Veteran politician Pankaj Bhattacharya passes away
 
DHAKA, April 24, 2023 (BSS) - Veteran left-leaning politician and 1971 freedom fighter Pankaj Bhattacharya passed away overnight at a private hospital in the capital as he was being treated under life support for various complications including breathing problems. He was 83.

“He died at 12:28 am last night,” said Manas Bose, a relative of the deceased politician who was the president of Oikya NAP (National Awami Party).

Earlier reports said Liberation War veteran Bhattacharya was admitted to the capital's Health and Hope Hospital on Monday and doctors there put him on life support system on Saturday morning as his condition deteriorated.

According to family sources his funeral will be held at Postagola Mahashashan crematorium in the capital on Tuesday in line with a decision by his Oikya NAP.

Oikya NAP, meanwhile, in a statement said the body would be kept at the Central Shaheed Miniar from 4pm to 6.30pm tomorrow to enable people to pay their respect ahead of cremation.    

His wife prominent women leader Rakhi Das Puraykayastha died in April, 2022 while the couple had no surviving siblings.     

Bhattacharya was respected by fellow politicians across the political lines alongside a large number of people because of his integrity while he was a key witness and organizer of the pre-and post-independence pro-democracy movements and events since 1960s.

On the eve of the ouster of autocratic regime in 1990, he played a crucial role in formulating the framework of the three-political alliance outlining the country’s political course.    

He was born on 6 August, 1939 in Noapara village of Raozan upazila of Chattogram while he studied at different institutions in Dhaka and Chattogram when he was appreciated also as a good footballer and cultural activist alongside his role as a student political worker.

He was expelled from Chattogram Collegiate School in 1959 due to his involvement with the student movement.

Bhattacharya was elected as the vice-president of the central committee of the East Pakistan Students Union and later as the executive president while the left-leaning student front was at the forefront of the progressive movements alongside the then Chhatra League, Awami League’s student front.

Bhattacharya was a key organiser of the NAP-Student Union-Communist Party guerrilla force during the 1971 Liberation War and served as it as a deputy commander.

He served for a long time as the general secretary of Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP) after the emergence of independent Bangladesh.

He was accused in the “independent Bengal conspiracy” case and was imprisoned in 1966.

He was one of the founders and a presidium member of Gano Forum during its formation under Dr Kamal Hossain’s the leadership in 1993. Later, he formed a platform named “Shamajik Andolon” (social movement) for the progressive and democratic people of the country.

In 2013, he founded the Oikya NAP.

Bhattacharya wrote a memoir titled “Amar Shei Shob Din” published in this year’s Ekushey Book Fair depicting what and how he witnessed the eventful political history of Bangladesh over the past six decades.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Pankaj Bhattacharya and in a statement she prayed for salvation of his departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members.