Senior Awami League leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, who died late Sunday night due to old-age complications at the age of 87, was a long-time companion of party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Apart from politics, she also engaged herself in social works and contributed to the development of sports, cultural and religious institutions.
Born in a respected Muslim family in Magura in 1935, Sajeda Chowdhury had actively participated in all the movements since 1956 when she joined the Awami League.
Her husband Golam Akbar Chowdhury was a politician and social worker. He died in 2015. The couple has three sons and a daughter.
She was the founding general secretary of the party’s women’s wing, Mohila Awami League, in 1969 and held the position till 1975.
During the Liberation War, she was the founding director of Kolkata Gobra Nursing Camp. She was given the Independence Award in 2010.
In 1974, she got the Unesco fellowship for special contributions to rural development and education. The same year, she bagged the Silver Elephant Award as the national commissioner of Bangladesh Girl Guides Association.
In 2000, she was elected the Woman of the Year by the American Biographical Institutite.
Sajeda Chowdhury became the party’s general secretary in 1986 and held the position till 1992 when she was inducted into the highest policymaking body, the Presidium.
Following the landslide victory of the Awami League in the 2008 elections, she was initially appointed deputy leader of the house in 2009.
After the Awami League won the 2014 and 2018 elections, Sajeda Chowdhury was reappointed to the same position.
In 2019, she was elected member of the parliament from Faridpur-2 constituency (Nagarkanda, Saltha, Sadarpur) for the seventh time and elected deputy leader of the House for the third time.
