Abul Mansur Ahmad's 36th anniversary of death today

Today is the 36th death anniversary of Abul Mansur Ahmad, a renowned litterateur, journalist and politician of the sub-continent, says a press release.

Literary magazine Kaler Dhoni will host a discussion today at the capital's Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy to the mark the occasion.

A 581 page special issue consisting of 73 new articles by Kaler Dhoni, featuring Abul Mansur Ahmad, and published in the 2015 Amar Ekushey book fair, will be unveiled at the programme beginning at 5:00pm in Jatiya Chitrashala Auditorium.

Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman will preside over the discussion, while Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury, Dr Rafiqul Islam, Ahmad Rafique, Asad Chowdhury, Syed Abdul Maksud, Dr Mizanur Rahman, Golam Kuddus and Mahfuz Anam will take part.

Later, a drama, "Gulliverer Safar", based on Abul Mansur Ahmad's story "Gulliverer Safarnama", will be staged by Vision Theatre. 

One of the greatest satirists of Bangla literature, Abul Mansur Ahmad was a renowned politician, lawyer and a very powerful journalist. He worked for Krishak, Nabajug and was editor of the daily Ittehad published from Kolkata in 1946 in undivided Bengal. He was a pioneer in modern and progressive journalism.

A very successful politician, Abul Mansur Ahmad was the provincial education minister in the United Front Cabinet under Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq and the central commerce and industries minister of the Awami League government of Prime Minister Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1957. He was known for his strong stand for regional autonomy of East Pakistan.

Abul Mansur Ahmad always propagated secularism in a manner unparalleled in the forties, fifties and sixties.

Abul Mansur Ahmad's publications include great satires like Aina, Asmani Purdah, Gulliverer Safarnama and Food Conference. His works also include insightful writings on social and political history of Bengal. He has two autobiographical writings -- Atma Katha (about myself) and Amar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachar (50 years of politics as I saw it).

He was the author of the famous Ekush Dafa (21 points programme) election manifesto of Jukta Front (a grand coalition of the three giants of our politics, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Moulana Bhashani and Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy) in the 1954 election. For his political activities, he suffered jail terms on several occasions during Gen Ayub Khan's martial law in the late fifties and early sixties.