, a 28-member All-Party Committee for the Movement of State Language was constituted with Student League leader Kazi Golam Mahbub as Convenor. Abdul Matin was included in the Committee representing his Dhaka University body.
Of the members of All-Party Committee, those who were in favour of coming out on to the street of Dhaka on 21 February 1952 to press hard their state language demand by violating government injunction under section 144, Matin was one of them. The 21 February bloody incident was further accompanied by government oppression and repression upon the workers and leaders of the language movement. In March 1952, Abdul Matin was arrested. Like him, many others suffered arrests. Matin was released after one year in jail.
Gradually Abdul Matin drifted towards left politics. During 1954-56, he was the President of East Pakistan Student Union (est. 1952), an associate student organization of the Communist Party. In 1957, when Maulana Bhasani, the President of Awami League, founded the left progressive National Awami Party (NAP) by leaving the former, Abdul Matin joined the new party. He secretly became a member of the Communist Party, dedicating himself to building up organization in the greater Pabna district. He further created a clandestine group within the Communist Party under the name of East Pakistan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist). Before the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971, he and his followers were greatly influenced by the ultra-left pro-Peking line of Charu Majumder’s Naxalbari movement. After independence of Bangladesh, he and his party opted to a radical course in politics through pursuing Mao tse-tung’s pathway to ‘siege town after liberating village’. At one stage, Matin was arrested and sent to jail for a long time. Upon his release, he engaged himself in a number of leftist parties such as Bangladesh Workers Party, a breakaway faction of Workers Party and United Communist League.
Abdul Matin wrote a number of books on China’s system of production, language movement, his autobiography, etc. He received several awards including Ekushey Padak.
He was married to Gulbadan Nesa Monika. This couple has two daughters. While under treatment, Abdul Mati died on 8 October 2014 in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital. Before his death, he donated his eyes and body for public usages. [Harun-or-Rashid]
Sources Harun-or-Rashid, Bangabandhur Asamapta Atmajiboni Punorpath (in Bengali), [Bangabandhu’s The Unfinished Memoirs Revisited], (UPL 2013); Harun-or-Rashid, Bhasa Andolone Bangabandhur Bhumika (in Bengali) [Role of Bangabandhu in Language Movement], (Anayprakash 2020); Harun-or-Rashid (ed.), Bangladesh Muktijuddya Gyankosh (in Bengali) [Encyclopedia of Bangladesh War of Liberation], Vol. 3, (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh 2020); MR Mahbub, Jara Amar Bhasa Andolone (in Bengali) [Those Who are Immortal in Language Movement], (Aninda Prokash 2012).
