Matia Chowdhury (born 30 June 1942) is a Bangladeshi politician serving as the incumbent Deputy Leader of the House, and the incumbent Member of Parliament from

Sherpur-2 Sherpur-2 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh since 2008 by Matia Chowdhury of the Awami League. Boundaries The constituency encompasses Nakla and Nalitabari upazilas. History The const ...

. She was the Minister of Agriculture under the first,

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

premiership of Sheikh Hasina, from 1996 to 2001 and then again on 2009 to 2019 during the previous tenures of Bangladesh Awami League in power. She is known as a veteran politician from the Awami League, and currently a presidium member of the party.

Early life and education

Chowdhury was born on 30 June 1942 at Nazirpur of Pirojpur District. Her father, Mohiuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, was a police officer. She passed HSC from Dhaka Eden College. She later graduated from University of Dhaka.

Political career

Chowdhury started her political career from her student life. She actively participated in the movement against the Ayub regime and the movement against the Education Commission of 1962. She was elected the Vice-President of Dhaka Eden Girls College Students’ Union in 1963 and the General Secretary of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) in 1964–65. Chowdhury is well known in South Asia for her fiery speeches and her adamant attitude, qualities that have earned her the nickname of ''Ogni Konna'' or ''Girl of Fire''. Although she started her political career with the left-wing National Awami Party, she is now one of the most senior leaders of the Awami League. She was the president of the then East Pakistan Students’ Union in 1965–66. Between 1967 and 1969 time and again she was organizing anti Ayub movement and was detained in jail for about 2 years. She was released from jail during the mass upsurge of 1969.

Personal life

Chowdhury was married to Bazlur Rahman, editor of '' The Sangbad'', one of the oldest

Bengali-language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken of t ...

dailies still in circulation, who died on 26 February 2008.

References

Living people 1942 births University of Dhaka alumni Eden Mohila College alumni Awami League politicians Women government ministers of Bangladesh Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad 20th-century Bangladeshi women politicians 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members 11th Jatiya Sangsad members Agriculture ministers of Bangladesh Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League central committee members {{AwamiLeague-politician-stub