Today is the 97th anniversary of the birth of poet and journalist Mahbub Ul Alam Choudhury, the poet of the first poem on the Language Movement titled Kandte Asini Phansir Dabi Niye Esechhi.
Born at Gohira in Chattogram on November 7, 1927, Mahbub Ul Alam Choudhury was politically active since his student days. He joined the Chittagong District Students鈥� Congress in 1942 and the Students鈥� Federation in 1945.
In the same year, he played a key role in holding the Bengal Regional Students Conference in Chattogram. Manik Bandopadhyay, Gopal Haldar, Bhabani Sen and Sukanta Bhattacharya attended the conference from Kolkata.
After the Anti-riot Peace Committee was formed, he participated actively in its activities and went to different areas advocating sectarian harmony. He also wrote a booklet on the issue tilted Biplab. He also started editing a progressive monthly literary magazine titled Simanta in 1947. Published in 1950, the Anti-riot edition of the magazine was appreciated as an effort on the progressive movement.
A Language Movement hero, the poet protested against the then Pakistan government鈥檚 fundamental policies, which failed to include Bangla as the state language of Pakistan. In 1952, he became the convener of the Chittagong District Rastrabhasha Sangram Parishad. He wrote the poem 鈥楰andte Asini Phansir Dabi Niye Esechhi鈥� protesting police crackdown on protests on Dhaka University campus in 1952.
He founded Gohira Degree College at Raujan in 1968. He was chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Swadhinata in 1972. He was one of the forerunners of establishing the cultural organisation named Krishti Kendra.
He was posthumously awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2009.
The poet passed away in Dhaka on December 23, 2007.
