Lal Mia
Encyclopedia
Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin (1903–1967), or Lal Mia, as he is commonly referred to, was a prominent Bengali
politician
in the Indian National Congress
or the Congress Party
and later the Muslim League. Lal Mia was one of the personalities who was instrumental in the Anti Colonial Movement against the British in Bengal
. He also contributed heavily in the promotion of Bengali culture and literature
. He was closely associated with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore
.
into an aristocratic Muslim
zamindar
family. He was the eldest son of Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash
, the philanthropic and revolutionary Zamindar of Faridpur. Lal Mia passed his matriculation exams at a young age of only 12. A meritous student, he got himself admitted into the presitgous Aligarh Muslim University
in 1918. His political involvement had started from that the same year and soon he became one of the earliest student leaders of Bengal. During his time in Aligarh, he joined the Indian National Congress
as its youngest member.
Lal Mia married Begum Sayeeda Khatun Chowdhurani, a descendant of Tipu Sultan
, the legendary warrior King of Mysore. The couple had three sons and eight daughters.
Lal Mia's brothers, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
, Mohan Mia, Enayet Hossain Chowdhury and Tara Mia also became eminent politicians in the British Raj
and during the Pakistan era. He is also related to former Bangladeshi minister
and Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) leader Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf
, former lawmaker and BNP leader Chowdhury Akmal Ibne Yusuf and former lawmaker and Jatiya Party leader Kamran Hossain Chowdhury.
since 1919 and member of Civil Disobedience Movement and General Secretary of Faridpur Committee of the movement since 1931. Mohandas K. Gandhi had appointed Lal Mia to spearhead the movements across Faridpur and East Bengal
.
Lal Mia was one of the principle financial backers of the Congress in Bengal. The Annual Conference of the Bengal Central Congress was held in Faridpur in 1924 and was arranged by Lal Mia. The conference was attended by leading independence leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das
, Sarojini Naidu
and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Lal Mia developed a deeply personal relationship with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who would regularly visit Lal Mia's family residence Moyez Manzil
in Faridpur. He was also close to Jawaharlal Nehru
and the two men were imprisoned together in the Arambagh Fort during the Quit India Movement
in the early 1940s. Although belonging to two different parties, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
maintained good personal relations with Lal Mia. He was present with all the leaders at the Midnight Hour
of the Partition of India and Pakistan.
Lal Mia was immensely admired by the three premier leaders of Bengali Muslims including Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq
, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani
. Sher-e-Bangla regularly visited Moyez Manzil and the family's other residence Biwshash Bari.
In 1936, Lal Mia was elected to the upper house of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was also elected to the first Constituent Assembly
of Pakistan
. From 1943, he became an executive committee member of the All India Muslim League until partition after which he was elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1962, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan
. From 1962 until 1967, he served in the cabinet of President Ayub Khan holding various portfolios in different times as Minister of Health, Labour and Social Welfare. He was also the Chief Whip
of the Muslim League
during this period in the National Assembly.
He was also the only member of Ayub Khan's cabinet who supported the demand for the autonomy of East Pakistan
and interceded on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
.
At the grass roots level, Lal Mia had been the Chairman of Faridpur District Council for 20 years. He had been the Founder President of Faridpur Improvement Trust in 1950. Lal Mia had also been the main initiator in the establishment of the Anti-Riot & Relief Committee and All India Muslim League Relief Coordination Committee in 1946-47 and he was appointed the General Secretary of the committee. He had also been the Founder of the Calcutta Cloth Rationing Advisory Board in 1943, President
of Central Primary Education Board of Pakistan in 1951 and President of District School Board of Faridpur in 1946. He had also been Chairman of several associations and organizations such as the Farmer’s Association of Bengal in 1931, Assam Youth Association in 1931, and Murshidabad National Students Union also in 1931.
Lal Mia published many articles criticizing British rule and organized meetings and rallies among the youth of Calcutta ever since his adolescent days. He organized and funded a series of conferences in grand scale in Faridpur mainly, and in other parts of East Bengal
to promote support for the freedom struggle and increasing participation of East Bengal is in the struggle.
, the man described as the Shakespeare of Bengali Literature and the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize
. Such was the level of their relationship, the great poet treated Lal Mia as his own nephew and gave him the nickname Korli Krishna.
Lal Mia also promoted folksinger
Abbas Uddin
by arranging several small concerts for him in Faridpur and other districts, introduced renowned Sufi writer Motahar Hossain to Rabindranath Tagore
and the elite of Calcutta and promoted his works in those circles. He supported the endeavours of Kabi
Jasimuddin
and Kazi Nazrul Islam
, and also wrote two books of spiritual poems himself. He had also been unanimously elected President of the Writer's Guild of Pakistan in 1961 for his immense patronage of literature. He also organized the first Memorial Conference on Rabindranath Tagore
across India after the death of the great poet. He also had a volume of the Quran written in letters of gold on parchment.
