Writer and political activist Badruddin Umar has accused Workers’ Party of Bangladesh chief Rashed Khan Menon of including untrue information in his recently published autobiography “Ek Jibon: Shadhinotar Shurjodoy.”
In a written statement issued on Friday, Umar said that the former minister took aim at him out of revenge.
He said that Menon had given fabricated information on him at different times but failed to prove the allegations.
In his memoir, Menon said that Umar served as the editor of "Ganashakti" newspaper between 1968 and 1970, when he published reports on Naxalite movements which appeared in Kolkata-based ‘Deshbrati Patrika’ by changing the names and places.
"It is difficult to understand how this is even possible. Because 'Deshbrati' used to mainly publish stories on the killings of influential landlords in India.
“Was it possible to have such a report in any newspaper operating in then East Pakistan?” Umar said in his statement.
Describing it as an example of how hatred and bigotry can make people ignorant, the renowned writer said, “I served as the editor of ‘Ganashakti.’ Moreover, there was a party-controlled editorial board in place. Nothing went for publication without the approval of the party."
He said that the Ganashakti newspaper, the unofficial mouthpiece of the then East Pakistan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), was first published in the second week of February 1970 and was shut down in the third week of March 1971.
“Speaking about 'Ganashakti,' in 1968-69; is it anything but a lie?” Umar said before adding that he was working at the Rajshahi University until December 1968.
The political activist said that the people know what his contribution was to the country’s cultural and political arena since the 1960s, and everything is recorded in his autobiography “Amar Jibon.”
