Sufia Kamal, a feminist and Liberation War activist

Aminul Islam: Begum Sufia Kamal was a Bangladeshi poet, writer, organizer, feminist and activist. She was an influential cultural icon in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh.

When she died in 1999, she was buried with full state honors, the first woman in Bangladesh to receive this honor.

Sufia was born in Shaestabad, Barisal. She was a daughter of a Zamindar family. During her childhood, women`s education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learned Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors.

In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. Together they had a daughter, Amena Kahar. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Sufia married Kamaluddin Ahmed.

In addition to her first daughter, Sufia later had two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal, and two sons Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal. In 1925 she met Mahatma Gandhi, which inspired her to wear simple clothing.

Sufia Kamal`s first poem, Bashanti (Of Spring), was published in Saogat magazine in 1926. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be a member of the Indian Women Federation.

She was an excellent organizer. In the politically charged atmosphere of 1970, she organized the Bangladesh Mohila Parishad. Earlier in 1956, she had organized the children`s organization " Kochi-Kachar Mela".

Sufia Kamal showed her bravery several times. Once General Ayub Khan, the military ruler of Pakistan, at a meeting with social elites of Dhaka, commented that ordinary people are like beasts and as such, not fit to be given franchise. Sufia Kamal at once stood up and remarked, "If the people are beasts then as the President of the Republic, you are the king of the beasts."

Her struggle for a society free of disparity and her politics earned her over 50 awards including the "Ekushey Padak", "Swadhinata Dibash Padak" and "Bangla Academy Padak".

Today  is the 104th birthday of the legendary poet Sufia Kamal, founder president of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad and also a pioneer of Bengali women`s emancipation.

Bangladesh Mohila Parishad will celebrate the poet`s birthday in a befitting manner. The celebration program includes memorial lecture, awarding Poet Sufia Kamal medals and cultural function. Many other organisations also chalked out different programmes marking the day.

Eight women will be given the Sufia Kamal honor this year. It would be followed by a cultural function.

She played a crucial role in the emancipation of women in post-liberation of Bangladesh. She was uncompromising about communalism and fundamentalism. So, we should cherish and convey her sprit to combat against communalism and fundamentalism.

risingbd/Jun 20, 2015/Aminul