Desk Reports:
The National Citizens Party (NCP) has expressed grief over the death of writer, researcher, Marxist theorist and President of the National Liberation Council, Badruddin Umar.
The condolence message signed by the party’s joint member secretary Saleh Uddin Sifat on Sunday said that Badruddin Umar’s father, the late Abul Hashim, born in 1931, was a proverbial figure in the historic liberation struggle of the people of this town. During the regime of the murderer Hasina, Badruddin Umar was a thinker and political force on the side of the masses, in contrast to the mainstream intellectuals and civil society that produced and supported the narrative of fascism in Bangladesh.
The message says about Badruddin Umar, that before the dummy elections of January 2024, he had spoken in a press conference about expelling the Awami League. When the July coup took place, he identified this mass movement as a ‘mass uprising’ and acknowledged its magnitude compared to previous coups. In addition, he had called the Mujibist constitution of 1972 a ‘constitution of permanent emergency’ in 1972 itself. As a researcher and writer, he used to present objective and impersonal history in his writings.
The NCP’s condolence message said, “Badruddin Umar was always vocal against the Mujibist reading of the history of the liberation struggle of the people of Bangladesh. He will be considered an important source for us in the search for and rereading of the true and popular history of the 1971 People’s War in the new Bangladesh.”
“We have suffered an irreparable loss in his death. The National Citizens Party (NCP) expresses its deepest condolences to his bereaved family and comrades.”
Badruddin Umar breathed his last at around 10 am today at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in Dhaka. He was 94 years old. He had been suffering from various complications of old age for a long time.
Badruddin Umar started his career as a part-time teacher at Dhaka University. Later, he established the Department of Sociology at Rajshahi University.
In his political career, he served as the president of the Bangladesh Farmers Federation and the central coordinator of the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance. He was once a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of East Bengal.
In 2003, Badruddin Umar founded a party called the National Liberation Council and assumed the responsibility of its president.
