Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Biography

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali politician and statesman who lived during the period, 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975. He is the founding father of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, and also served as the first President of Bangladesh, formed after partition. He also served as the second Prime Minister of Bangladesh during 1971 – 1975, till his assassination. A prominent politician in the British India, he later became the architect of newly established Bangladesh state, a driving force behind the independence of Bangladesh and is also known as Jatir Janak or Jatir Pita ("Father of the Nation") of Bangladesh. In a 2004 BBC poll, Mujib was voted the Greatest Bengali of all time. His daughter Sheikh Hasina is a prominent politician who currently serves as Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

He was born on 17 March 1920 in Tungipara, Bengal Presidency in British India. His birth place noe belongs to Bangladesh. His father Sheikh Lutfur Rahman was a well-known civil servant. From very early age Mujib showed a potential of leadership, and has also organized students’ protest in his school for removing the principal. He passed his Matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942 and completed graduation from Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College) in 1947.  After partition of India, he enrolled at University of Dhaka to study law but could not complete it. He was expelled from college due to indifferences with authorities of university, an expulsion which was later withdrawn in 2010 after 61 years.

His political career began when he joined the All India Muslim Students Federation in 1940. He joined the Bengal Muslim League in 1943, and after partition Mujib chose to stay in the newly created Pakistan. Later he moved to East Bengal, where he enrolled at Islamia College to study law (as told above). Soon after Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared to adopt Urdu as the state language of East Bengal, there were wide protests across the state. By that time he got fully involved with the politics of Bangladesh, playing a magnificent role in the formation of Bangladesh as a new nation in the early 1970s.

He was assassinated by renegade army officers during a coup on 15 August 1975 at Dhaka, while he was serving his first term as PM. He was only 55 then, and he had just initiated one party socialist rule in the country. His wife Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and three sons were also killed. Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib was her paternal cousin.

Published: September 29, 2018

Updated: September 29, 2018