Rashed Khan Menon (born 18 May 1943) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the president of

Workers Party of Bangladesh The Workers Party of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের ওয়ার্কার্স পার্টি) is a communist party in Bangladesh. Rashed Khan Menon is the president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Anisur Rahm ...

and was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Dhaka-8 Dhaka-8 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh since 2008 by Rashed Khan Menon of the Workers Party of Bangladesh. Boundaries The constituency encompasses Dhaka South City Corporation wards 8 thr ...

in the 2008 general election. Menon was re-elected at the 2014 general elections. He is the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Education. Earlier, he served as the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Early life

Menon was born in Faridpur. He studied at Dhaka Collegiate School, finish in 1958. In 1960, he passed intermediate in arts group from Dhaka College. He graduated from Dhaka University in 1963 with a degree in economics. In 1964, he received his master's degree. In the late 1960s, Menon was president of the East Pakistan Students Union faction linked to the

National Awami Party The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by A ...

Maulana Bhasani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), often shortened as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bengali politician. His political tenure spanned the British colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods. Maulana Bhashani was pop ...

. However, he differed with Maulana Bhasani when the latter accepted participation in elections in January 1970. Menon's East Pakistan Student Union launched a campaign against elections, stating that they would be merely a facade of democracy, that fair elections could not be held under

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

and that the situation was ripe for revolution. He built a revolutionary

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

organisation along with

Kazi Zafar Ahmed Kazi Zafar Ahmad (; 1 July 193927 August 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician of the Jatiya Party, who was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1989 to 1990. Early life Ahmed was born in 1939, in village: Kazi Bari Cheora Chauddagram Upazila, C ...

. The Menon-Zafar group built a base in

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...

(in Begerhat), amongst workers near

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

and had a student group named Revolutionary Students Union. Menon contested the 1973 Bangladeshi parliamentary election as a NAP (Bhasani) candidate. He did not win any seat, and afterward he complained that the

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

government had used unfair methods to win the election.

Career

Menon was elected to parliament in 1979. In 1990, he played a leading role in the mass struggle that toppled the

Hossain Mohammad Ershad Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...

regime. In 1991, he was again elected to parliament. In 1991, he, as a Workers Party of Bangladesh parliamentarian, submitted four demands for constitutional amendments in the parliament. These demands and others were submitted to a 15-member constitutional review committee, in which he was included. After 29 meetings, the committee submitted a unanimous report to the parliament. On 17 August 1992, Menon survived a violent near-fatal attack. Unidentified assailants opened fire on the Workers Party office, injuring Menon.

Family

Menon's father,

Abdul Jabbar Khan Justice Abdul Jabbar Khan (30 June 1902 – 23 April 1984) was the 6th Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was preceded by Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry. Early life He was born on 1 January 1902 in Baher char, Barisal. He graduated fr ...

, hailed from Khudrakathi village, in

Babuganj Upazila Babuganj ( bn, বাবুগঞ্জ) is an administrative unit of Barisal District in the Division of Barisal, Bangladesh. Geography Babuganj is located at . It has a total area of 164.88 km2. Demographics According to the 2011 Bangla ...

Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Dist ...

. Menon is closely related to several prominent Bangladeshi personalities. His father was the speaker of the Pakistani National Assembly. His siblings include journalist and columnist Sadek Khan, architect Sultan M. Khan, Alan Khan, a photographer in Sydney, poet

Abu Zafar Obaidullah Abu Zafar Obaidullah (1934–2001) was a Bangladeshi poet. Two of his long poems, ''Aami-Kingbodontir-Kathaa Bolchi'' and ''Bristi O Shahosi Purush-er Jonyo Pranthona'', have become famous since their first publication in the late 1970s. Li ...

, former minister

Selima Rahman Selima Rahman is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) politician. She served as a State Minister at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh during 2001–2006. Background Rahman is the daughter of justice Abdul Jabbar ...

, journalist and ambassador to Burma A.Z.M. Enayetullah Khan and the publisher of ''

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

'' Shahidullah Khan Badal. Menon is married to Lutfun Nessa Khan. She is elected as a

Jatiya Sangsad The Jatiya Sangsad ( bn, জাতীয় সংসদ, lit=National Parliament, translit=Jatiyô Sôngsôd), often referred to simply as the ''Sangsad'' or JS and also known as the House of the Nation, is the supreme legislative body of ...

member at the 11th Parliament from the reserved women's seat-48 representing the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Rashed Khan 1943 births Living people Dhaka College alumni Bangladeshi communists Workers Party of Bangladesh politicians Civil Aviation and Tourism ministers of Bangladesh Social Welfare ministers of Bangladesh 2nd Jatiya Sangsad members 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members 11th Jatiya Sangsad members