Today is the 25th anniversary of death of the founding president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, and a pioneer of Bengali women鈥檚 emancipation, poet Begum Sufia Kamal.
A pioneer of breaking the citadel of conservatism and waving the flag of progress, Sufia Kamal, born at Shayestabad in Barishal on June 20, 1911, was the founding president of the cultural organisation Chhayanaut.
As women鈥檚 education was prohibited during her childhood, she could not afford to get academic education. She learnt different languages from her house tutors.
Little did anyone know then about the latent potential in the young girl that would turn her into a major cultural icon in the nationalist movements of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh.
Sufia鈥檚 life is eventful and awe-inspiring. She played multiple roles as she lurched from crisis to crisis until she found her true calling: as a socially conscious litterateur.
In 1918, Sufia went to Kolkata with her mother where she met Begum Rokeya, the celebrated feminist writer and social worker.
Sufia鈥檚 first poem, Basanti, was published in 1926. However, her literary career took off with the publication of her first collection of short stories titled Keyar Kanta in 1937. Her first collection of poems titled Sanjher Maya was published a year later. It bore a foreword from Kazi Nazrul Islam and attracted praise from the likes of Rabindranath Tagore.
She was also active in the Language Movement of 1952.
She also protested against the embargo on Tagore imposed by the then Pakistan government in the late 1960s. She was also involved in the mass upsurge of 1969 and the non-cooperation movement of March 1971. She also renounced the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz award given to her by the Pakistan government.
The state honoured her with Independence Award, the highest civilian honour, in 1997.
Sufia Kamal passed away on November 20, 1999.
