Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah is a Bangladeshi politician and businessman. He served as mayor of the

Barisal City Corporation Barishal City Corporation ( - in short: BCC) is a local governing body that manages all civic services in the city of Barishal, in south-central Bangladesh. The BCC government is elected by popular vote every five years. It is headed by a mayor, ...

from 2018 to 2023. He is a son of

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 ...

politician

Abul Hasanat Abdullah Abul Hasanat Abdullah (born 10 December 1944) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Barisal-1 constituency for five terms. He is an Executive Committee Member of Bangladesh Awami League Centr ...

and grandson of

Abdur Rab Serniabat Abdur Rob Serniabat (4 April 1921-1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and the former water resources minister. He was the brother-in-law of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, and the maternal uncle of Sheikh Hasina, the five-t ...

Early life and education

Abdullah was born on 19 November 1974 to the

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 ...

Serniabat family of Seral in Agailjhara,

Barisal District Barisal District, officially Barishal District () is a district in south-central Bangladesh, it was formerly called Bakerganj district, and established in 1797. Its headquarters is in Barisal city, which is also the headquarters of Barisal ...

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 ...

. The family were direct descendants of Emperor

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

. His grandfather,

, was a former minister in the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth Mujib ministries. Abdullah's grandmother Sheikh Amena Begum belonged to the

Sheikh family of Tungipara Tungipara Sheikh family () of Tungipara is one of the two most prominent Bangladeshi political families, other being the Zia family. The family primarily consists of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Rehana and their relatives. Their ...

and was the sister 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 ...

. Abdullah's grandfather, uncle, aunt and cousin were killed during the

assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most of his family members during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, re ...

, whilst his mother Shahan Ara Abdullah, and other relatives were injured. His uncle,

Abul Khair Abdullah Abul Khair Abdullah is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and businessman. He is elected 5th Mayor of the Barisal City Corporation. He is a brother of Awami League politician Abul Hasanat Abdullah and son of Abdur Rab Serniabat. Early life Abd ...

, is also a politician. Abdullah has no formal education and identifies as self educated.

Career

Abdullah was nominated by Awami League to contest the

in 2018. He was the joint secretary of Barisal City unit of Awami League. He skipped a meeting with voters organized by Citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN). Abdullah received 107,353 votes while his nearest rival, Mazibor Rahman Sarwar of

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

, received 13,135 votes. The election was boycotted by the candidates of

Communist Party of Bangladesh The Communist Party of Bangladesh (, abbreviated: CPB) is a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Bangladesh. History After the partitioning of India in 1947, during the 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India in Calcu ...

and Islami Andolon Bangladesh who alleged

vote rigging Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

. He was sworn in by Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

. Before the elections, hundreds of Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists were detained. Abdullah was appointed General Secretary of Barisal City unit of Awami League. Three journalists of Barishal Khobor, an online portal, were detained by

Bangladesh Police The Bangladesh Police () is the national law enforcement agency of Bangladesh, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bangladesh), Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement of law and order with ...

after they took a video of Abdullah and his family on a walk. They were beaten in custody, according to locals, and charged under the

Digital Security Act The Digital Security Act, 2018, was a digital security law in Bangladesh. This act was passed with the aim of preventing the spread of racism, sectarianism, extremism, terrorist propaganda, and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities throug ...

on 14 September 2020. Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government, Abdullah's home in Barisal was burned down and destroyed with bulldozers in February 2025.

References

Living people Serniabat family Awami League politicians 1973 births Mayors of Barishal 21st-century Bangladeshi businesspeople {{Barisal-AL-politician-stub