Lal Mia also heavily promoted the Bengali film industry in its early days and was the first president of Bengal Motion Pictures. He set up a cinema hall in Faridpur, the first in Bengal outside Calcutta.
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
in the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
or the Congress Party
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
and later the Muslim League. Lal Mia was one of the personalities who was instrumental in the Anti Colonial Movement against the British in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. He also contributed heavily in the promotion of Bengali culture and literature
Bengali literature
Bengali literature is literary works written in Bengali language particularly from Bangladesh and the Indian provinces of West Bengal and Tripura. The history of Bengali literature traces back hundreds of years while it is impossible to separate the literary trends of the two Bengals during the...
. He was closely associated with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
.
Early life and family
Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin Lal Mia was born on the 30th of November, 1903 at the Moyez Manzil Palace in FaridpurFaridpur District
Faridpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Faridpur District has a population of over 1.7 million people and is situated on the banks of the Padma river . It is bordered by Madaripur, Narail, Rajbari, Magura, Shariatpur, Gopalgonj, Dhaka and Manikganj...
into an aristocratic Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
zamindar
Zamindar
A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...
family. He was the eldest son of Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash
Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash
Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash, also known as Khan Saheb Moizuddin Chowdhury, was a Zamindar of the vast Chanpur Estate, a huge zamindari in the greater Faridpur region of Bengal. Moizuddin Biwshash was considered to be one of the most powerful Muslim landlords in Bengal during British rule...
, the philanthropic and revolutionary Zamindar of Faridpur. Lal Mia passed his matriculation exams at a young age of only 12. A meritous student, he got himself admitted into the presitgous Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...
in 1918. His political involvement had started from that the same year and soon he became one of the earliest student leaders of Bengal. During his time in Aligarh, he joined the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
as its youngest member.
Lal Mia married Begum Sayeeda Khatun Chowdhurani, a descendant of Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
, the legendary warrior King of Mysore. The couple had three sons and eight daughters.
Lal Mia's brothers, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
Yusuf Ali Chowdhury , commonly referred to as Mohan Mia, was a prominent Bengali Muslim politician in South Asia. He played an active role in the Pakistan Movement as a leading figure of the Muslim League in Bengal...
, Mohan Mia, Enayet Hossain Chowdhury and Tara Mia also became eminent politicians in the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and during the Pakistan era. He is also related to former Bangladeshi minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
and Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...
(BNP) leader Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf
Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf
-Family:Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf was born into an aristocratic Bengali Zamindar family from Faridpur district. Kamal Yusuf's grandfather was the legendary zamindar Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash. His father, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury , was an eminent Muslim League leader during British rule and in...
, former lawmaker and BNP leader Chowdhury Akmal Ibne Yusuf and former lawmaker and Jatiya Party leader Kamran Hossain Chowdhury.
Politics
Lal Mia had become a fully registered member of the All India Congress, from 1918, while he was still 14, becoming the youngest person to ever hold an official position in the party. He became an active member of the planning committee of the Congress Party from the same year, and Khilafat MovementKhilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement was a pan-Islamic, political campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I...
since 1919 and member of Civil Disobedience Movement and General Secretary of Faridpur Committee of the movement since 1931. Mohandas K. Gandhi had appointed Lal Mia to spearhead the movements across Faridpur and East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
.
Lal Mia was one of the principle financial backers of the Congress in Bengal. The Annual Conference of the Bengal Central Congress was held in Faridpur in 1924 and was arranged by Lal Mia. The conference was attended by leading independence leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das was an eminent Bengali lawyer and a major figure in the Indian independence movement.-Personal life:...
, Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu , also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India, was a child prodigy, Indian independence activist and poet...
and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Lal Mia developed a deeply personal relationship with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who would regularly visit Lal Mia's family residence Moyez Manzil
Moyez Manzil
The Moyez Manzil Palace located in Faridpur, Bangladesh was the seat of the Biwshash zamindar family in Faridpur. The Moyez Manzil Palace was one of the first great landlord palaces built in eastern Bengal during British rule.-Surroundings:...
in Faridpur. He was also close to Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
and the two men were imprisoned together in the Arambagh Fort during the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
in the early 1940s. Although belonging to two different parties, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ....
maintained good personal relations with Lal Mia. He was present with all the leaders at the Midnight Hour
Midnight Hour
Midnight Hour may refer to:*The Midnight Hour, 1985 comedy/horror TV movie*"In the Midnight Hour", 1965 Wilson Pickett song and soul standard*In the Mid-Nite Hour, 2005 Warren G album*In the Midnight Hour , TV soap episode...
of the Partition of India and Pakistan.
Lal Mia was immensely admired by the three premier leaders of Bengali Muslims including Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq
A. K. Fazlul Huq
Not to be confused with the cricket ground in Dhaka Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Sher-e-Bangla Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq was a well-known Bengali statesman in the first half of the 20th century...
, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani-Bengali politician and statesman who served as 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 till 1957, and a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime minister of Pakistan...
and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani
Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani
Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was a popular political leader in Pakistan and Bangladesh, a rural based self-educated person.Abdu Hamid Khan Bhashani, born in 1880 in Dhangara, Bangladesh), was the son of Haji Sharafat Ali Khan. He gained immense popularity among peasants...
. Sher-e-Bangla regularly visited Moyez Manzil and the family's other residence Biwshash Bari.
In 1936, Lal Mia was elected to the upper house of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was also elected to the first Constituent Assembly
Constituent assembly
A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. From 1943, he became an executive committee member of the All India Muslim League until partition after which he was elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1962, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan
National Assembly of Pakistan
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...
. From 1962 until 1967, he served in the cabinet of President Ayub Khan holding various portfolios in different times as Minister of Health, Labour and Social Welfare. He was also the Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
of the Muslim League
Pakistan Muslim League
The Pakistan Muslim League was founded in 1962, as a successor to the previously disbanded Muslim League in Pakistan. Unlike the original PML which ended in 1958 when General Ayub Khan banned all political parties, each subsequent Muslim League was in some way propped by the military dictators of...
during this period in the National Assembly.
He was also the only member of Ayub Khan's cabinet who supported the demand for the autonomy of East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
and interceded on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...
.
At the grass roots level, Lal Mia had been the Chairman of Faridpur District Council for 20 years. He had been the Founder President of Faridpur Improvement Trust in 1950. Lal Mia had also been the main initiator in the establishment of the Anti-Riot & Relief Committee and All India Muslim League Relief Coordination Committee in 1946-47 and he was appointed the General Secretary of the committee. He had also been the Founder of the Calcutta Cloth Rationing Advisory Board in 1943, President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of Central Primary Education Board of Pakistan in 1951 and President of District School Board of Faridpur in 1946. He had also been Chairman of several associations and organizations such as the Farmer’s Association of Bengal in 1931, Assam Youth Association in 1931, and Murshidabad National Students Union also in 1931.
Lal Mia published many articles criticizing British rule and organized meetings and rallies among the youth of Calcutta ever since his adolescent days. He organized and funded a series of conferences in grand scale in Faridpur mainly, and in other parts of East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
to promote support for the freedom struggle and increasing participation of East Bengal is in the struggle.
Promotion of Bengali culture
Lal Mia had been immensely close to Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, the man described as the Shakespeare of Bengali Literature and the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
. Such was the level of their relationship, the great poet treated Lal Mia as his own nephew and gave him the nickname Korli Krishna.
Lal Mia also promoted folksinger
Folksinger
----Folksinger is an album by folk singer-songwriter Phranc, released in 1985.Phranc's first solo LP fused elements of her punk rock past with acoustic folk music...
Abbas Uddin
Abbas Uddin
Abbas Uddin Ahmed , popularly known by his first name, was a Bangla folk singer. He was born at Balarampur in Tufanganj subdivision in the district of Cooch Bihar...
by arranging several small concerts for him in Faridpur and other districts, introduced renowned Sufi writer Motahar Hossain to Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
and the elite of Calcutta and promoted his works in those circles. He supported the endeavours of Kabi
Kabi
The Kabi people are an Aboriginal Goori people of Australia, and corresponding language group of the South East Queensland coast, stretching from Brisbane up to Bundaberg. In their language, "Kabi" means "No"....
Jasimuddin
Jasimuddin
Jasimuddin was a renowned Bengali poet, songwriter, prose writer, folklore collector and radio personality. He is commonly known in Bangladesh as Polli Kobi, the Rural Poet for his faithful rendition of Bangla folklore in his works...
and Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
, and also wrote two books of spiritual poems himself. He had also been unanimously elected President of the Writer's Guild of Pakistan in 1961 for his immense patronage of literature. He also organized the first Memorial Conference on Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
across India after the death of the great poet. He also had a volume of the Quran written in letters of gold on parchment.
Lal Mia also heavily promoted the Bengali film industry in its early days and was the first president of Bengal Motion Pictures. He set up a cinema hall in Faridpur, the first in Bengal outside Calcutta.
Death
Lal Mia died on 7 April 1967 in Cox's Bazaar where he had suffered a heart attack while swimming. He had been accompanied by several grandchildren and other family members at the time. He is buried on the grounds of the magnificent Moyez Manzil Palace in Faridpur.See also
- Yusuf Ali ChowdhuryYusuf Ali ChowdhuryYusuf Ali Chowdhury , commonly referred to as Mohan Mia, was a prominent Bengali Muslim politician in South Asia. He played an active role in the Pakistan Movement as a leading figure of the Muslim League in Bengal...
- Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
- Subhash Chandra BoseSubhash Chandra BoseSubhas Chandra Bose known by name Netaji was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against Britain and the Western powers during World War II. Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure in...
- Bangladeshi Political FamiliesBangladeshi political familiesThis is a listing of political families in Bangladesh. The families listed here have been involved in different periods of political life in Bangladesh's history, from the pre-partition days during British rule to the present-day politics of Bangladesh....