Merina Rahman ( bn, মেরিনা রহমান; b. 18 October 1943) is a Bangladeshi Jatiya Party politician and a former

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 from Reserved Women's Seat. She is the sister of former President of Bangladesh,

Hussain 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 ...

Early life and family

Merina was born on 18 October 1943 in

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 ...

. She belongs to a

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 with ancestral roots in

Dinhata Dinhata is a city and a municipality in Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Dinhata subdivision. Dinhata is known for arranging best Durga Puja in North Bengal. Dinhata is famous for Sastho Mel ...

, present-day

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Her parents were Maqbul Hossain and Majida Khatun. Maqbul was a lawyer and served as a minister of the erstwhile

Maharaja of Cooch Behar Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It is located south of the Him ...

. Merina has eight siblings including the former

President of Bangladesh The president of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — ) officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশে ...

Hussain Muhammad 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 ...

, banker

Mozammel Hossain Lalu Mozammel Hossain Lalu ( bn, মোজাম্মেল হোসেন লালু; 1942 – 1 September 2014) was a Bangladeshi politician. He was elected a Jatiya Sangsad member from Kurigram-3 constituency winning the September 1996 by-elect ...

and politician

GM Quader Ghulam Muhammed Quader ( bn, গোলাম মোহাম্মদ কাদের; born 24 February 1948), better known as GM Quader, is a Bangladeshi politician and the current chairperson of Jatiya Party. He is the incumbent Jatiya Sangsad ...

. In 1965, she married Asadur Rahman of Nilphamari. Their daughter Dr. Mehe Zebunnesa Rahman is the director of the BBA Program at

North South University North South University ( bn, নর্থ সাউথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, also known as NSU) is a private university based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its business school is the first Bangladeshi university to receive Americ ...

alongside being an Assistant Professor there. She is married to Jatiya Party Member of Parliament Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu. Merina's younger son,

Ahsan Adelur Rahman Ahsan Adelur Rahman ( bn, আহসান আদেলুর রহমান), also simply known as Adel ( bn, আদেল), is a Bangladeshi politician and the incumbent member of parliament for Nilphamari-4. His maternal uncle is the former ...

has been serving as an elected

Member of Parliament (Bangladesh) A Member of Parliament (MP) in Bangladesh is a member of the unicameral Jatiya Sangsad or House of the Nation. A majority of members are elected directly in general elections, while a minority of seats are reserved exclusively for women and al ...

from the Nilphamari-4 constituency from

Jatiya Party (Ershad) The Jatiya Party ( bn, জাতীয় পার্টি, translit=Jatiyo Party, lit=National Party) is a conservative, nationalist political party in Bangladesh and is currently the main opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad, against the Awami ...

from 30 December 2018.

Career

Rahman was elected to the reserved seats for women in parliament in 2005 as a candidate of Jatiya Party. In February 2006 she and five other Members of Parliament from the Jatiya Party attended parliament despite the Jatiya Party decision to boycott it over what they termed unfair treatment from the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. She was part of the 2006 parliamentary delegation that visited the 114th Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Kenya. She was nominated to Parliament from the reserved seats for women as a candidate from the Jatiya Party in 2009. Her nomination was cancelled after the

Bangladesh Election Commission The Bangladesh Election Commission ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নির্বাচন কমিশন), abbreviated and publicly referred to as EC, is an independent constitutional body that operates the legal functions of election laws i ...

found that the signature given was not authentic, due to an error on part of her sponsor. She was re-elected to the parliament from a reserved seat in 2014. She is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Ministry of Environment and Forest The ''Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change'' ( bn, পরিবেশ, বন ও জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন মন্ত্রণালয়; ''Paribēś, bana o jalabayou paribarton mantraṇālaẏa'') is a ...

. She was part of a parliamentary probe committee formed on 20 March 2016 to look into recruitment activities related to the Climate change Trust.

References

1943 births Living people Bangladesh Jatiya Party politicians 8th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians Bangladeshi people of Indian descent People from Cooch Behar district 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis Jatiya Party politicians {{JatiyaParty-politician-stub