Dewan Farid Gazi (; 1 March 1924 – 19 November 2010) was a Bangladeshi politician born in Devpara,

Nabiganj Upazila Nabiganj (, is an Upazila of Habiganj District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. History After the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303, many disciples of Shah Jalal migrated and settled in present-day Nabiganj where they preached Islam to the loca ...

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

. He was elected as member of

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for the

Habiganj-1 Habiganj-1 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh. Boundaries The constituency encompasses Bahubal and Nabiganj upazilas. History The constituency was created in 1984 from the Sylhet-8 const ...

(Nabigonj-Bahubal) constituency in 1996, 2001 and 2008, representing 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 ...

, of which he was an advisory council member. He served as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the

Ministry of Primary and Mass Education The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (; abbreviated as MoPME) is the ministry responsible for primary (class I-VIII) and mass education in Bangladesh. Secondary, vocational and tertiary educations is the responsibility of the Ministry of E ...

Early life

Gazi was born on 1 March 1924 in Devapara,

Nabiganj Nabiganj (, is an Upazila of Habiganj District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. History After the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303, many disciples of Shah Jalal migrated and settled in present-day Nabiganj where they preached Islam to the local p ...

Habiganj District Habiganj District (; ), formerly known as Habibganj District (), is a district in north-eastern Bangladesh, located in the Sylhet Division. It was established as a district in 1984 as a successor to its ''subdivision'' status since 1867. It is na ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. He was born into a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family. His father, Dewan Muhammad Hamid Gazi was a

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

in Dinarpur Pargana and was descended from Dewan Tajuddin Al-Quraishi Al-Ghazi in his 15th generation, a companion of

Shah Jalal Shāh Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī (), popularly known as Shah Jalal (), was a celebrated Sufi Saint, conqueror and historical figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Muslim conquest of Sylhet and the Spread of Islam into the ...

. He studied in

Moulvibazar Moulvibazar (), is a town in north-eastern Bangladesh just south of Sylhet. It is the capital of Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila and Moulvibazar District, and is located on the banks of the Manu River, Tripura, Manu River. History In 1771, Moulvi S ...

Junior Madrasa, Sylhet Aliya Madrasa, and graduated from Sylhet Rasamoy Memorial High School in 1945. He graduated in 1947 from

Murari Chand College Murari Chand College () (usually referred to as MC College) was the first college in the Sylhet Division. It was established in 1892, making it the seventh oldest college in Bangladesh. Since then it has played an important role in the education ...

and in 1949 from Madan Mohan College. He joined the Assam Muslim Student Federation as a student. He campaigned against the Bangal Khedao (Oust Bengalees) movement of the Assamese people, which sought to remove Bengali people from Assam. He helped organise the

Sylhet referendum The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for East ...

in 1947. He carried out campaigns in 1950 to stop religious violence in Sylhet.

Career

Gazi joined the Rasamoy Memorial High School as a teacher and then worked in Sylhet Government High School. He joined the Awami League in 1952 and was elected joint secretary of the

Sylhet district Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

Awami League. From 1952 to 1955, he worked in the Bengali ''Jugabhery'' weekly and the English ''Eastern Herald'' weekly. He was elected Topkhana union parisad chairman and Sylhet municipality commissioner. He was involved in the six-point program of the Awami League and was jailed for it in 1967. He campaigned against military dictator General

Ayub Khan Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, se ...

in 1969. In 1970, he was elected to the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

from Sylhet as an Awami League candidate. Gazi was involved in the Awami League-led

Non-Cooperation movement Non-cooperation movement may refer to: * Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922), during the Indian independence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule * Non-cooperation movement (1971), a movement in East Pakistan * Non-cooperatio ...

in 1971 in Sylhet. In the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

, he was an advisor of sectors 3 and 4 of the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini, initially called the Mukti Fauj, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was a big tent armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military personnel, paramilitary personnel and civilians during the Ba ...

on civil affairs. He was elected to

Bangladesh Parliament 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 ...

in 1973 from Sylhet. He served in the cabinet of

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

as State Minister of the Ministry of Local Government and Cooperative, and afterwards he served as the state minister of commerce. He helped introduce the wage earners scheme policy. After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he joined the cabinet of Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad in 1975. And he was the first person who resigned from Khondaker's cabinet as a sign of protest against him. He campaigned for the removal of military dictator

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

in 1990. He was elected to parliament from Habiganj-1 in 1996, 2001, and 2008.

Death

Gazi died on 19 November 2010 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 ...

Bangladesh 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 and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. He was buried in Shah Jalal Dargah Cemetery in Sylhet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gazi, Dewan Farid 1924 births 2010 deaths People from Nabiganj Upazila Politicians from Sylhet Division Awami League politicians 8th Jatiya Sangsad members State ministers of local government, rural development and co-operatives State ministers of commerce of Bangladesh 1st Jatiya Sangsad members 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League central committee members Candidates in the 1970 Pakistani general election Members of the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh