The 110th birth anniversary of Abul Mansur Ahmad, a renowned litterateur, journalist and statesman of the sub-continent, will be observed today, says a press release.
On the occasion, doa mahfil will be held at Dhaka and Mymensingh and prayers will be offered at his grave in the morning.
One of the greatest satirists of Bengali literature, Abul Mansur Ahmad was also a renowned politician, lawyer and a leading journalist. He was the editor of the daily Krishak, Nabajug and Ittehad in undivided Bengal and a pioneer in progressive journalism.
A 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 in the Awami League government of Prime Minister Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy. He was known for his strong stand on matters of interest to East Bengal.
Abul Mansur Ahmad's publications include great satires like Aina, Asmani Purdah, Gulliverer Safar Nama and Food Conference. His works also include important 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 have seen it).
Abul Mansur Ahmad always propagated secularism in a manner unparalleled in the forties, fifties and sixties. His contribution towards opposition movement in the early days of Pakistan was extremely significant.
He wrote about the language issue from the early forties and contributed to the Language Movement as the editor of the Ittehad. He was the author of the election manifesto of Jukta Front (a grand coalition of the three giants of our politics, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Moulana Bhashani and Shaheed Suhrawardy) in the 1954 election in which the Muslim League was ousted from power. The 21-point programme (Ekush Dafa) was the first comprehensive articulation of the political, economic and cultural demands of the Bengalis of the then eastern part of Pakistan.
Abul Mansur Ahmad was one of the greatest political personalities of Bangladesh who combined rare talents in three distinct fields -- politics, journalism and literary writing.