Bangladesh Awami League (AL), the ruling political party, remembered Tajuddin Ahmad, the country’s first Prime Minister and AL’s General Secretary during the liberation war, on the latter’s 97th birthday on Saturday.
AL paid respect to the late leader through a post on the party’s verified facebook page, which read, “July 23 is the birthday of Bangladesh’s first Prime Minister, a close aide of Father of The Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League during the liberation war Tajuddin Ahmad. We pay deep respect to Bangataj (Tajuddin of Bengal) on his birthday.”
A video was also shared from the AL”s facebook page, which presented a short biography of Tajuddin Ahmad, including his life events and his political struggles and contributions.
Sohel Taj, Tajuddin Ahmad’s son, also recalled his father through sharing a video post from his verified facebook page, which showed the latter’s activities during the liberation war in 1971.
Tajuddin Ahmad was born on this day in 1925 at Dardaria village under Gazipur’s Kapasia upazila. He was the son of Moulvi Muhammad Yasin Khan and Meherunnesa Khan.
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Tajuddin stepped into politics in 1943 by joining the then Pakistan Muslim League (PML). He was one of the founding members of East Pakistan Chhatra League (now Bangladesh Chhatra League), which was born on January 4, 1948.
Tajuddin was also a founding member of East Pakistan Jubo League (now Bangladesh Jubo League) and was a member of its executive committee from 1951 to 1953. Tajuddin joined East Pakistan Awami League (now Bangladesh Awami League) in 1953 and was elected the party’s General Secretary thrice.
Tajuddin played the role of Prime Minister of the expatriate Beangladesh government during the 1971 liberation war, which made him the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh. After the liberation war, Tajuddin acted as the Finance Minister of Bangladesh till 1974.
Tajuddin Ahmed was a student of Dhaka University (DU). He obtained a bachelor in Economics from the university in 1950, and passed the L.L.B exams in 1964.
Tajuddin was detained with three other national leaders (AHM Qamaruzzaman, Muhammad Mansur Ali and Sayed Nazrul Islam) after the gruesome killing of Bangabandhu and his family members on August 15, 1975.
Tajuddin was killed along with the other national leaders in the hands of some unruly military officers inside his prison cell on November 3, 1975.