Lal Mia

Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin (1903–1967), or Lal Mia, as he is commonly referred to, was a prominent Bengali politician in the Indian National Congress or the Congress Party and later the Muslim League. Lal Mia was one of the personalities who was instrumental in the Anti Colonial Movement against the British in Bengal. He also contributed heavily in the promotion of Bengali culture and literature. He was closely associated with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.

Early life and family

Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin Lal Mia was born on the 30th of November, 1903 at the Moyez Manzil Palace in Faridpur into an aristocratic Muslim zamindar family. He was the eldest son of Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash, the philanthropic and revolutionary Zamindar of Faridpur. Lal Mia passed his matriculation exams at a young age of only 12. A meritous student, he got himself admitted into the presitgous Aligarh Muslim University in 1918. His political involvement had started from that the same year and soon he became one of the earliest student leaders of Bengal. During his time in Aligarh, he joined the Indian National Congress as its youngest member.

Lal Mia married Begum Sayeeda Khatun Chowdhurani, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the legendary warrior King of Mysore. The couple had three sons and eight daughters.

Lal Mia's brothers, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury, Mohan Mia, Enayet Hossain Chowdhury and Tara Mia also became eminent politicians in the British Raj and during the Pakistan era. He is also related to former Bangladeshi minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, former lawmaker and BNP leader Chowdhury Akmal Ibne Yusuf and former lawmaker and Jatiya Party leader Kamran Hossain Chowdhury.

Politics

Lal Mia had become a fully registered member of the All India Congress, from 1918, while he was still 14, becoming the youngest person to ever hold an official position in the party. He became an active member of the planning committee of the Congress Party from the same year, and Khilafat Movement since 1919 and member of Civil Disobedience Movement and General Secretary of Faridpur Committee of the movement since 1931. Mohandas K. Gandhi had appointed Lal Mia to spearhead the movements across Faridpur and East Bengal.

Lal Mia was one of the principle financial backers of the Congress in Bengal. The Annual Conference of the Bengal Central Congress was held in Faridpur in 1924 and was arranged by Lal Mia. The conference was attended by leading independence leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das, Sarojini Naidu and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Lal Mia developed a deeply personal relationship with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who would regularly visit Lal Mia's family residence Moyez Manzil in Faridpur. He was also close to Jawaharlal Nehru and the two men were imprisoned together in the Arambagh Fort during the Quit India Movement in the early 1940s. Although belonging to two different parties, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah maintained good personal relations with Lal Mia. He was present with all the leaders at the Midnight Hour of the Partition of India and Pakistan.

Lal Mia was immensely admired by the three premier leaders of Bengali Muslims including Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. Sher-e-Bangla regularly visited Moyez Manzil and the family's other residence Biwshash Bari.

In 1936, Lal Mia was elected to the upper house of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was also elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. From 1943, he became an executive committee member of the All India Muslim League until partition after which he was elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1962, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan. From 1962 until 1967, he served in the cabinet of President Ayub Khan holding various portfolios in different times as Minister of Health, Labour and Social Welfare. He was also the Chief Whip of the Muslim League during this period in the National Assembly.

He was also the only member of Ayub Khan's cabinet who supported the demand for the autonomy of East Pakistan and interceded on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

At the grass roots level, Lal Mia had been the Chairman of Faridpur District Council for 20 years. He had been the Founder President of Faridpur Improvement Trust in 1950. Lal Mia had also been the main initiator in the establishment of the Anti-Riot & Relief Committee and All India Muslim League Relief Coordination Committee in 1946-47 and he was appointed the General Secretary of the committee. He had also been the Founder of the Calcutta Cloth Rationing Advisory Board in 1943, President of Central Primary Education Board of Pakistan in 1951 and President of District School Board of Faridpur in 1946. He had also been Chairman of several associations and organizations such as the Farmer’s Association of Bengal in 1931, Assam Youth Association in 1931, and Murshidabad National Students Union also in 1931.

Lal Mia published many articles criticizing British rule and organized meetings and rallies among the youth of Calcutta ever since his adolescent days. He organized and funded a series of conferences in grand scale in Faridpur mainly, and in other parts of East Bengal to promote support for the freedom struggle and increasing participation of East Bengal is in the struggle.

Promotion of Bengali culture

Lal Mia had been immensely close to Rabindranath Tagore, the man described as the Shakespeare of Bengali Literature and the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize. Such was the level of their relationship, the great poet treated Lal Mia as his own nephew and gave him the nickname Korli Krishna.

Lal Mia also promoted folksinger Abbas Uddin by arranging several small concerts for him in Faridpur and other districts, introduced renowned Sufi writer Motahar Hossain to Rabindranath Tagore and the elite of Calcutta and promoted his works in those circles. He supported the endeavours of Kabi Jasimuddin and Kazi Nazrul Islam, and also wrote two books of spiritual poems himself. He had also been unanimously elected President of the Writer's Guild of Pakistan in 1961 for his immense patronage of literature. He also organized the first Memorial Conference on Rabindranath Tagore across India after the death of the great poet. He also had a volume of the Quran written in letters of gold on parchment.

Lal Mia also heavily promoted the Bengali film industry in its early days and was the first president of Bengal Motion Pictures. He set up a cinema hall in Faridpur, the first in Bengal outside Calcutta.

Death

Lal Mia died on 7 April 1967 in Cox's Bazaar where he had suffered a heart attack while swimming. He had been accompanied by several grandchildren and other family members at the time. He is buried on the grounds of the magnificent Moyez Manzil Palace in Faridpur.

See also

• Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Subhash Chandra Bose
• Bangladeshi Political Families

References

• http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/12/04/d41204150392.htm

Persondata
Name	Mia, Lal
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1903
Place of birth
Date of death	1969
Place of death