People from all walks of life paid last tributes to veteran left-leaning politician and freedom fighter Pankaj Bhattacharya at the central Shaheed Minar here today.
The body of Pankaj, who died at a city hospital on Sunday at the age of 83, was taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 4pm where politicians, activists from different political parties and his well wishers paid their tributes to him.
Dhaka district administration led by Additional District Magistrate Hedayetul Uslam gave a guard of honour to Pankaj there.
Awami League (AL) Presidium Member Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Joint General Secretary and Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Organizing Secretary Sujit Ray Nandi and Cultural Affairs Secretary Asim Kumar Ukil, President of Workers Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) former president Mujahidul Islam Selim and incumbent General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua are among the prominent personalities, who paid tributes to Pankaj by placing wreaths at his coffin.
After paying tribute to Pankaj, Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "As a politician, Pankaj Bhattacharya was above all greed and ambition. He never did politics for getting posts and positions, rather he took politics as a commitment".
He took part in all struggles from the Language Movement to the Liberation War and he was also active in all democratic movements after the country's independence, Dr Hasan said, adding his (Pankj's) death caused an irreparable loss to the country's political arena.
"We can learn a lot from his personal and political life," he said, praying for the salvation of the departed soul of Pankaj and conveying deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
Besides, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Dr Fouzia Moslem, noted playwright Ramendu Majumdar, Jatiya Kabita Parishad President Professor Mohammad Samad and eminent playwright Mamunur Rashid also paid homage to Pankaj.
Pankaj's body was kept at the Central Shaheed Minar until 6pm to allow people from all strata to have their last glimpses on him.
Later, his body was taken to Postogola Crematorium in the city, where his body would be cremated.
Born in Noapara in the Raozan Upazila of Chattogram on August 6 in 1939, Pankaj studied at different institutions in Dhaka and Chattogram, where he was also appreciated as a good footballer and cultural activist alongside his role as a student political worker.
He was expelled from Chattogram Collegiate School in 1959 due to his involvement with the students' movement.
Pankaj was a key witness and organizer of the pre-and post-independence pro-democracy movements and events since the 1960s.
He was elected as the vice-president of the central committee of the East Pakistan Students Union and later as the executive president, while the left-leaning student front was at the forefront of the progressive movement alongside the then Chhatra League, Awami League's students' front.
Pankaj was a key organiser of the NAP-Student Union-Communist Party guerrilla force during the 1971 Liberation War and served as a deputy commander.
He served for a long time as the general secretary of the Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP) after the emergence of independent Bangladesh.
The veteran politician was accused in the "independent Bengal conspiracy" case and was imprisoned in 1966.
He was one of the founders and a presidium member of Gano Forum during its formation under Dr Kamal Hossain's leadership in 1993. Later, he formed a platform named "Shamajik Andolon" (social movement) for the progressive and democratic people of the country.
In 2013, Pankaj founded the Oikya NAP.
Pankaj wrote a memoir titled "Amar Shei Shob Din" published in this year's Ekushey Book Fair depicting what and how he witnessed the eventful political history of Bangladesh over the past six decades.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha