An active activist and organizer of the language movement and a politician
24 December 1928 - 31 December 1973
Mohammad Sultan was born on 24 December 1926 in the middle village of Boda upazila of Panchagarh district (then Dinajpur district). His father Mohammad Shamser Ali was the Deputy Superintendent of Police during the British rule. The Sultan was the fifth of the parents' eight children. Mohammad Sultan passed the entrance examination from Jessore District School. He graduated from Rajshahi Government College. He obtained his post-graduate degree in political science from Dhaka University in 1953.
Political activities
The Sultan left India at an early age and became involved in politics through the anti-British movement. He joined the anti-Pakistan movement in 1947. In 1948 he played an active role in the Rajshahi language movement and student movement. When he joined the Juba League in 1951, he was elected joint-secretary of the central committee of the Juba League. Mohammad Sultan was one of the organizers of the 1952 Bangla language movement. He is the first student to hoist a black flag at Dhaka University. When the student union was born in late 1952, he was elected the first president of the student union. At the same time, he was also the joint secretary of Juba League.
Juba League secretary Imadullah died in 1956. At this time Mohammad Sultan was appointed general secretary of Juba League. At the birth of NAP in 1958, he became the Joint-Secretary of the NAP Provincial Committee. After the split of NAP in 1986, he was the acting secretary of Maulana Bhasani's part of the provincial committee.
Mohammad Sultan was imprisoned for a long time for political reasons. With the introduction of Section 92 (a) in 1954, the Sultan was arrested and imprisoned for almost a year without trial. When martial law was imposed in 1958, Mohammad Sultan was arrested again and was held without trial in Dhaka Central Jail for four years. Besides, when the government of Pakistan issued hulia in his name at different times, he continued his political activities in secret. He retired from active politics in 1980 and became involved in publishing.
Introduction to the publishing industry
Mohammad Sultan established a book publishing and sales book library with MR Akhtar Mukul mainly for political purposes. In March 1953, he published a historical anthology of the language movement, edited by the poet Hasan Hafizur Rahman, on the 21st of February. Shortly after its publication, the then Muslim League-led government confiscated the book Ekushey February.
Realizing the importance of publishing progressive books, Mohammad Sultan tried to publish progressive books with his last resources. By organizing book publishers, he formed a constructive movement for the publication of creative and progressive literary books in the country. Mohammad Sultan was the vice-president of the Bangladesh Book Publishers Association and a life member of the Bangla Academy.
Death and subsequent honors
He died on 31 December 1983 at Dhaka Medical College. He was buried in Jurain Cemetery. In 2006, in memory of Mohammad Sultan, Dhanmondi Road No. 3 in the center of Dhaka city was renamed as Bahasainik Mohammad Sultan Road.
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