Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury ( bn, আশরাফউদ্দীন আহমদ চৌধুরী; 1894 – 25 March 1976) was a Bengali politician who had served as general secretary of the

Congress Party The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

's Bengal branch, member of the

East Bengal Legislative Assembly The East Pakistan Provincial Assembly, known as the East Bengal Legislative Assembly between 1947 and 1955, was the provincial legislature of East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971. It was known as the East Bengal Assembly from 1947 to 1955 when the ...

and later as the

Education Minister of Pakistan The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training ( ur, ) is a federal ministry of the Government of Pakistan. The ministry's political head is known as thMinister for Education (Pakistan) , Minister of Pakistanand the ministry's ...

. He was an advocate of

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy ( bn, হোসেন শহীদ সোহ্‌রাওয়ার্দী; ur, ; 8 September 18925 December 1963) was a Bengali barrister and politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 t ...

United Bengal United Bengal was a proposal to transform Bengal Province into an undivided, sovereign state at the time of the Partition of India in 1947. It sought to prevent the division of Bengal on religious grounds. The proposed state was to be called ...

proposal.

Early life

Chowdhury was born in 1894, into a well-reputed

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

family of

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s in

Batagram Battagram ( ur, , ps, ) is a city and Union Council of Battagram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°41'N 73°1'E and has an altitude of 1038 metres (3408 feet). Climate With a mild and generally warm a ...

, Tipperah District,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

(now

Comilla District Comilla District, officially known as Cumilla District, is a district of Bangladesh located about 100 kilometres south east of Dhaka. Comilla is bordered by Brahmanbaria and Narayanganj districts to the north, Noakhali and Feni districts to t ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). He was a son of Tofazzal Ahmad Chowdhury, alias Anu Mia, an influential zamindar of that time. Chowdhury moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

for his education, where he studied at the

Hare School Hare School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades one to twelve under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. It is a state government-administered boys sc ...

and then at the St. Xavier's Collegiate School. He completed his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

Rajshahi College Rajshahi College ( bn, রাজশাহী কলেজ ''Rajshahi Kôlej'') is the third oldest institution of higher education in Bangladesh. Established in 1873 in Rajshahi city, it is the third oldest college in Bangladesh after Dhaka Col ...

North Bengal North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Gen ...

, and then completed law school at the

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

in 1919.

Career

Chowdhury was a prominent leader in the anti-British

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. He was involved in the

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...

and

Non-cooperation Movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

as an activist and the leader of the

All India National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern Nationalism, national ...

's Bengal branch. He became a leader of the Tippera Krishak Samiti's moderate side. From 1937 to 1941, he was the general secretary of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee during the presidency of

Subhash Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

. He was one of the closest allies of Bose and played an instrumental role in organising Bengal Congress at that time. Chowdhury also played a vital role in formation of Forward Bloc with Bose and was a vital member in the founding Working Committee of

All India Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...

, which was the party's highest forum for whole India. He supported

Indian nationalism Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, b ...

and Hindu-Muslim unity. He was also the first non-British chairman of the District Board of Tipperah (Comilla) and was a member of the

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It was established under the Government of India Ac ...

. During 1921- 1947, he served several terms of imprisonment as a political prisoner, opposing the British Raj. In the 1940s he joined the Nikhil Banga Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind. Chowdhury stood as a candidate of the

Nizam-e-Islam Party The Nizam-e-Islam Party or simply Nizam-e-Islam ( bn, নেজামে ইসলাম, , Order of Islam), is a political party in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The party was founded in the city of Kishoreganj in 1952, by the Islamic scholars of erst ...

as part of the

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

alliance during the

1954 East Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative elections were held in East Bengal between 8 and 12 March 1954, the first since Pakistan became an independent country in 1947. The opposition United Front led by the Awami League and Krishak Sramik Party won a landslide victory wit ...

s, in which he gained a seat in his home constituency of Comilla. In 1954, he became the Minister of Education during the cabinet of

A. K. Fazlul Huq Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq ( bn, আবুল কাশেম ফজলুল হক, ur, ; 26October 1873 — 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), was a British Indian and Pakistani lawyer and writer who present ...

, he became Education Minister again during the cabinet of

Abu Hussain Sarkar Abu Hussain Sarkar ( bn, আবু হোসেন সরকার; 1894 – 17 April 1969) was a Bengali politician and lawyer. He served as the fourth chief minister of East Pakistan. Under his ministry, the Bangla Academy was inaugurated and 2 ...

Death and legacy

Chowdhury died on 25 March 1976 in

. He left behind his wife, Razia Khatun Chowdhurani, a poet and litterateur, and their daughter

Rabeya Chowdhury Rabeya Chowdhury ( bn, রাবেয়া চৌধুরী) is a prominent Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician. She is one of the Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and also the Comilla District BNP President. She is ...

, a prominent politician of the

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Ashrafuddin Ahmad 1894 births 1976 deaths People from Comilla District Politicians from Chittagong Division Rajshahi College alumni University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Bengalis Politicians from East Pakistan Hare School alumni Education Ministers of Pakistan