Sayed Ashraful Islam ( – 3 January 2019) was a Bangladesh Awami League politician. He was the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Awami League party. He served as a member of parliament and minister of public administration of the Government of Bangladesh. Islam also served for a time as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.

Early life

Syed Ashraful Islam was the eldest son of Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the Mujibnagar government in 1971. Islam was a Mukti Bahini member during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He was involved in politics from the student life. He became the General Secretary of greater Mymensingh District Chhatra League and assistant publicity secretary of the central unit. He also worked as the Acting General Secretary of Awami League after the arrest of its general secretary, Abdul Jalil. He was also working as the spokesman of Bangladesh Awami League Party before serving as General Secretary of the Awami League.

Political career

In 1975, following the killing of Islam's father in prison along with three other national leaders, he immigrated to the United Kingdom and lived in

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. Whilst living in Tower Hamlets, he was involved in Bangladeshi community activism and played an important role in formation of Bangladesh Youth League (BYL). He was elected as an Education Secretary of Federation of Bangladeshi Youth Organisation (FBYO) and worked at an education project based at Montefiore Centre in Tower Hamlets. Before immigrating to the United Kingdom, he completed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) in 1973 from Mymensingh Zillah School. He returned to Bangladesh in 1996 and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) from his home constituency, Kishoreganj Sadar, in the 7th national elections of Bangladesh. He was elected an MP in the 2001 election as well. He worked as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign ministry. His electoral pledges include building up developed road and rail link from Dhaka to his home town, Kishoreganj. He was part of a committee to study the judicial pay scale. Ashraful was re-elected from

Kishoreganj-1 Kishoreganj-1 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh from 2008 to 2018 by Sayed Ashraful Islam of the Awami League. His death in January 2019, days after his re-election, will trigger a by-electi ...

constituency in the 11th parliamentary election which was held on 30 December 2018.

Controversy

Islam questioned the role of Bangladesh in the Saudi-led military alliance against terror. He has criticised Bangladesh Bank and the Finance Ministry for the high rate of interest.

Criticism of Muhammad Yunus

Islam is known for his attacks on

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

and

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...

founder Muhammad Yunus. In 2012, while addressing a program for farmers of cooperatives, he said:

His (Yunus's) basic subject is economics and he introduced microcredit programme, but did not get Nobel Prize in economics, ... He (Yunus) got Nobel Prize for Peace. But which war has he stopped with his activities and in which continent has he established peace through his microcredit program? These days many of us know how one gets Nobel Prize. There are some countries in the world and a person's popularity increases once one has chips, cheese sandwiches and white wine in those countries.

Criticism of American diplomats

Islam also criticised American diplomats. In the same gathering where he criticised Muhammad Yunus, he criticised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a TV program on ATN Bangla, alleging that she and the moderator, Munni Saha, were "attempting to undermine Bangladesh." In 2014, in a meeting 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 ...

, Islam called the US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs

Nisha Desai Biswal Nisha Desai Biswal (born 1968) is an American businesswoman and public official in the United States. Biswal is the president of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) and Senior Vice President for South Asia at the United States Chamber of Comme ...

, who was on an official visit to Bangladesh, "a minister of two pennies," and added that said she "cannot change the power in Bangladesh." On the same occasion, he belittled the

US Ambassador to Bangladesh The United States ambassador to Bangladesh is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Bangladesh. President Joe Biden nominated career diplomat and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Econo ...

, Dan Mozena, calling him "maid Marzina."

Illness

In November 2018, Islam was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer. He died on 3 January 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Sayed Ashraful 1952 births 2019 deaths Awami League politicians General Secretaries of Awami League 9th Jatiya Sangsad members Mukti Bahini personnel Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives ministers Public Administration ministers of Bangladesh Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Thailand State Ministers of Tourism and Civil Aviation (Bangladesh) People from Kishoreganj District 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladeshi people of Arab descent