Sayed Ashraful Islam ( – 3 January 2019) was a

Bangladesh Awami League 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 ...

politician. He was the General Secretary of the

party. He served as a member of parliament and

minister of public administration The Ministry of Public Administration () (abbreviated as MoPa) is primarily responsible for management of public administration in Bangladesh. Present minister is Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Minister of State is Farhad Hossain. Present Senior secre ...

of the

Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Co ...

. 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 Syed Nazrul Islam ( bn, সৈয়দ নজরুল ইসলাম, Soiyod Nozrul Islam; 1925 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and a senior leader of the Awami League. During the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was declared a ...

, acting president of the

Mujibnagar Mujibnagar ( bn, মুজিবনগর), formerly known as Baidyanathtala (Boiddonathtola) and Bhoborpara, is a town in the Mujibnagar Upazila of Bangladesh. The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was formed on 10 April 1971, however, swor ...

government in 1971. Islam was a

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

member during the

Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. He was involved in politics from the student life. He became the General Secretary of greater

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north- ...

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. 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-election ...

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 and Grameen Bank founder

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

. 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 A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U. ...

. In the same gathering where he criticised Muhammad Yunus, he criticised Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

for a TV program on

ATN Bangla ATN Bangla ( bn, এটিএন বাংলা), 'ATN' being the acronym of the unused Asian Television Network, is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel owned by Multimedia Production Company. It is based in th ...

, alleging that she and the moderator, Munni Saha, were "attempting to undermine Bangladesh." In 2014, in a meeting in Khulna, 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 Commer ...

, 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, 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 Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, 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