Veteran politician Pankaj Bhattacharya passes away

Veteran politician and Oikya National Awami Party (NAP) president Pankaj Bhattacharya is no more. He breathed his last at a hospital in Dhaka in the early hours of Monday.

83-year-old Pankaj Bhattacharya was suffering from various complications including breathing problems. He was admitted to the capital's Health and Hope Hospital last Monday. He was put on life support on Saturday morning as his condition deteriorated. He died at 12:28 am on Monday, said Manas Bose, husband of Pankaj Bhattachaya’s sister-in-law.

Pankaj Bhattacharya was born on 6 August, 1939 in Noapara village of Raozan upazila of Chattogram. He studied at different institutions in Dhaka and Chattogram. He was expelled from Chattogram Collegiate School in 1959 due to his involvement with the student movement.

Pankaj Bhattacharya is an eyewitness, a leading activist and organiser of all the movements and struggles of Bangladesh, from the student movement of the 60s to the liberation war and later.

In 1962, Pankaj Bhattacharya was elected as the vice-president of the central committee of the East Pakistan Students Union and later as the executive president.

He was accused in the 'independent Bengal conspiracy' case and was imprisoned in 1966.

Pankaj Bhattacharya was the organiser of the NAP-Student Union-Communist Party guerrilla force during the Liberation War. After independence, he served as the general secretary of Bangladesh National Awami Party for a long time.

He was one of the founders and a presidium member of Gano Forum during its formation under the leadership of Dr Kamal Hossain in 1993. Later, he formed a platform named “Shamajik Andolon” (social movement) for the progressive and democratic people of the country. In 2013, he founded the Oikya NAP.

Pankaj Bhattacharya was an accomplished footballer at a young age. He was always keen in writing and cultural practices.

The Prothoma Prokashan published Pankaj Bhattacharya's autobiographical book titled “Amar Shei Shob Din” in this year’s Ekushey Book Fair. This book is considered an important document of the eventful political history of Bangladesh over the last six decades.