Abul Mansur Ahmad's 37th anniversary of death today

Today is the 37th death anniversary of Abul Mansur Ahmad, a renowned litterateur, journalist and politician of the sub-continent.

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 Safar Nama 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.

Bangla Academy has recently published three volumes on Abul Mansur Ahmad's writings while three more volumes are under the process of being published. Star Books published his best stories while Prothoma published a commemorative book on him edited by Imran Mahfuz.