Moslem Ali Mollah () was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

politician, jute merchant and philanthropist. He was a member of the 1st

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislatures of British India, legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal Presidency, Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It ...

and the 2nd National Assembly of Pakistan. Mollah contributed greatly to the

independence movement Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a ...

against the

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 ...

Early life and family

Mollah was born into the Mollah clan of Jat Amrul in Atraighat (now Ahsanganj), a

family of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

jotedar ''Jotedars'', also known as Hawladars, Ganitdars, Jwaddars or ''Mandals'', were landlords or well-to-do ''ryots'' or wealthy peasants who exercised control and influence comparable to that of a Zamindars but were perceived as significantly below th ...

s based in Atrai, Naogaon. He was the son of Haji Aman Ullah Mollah. Mollah was the younger brother of

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 ...

-philanthropist Ahsan Ullah Mollah, a jute merchant who served as a representative of the Rally Brothers Company and as a member of the

Bengal Legislative Council The Bengal Legislative Council ( was the legislative council of Bengal Presidency. It was the legislature of the Bengal Presidency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After reforms were adopted in 1937, it served as the upper house of ...

Career

Mollah was one of the leaders of the

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 ...

and

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat movement (1919–22) was a political campaign launched by Indian Muslims in British India over British policy against Turkey and the planned dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after World War I by Allied forces. Leaders particip ...

across Naogaon subdivision. He donated 10,000

rupees Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Afr ...

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

. Mollah was a founding member of the Rajshahi Muslim Society. He was the president of the Atraighat Union Board, later renamed to Ahsanganj after his elder brother. Mollah won a seat at the Rajshahi Central constituency at the

following the 1937 elections. He was a Member of the 2nd

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 1955 to 1958.

References

Pakistani MNAs 1955–1958 Possibly living people Politicians from East Pakistan Year of birth missing People from Naogaon District Bengal MLAs 1937–1945 {{Pakistan-MNA-stub