Madhusudan Dey, popularly known as Madhu Da, the founder of the famous Madhur Canteen on the Dhaka University campus, has been recognized as a martyred intellectual, despite his professional identity.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque released a new list of 118 more martyred intellectuals at a press conference on Sunday, which contained the name of Madhu Da.
The minister said he was not a teacher, writer or researcher, nor an artist.
“[But] he was such a person that everyone in Dhaka University knows him. He had a unique role in all the movements related to the independence of the country from Dhaka University.”
He continued: “Some such persons have gone into special consideration (included in the list). He (Madhu Da) was a tea shopkeeper. [One could ask] how was he an intellectual then? But his contribution, in those 23 years, all the leaders and activists who led the country, he supported them.”
“We made no exception in making the list except this one,” he added.
The press was told that he also had a certificate signed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, where Bangabandhu recognized Madhu Da as an intellectual.
His eatery at Dhaka University still stands proud as Madhur Canteen.
Notably, before independence, almost all student leaders used to engage in political activities at the canteen. His eatery was the centre of many protests and struggles during the Pakistan era. Because of this, he became an enemy of the Pakistani force. On the night of March 25, 1971, Pakistani occupation forces picked him up from Jagannath Hall and killed him.
