Our sorrow and heart-rending pain know no bounds as we have lost our beloved guardian Sir Dr Anisuzzaman, a Professor Emeritus of the University of Dhaka. There really is a profound sense of shock over the news that Professor Anisuzzaman has died. No doubt his death is an irreparable loss to the nation. We have lost him but we would not lose him as a model in our life. We believe the legacy of this great educator will live on.
Professor Anisuzzaman was best known as a National Professor. This luminary remained as a great champion for the cause of secularism throughout his life. He was a dazzling star that guided the nation. His equivalent is rare in the entire subcontinent in terms of stature and knowledge.
Anisuzzaman appeared many times as the conscience of the nation. He was never encumbered by preconceived notions; rather he was a liberal and progressive individual who believed in secularism. Being a teacher in Bangladesh where many students wear religious dresses, teachers are engulfed by preconceived ideas, he was free from bigotry and fundamentalism.
His death during this testing time was never expected and its pain will never be erased from our remembrance. The death of Professor Dr Anisuzzaman has left us in midst of a nightmare. Through his death we have lost a real force for good in Bangladesh.
It is a great sorrow and pain that we could not celebrate the 100th anniversary of our Father of the Nation and similarly we cannot formally mourn the death of our beloved teacher Dr Anisuzzaman nationwide due to the devastating coronavirus.
His last birth day was celebrated at Dhaka Club this year and all the speakers expressed their willingness to celebrate his birthday for over a long period of time. They wished that Anisuzzaman Sir would live for a thousand years and they would celebrate his birthday every year. The speakers repeatedly talked about his long life as he was looking quite sick.
Everyone understood that Sir was a bit weak on his birthday and nobody could accept it. We wanted his long life so that we can embrace his strong and inspiring words which will guide us to our future destiny.
Personally I have experience of spending some time with him at the launching ceremony of English daily Bangladesh Post on May 3, 2018. We had several meetings with Bangladesh Post owners Mr Rick Haque Sikder and Mr Ron Haque Sikder following a meeting with senior journalists. We were thinking about how we could make the inaugural function a success.
When it came to the question of selecting the chief guest I had in mind that if we cannot reach Nobel laureate Mr Amartya Sen, our best choice will be Dr Anisuzzaman. There were a lot of issues regarding reaching Amartya Sen. Ensuring his presence was a big question.
I told my journalist colleagues that because of being a central student leader I have had a good relation with famed economist Dr Rehman Sobhan. I met him with Awami League leaders. And I had a belief that if we request Mr Rehman Sobhan, we will be able to make it happen. But the timing of the launching ceremony was postponed due to some unavoidable reasons and we had to relinquish the idea.
Then without any hesitation I decided that we will invite Dr Anisuzzaman. Sir attended the launching ceremony of Bangladesh Post. He praised our venture and expressed his good wishes for the newspaper. Anisuzzaman Sir was a bit sick at that time. Despite that he attended the ceremony for which I will remain grateful to Dr Anisuzzaman for forever.
Anisuzzaman enriched his carrier as an academic of Bengali literature. He was a tireless researcher of Bengali culture, language and literature. He played a remarkable role in all democratic movements from the Language Movement of 1952 to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, for the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh in the 1980s and for the trial of war criminals later, having appeared as a witness before the International Crimes' Tribunal. He believed in the spirit of liberation of Bangladesh and fought for it.
Professor Anisuzzaman was an activist who took part in the Language Movement (1952), participated in Mass Uprising of 1969 led by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and joined the War of Liberation in 1971. He was a member of the Planning Commission to the Government of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh liberation war and a member of the National Education Commission set up by the government after liberation. He was awarded the status of National Professor by the government of Bangladesh in 2018.
Anisuzzaman was born in Calcutta [now Kolkata) in 1937. Along with his family, he moved to Khulna after the 1947 partition. About a year later, they moved to Dhaka. His father ATM Moazzem was a homeopathy practitioner and his grandfather, Sheikh Abdur Rahim, was a journalist and writer. His first piece of writing, a story, was published in Nowbahar, a literary magazine, in 1950. He completed his HSC from Jagannath College and obtained his bachelor's in 1956 and master's in 1957 in Bengali Literature from the University of Dhaka.
At the university, he worked with Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, Muhammad Abdul Hye and Munier Chowdhury. He completed his PhD in 1962 at the age of 25 from the same university. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago during 1964-65 and a Commonwealth Academic Staff fellow at the University of London (1974–75).
Anisuzzaman served as a faculty member at the University of Dhaka during 1959-69, 1985-2003 and 2005-08. He taught Bengali at the University of Chittagong during 1969-85. From 1978 to 1983, he was associated with research projects of the United Nations University. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Paris (1994), North Carolina State University (1995) and University of Calcutta (2010), and a visiting professor at the Visva-Bharati (2008-09, 2011).
Anisuzzaman was responsible for the Bengali language part of the Constitution of Bangladesh adopted in November 1972. He served as the Chairman of the Trustee Board of Nazrul Institute and had been the president of Bangla Academy since 2011.
In 1950s, the impact of the Russian Socialist Revolution left the young people around the globe in euphoria of being a revolutionist. Almost every young fellow had a dream of bringing about social change and Dr Anisuzzaman was no exception. If we look into his activities we will find that he never compromised with the ideals upon which the independent and sovereign Bangladesh was founded.
He took part in the War of Liberation in 1971 and was the Secretary of the Bangladesh Teachers' Association in 1971. War criminals had identified him as their enemy and in 2015 Dr Anisuzzaman received death threats from Islamic extremists.
Our art, culture and literature have been immensely benefited from the great contribution of Professor Anisuzzaman. With his death, the country has lost one of his greatest sons. It is indeed a national loss. The nation will pray and hope that our mothers would continue to give birth to child like Anisuzzaman.
Sharif Shahab Uddin is Editor-in-Chief, Bangladesh Post.