Badruddin Umar passes away

Writer, researcher, politician and president of the Jatiya Mukti Council (National Liberation Council), Badruddin Umar, has passed away. He was 94.

Badruddin Umar breathed his last while undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Specialised Hospital in Shyamoli, Dhaka at 10:00 am today, Sunday.

The news was confirmed by the Council’s general secretary, Faizul Hakim.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Faizul Hakim said Badruddin Umar had been unwell for about a month, requiring repeated hospitalisation. He fell critically ill again this morning and was rushed to hospital, where physicians declared him dead shortly after arrival.

According to Hakim, Badruddin Umar breathed his last at 10:05 am.

Badruddin Umar was a noted leftist intellectual, writer, and political activist. After completing his degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford in 1961, he returned to the country.

In 1963, he founded the Department of Sociology at Rajshahi University. But in 1968, in protest at the autocratic conduct of Governor Monem Khan, he resigned from teaching and devoted himself fully to politics and writing.

His book, Purbo Banglar Bhasha Andolan O Totkalin Rajniti, remains the earliest research-based study of the Language Movement.

Umar began his academic career as a part-time lecturer at Dhaka University before going on to establish the Sociology Department at Rajshahi University.

He later served as president of the Bangladesh Krishak Federation and as central coordinator of the Ganatantrik Biplobi Jote (Democratic Revolutionary Alliance).

At one stage, Umar was a central committee member of the Purba Bangla Communist Party (Communist Party of East Bengal). In 2003, he founded the National Liberation Council, serving as its president until his death.