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 () is a communist party in Bangladesh. Rashed Khan Menon is the president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Fazle Hossain Badsha is the general secretary of the party. History WPB was founded in 1980 by ...

and a former

Jatiya Sangsad The Jatiya Sangsad (), often simply referred to as Sangsad and also known as is the unicameral Legislature, legislative body of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 350 seats, including 50 seats reserved exclusively for w ...

member representing the Barisal-2, Dhaka-8 and Bakerganj-9 constituencies. He was 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) 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 Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan, through th ...

Maulana Bhasani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), also known reverentially as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman who was one of the founder of the Awami League, the oldest and main political party in B ...

. 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 replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

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

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

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 Kazi Bari, Cheora Chauddagram Upazila, Comill ...

. The Menon-Zafar group built a base in

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

(in Begerhat), amongst workers near

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

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 The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

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 Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a bloodless coup against Presi ...

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. Bangladesh Workers’ Party of Menon joined the 14-party alliance led by Awami League and participated in the 2008 national election. They also participated in the 2014 national election which was boycotted by the main opposition party BNP. Menon was appointed as the minister of civil aviation and tourism. Menon, once rose a strong voice against authoritarian West Pakistani regime. On 22 August 2024, after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina, Menon was arrested from Gulshan area in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. While attending a hearings both Menon and

Hasanul Haq Inu Hasanul Haq Inu (born 12 November 1946) is a Bangladeshi politician and the former Minister of Information of Bangladesh. He leads a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and was involved in a Marxist insurgency in the 1970s. Early life and ...

were assaulted by lawyers at the court premises. The Anti-Corruption Commission investigated allegations that Menon had accumulated 25000 crore BDT (2.5 Billion USD) worth of wealth through corruption. By June, he had spent 36 days in remand. He had been charged in multiple cases over the death of protestors against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Family

Menon's father,

Abdul Jabbar Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan may refer to: * Abdul Jabbar Khan (20th-century politician) (1902–1984), speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan * Abdul Jabbar Khan (director) (1916–1993), Bangladeshi filmmaker * Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan Abdul Jabb ...

, hailed from Khudrakathi village, in Babuganj Upazila,

Barisal Barisal ( or ; , ), 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 District and Barisal Divi ...

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

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

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

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 Ministers of civil aviation and tourism of Bangladesh Ministers of social welfare of Bangladesh 2nd Jatiya Sangsad members 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members 11th Jatiya Sangsad members 12th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladesh independence activists Abdul Jabbar Khan family