Badruddin Umar, a prominent writer, historian, Marxist theorist, and political activist, passed away in Dhaka this morning at the age of 94.

He passed away at 10:05am on Sunday (September 7) while undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in the capital, according to Foizul Hakim, general secretary, Gono Mukti Council.

The veteran scholar had been suffering from various age-related complications for several years, Foizul Hakim said, adding his condition worsened early Sunday, prompting his transfer to hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Born on December 20, 1931, in Bardhaman, in the Bengal Presidency of British India, Umar pursued a distinguished academic path. 

He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from the University of Dhaka in 1953 and 1955 respectively, before going on to complete a PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) degree at the University of Oxford in 1961.

Upon returning to Bangladesh, Umar made significant contributions to higher education, founding the Department of Sociology at Rajshahi University in 1963. He later resigned from his academic position in 1968 in protest against the authoritarian policies of then East Pakistan Governor Monayem Khan. From that point, Umar devoted himself entirely to politics, research, and writing.

In 2003, he founded the National Liberation Council and served as its president.

Umar was widely recognised for his scholarly contributions to the study of East Bengal’s language movement and its political context. His works remain seminal in the fields of historical and political research in Bangladesh.

SMS/