Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish

Khondokar Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish (Bengali: খোন্দকার আব্দুর রশীদ তর্কবাগীশ; 1900–1986) was a Bangladeshi politician and parliamentarian. He opposed what he considered to be the repressive mentality of the Nurul Amin government towards the Bengali Language Movement despite being a member of the treasury bench.

Maulana

Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish
Born(1900-11-27)27 November 1900
Ullapara, Sirajganj, East Bengal (now Bangladesh)
DiedAugust 20, 1986(1986-08-20) (aged 85)
OccupationPolitician

Early life

He was born on 27 November 1900 in the village of Tarutia situated in Ullapara of Sirajganj District.[1]

Political career

Tarkabagish joined the Muslim League in 1936. From the party he participated in the election and earned his place in the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1937 and in 1946. At the budget session of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on the 21st of February 1952, Tarkabagish heavily criticized the killing of several protesters near Dhaka Medical College.[2]

Tarkabagish asked the leader of the house, Nurul Amin, to formulate an inquiry and to visit to the wounded students before proceeding the session. But as Amin refused the proposal, he walked out of the assembly[3] and subsequently retired from Muslim League Parliamentary Party on February 23, 1952.[4] He also expressed gratitude to the dead and wounded activists of the movement.[3][5]

Tarkabagish protested the police firing on and killing of students on 21 February 1952, in the assembly. He also made his speech in Bengali to respect his mother tongue and martyrs of the language movement. He was arrested on February 23 and kept in jail until June 1.[2] Then he joined Awami Muslim League (now the Awami League) and was again elected a member of the assembly in 1954 from United Front. He was also elected as the member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1956.[2]

Tarkabagish was elected as the acting president of the Awami League in 1957, and then the president of the Awami League from 1964, a position in which he served till 1967.[6]

After the independence of Bangladesh

Tarkabagish presided over at the first session of the Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh in 1972. He was again elected a member from Awami League in 1973.[2] After the assassinations of the founding father and then-President of Bangladesh, and almost his entire family and several relatives on August 15, 1975, by a group of military officers in an attempted coup, and subsequent coups and countercoups, Tarkabagish himself formed a party named Gano Azadi League in 1976.[2] During the regime of Ershad he played a role in the formation and activities of 15 party alliance that took part in the movement against Ershad.[2]

Death and legacy

Tarkabagish died in Dhaka on 20 August 1986. He was honored with an Independence Day Award in 2000.[2]

Controversy

After the assassination of Mujibur Rahman, Tarkabagish went against his former comrade and praised the mastermind of the assassination Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad saying, "May Allah bless the President [Moshtaque] in establishing rule of law, peace and happiness in the country by uprooting corruption."[7]

References
  1. "Birth anniversary of Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish". Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  2. Kader, Rozina (2012). "Tarkabagish, Maulana Abdur Rashid". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. (Al Helal 2003, pp. 373–393)
  4. "none", The Azad (a daily newspaper) (in Bengali), Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, Dhaka, December 11, 1948
  5. "none", Daily Insaf (a daily newspaper) (in Bengali), Dhaka, February 24, 1952
  6. Correspondent, Staff; bdnews24.com. "Awami League National Councils in 67 years". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  7. "Who Said What After August 15". The Daily Star. 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2020-06-20.

Citations
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