Language Movement veteran Matin hospitalised

Veteran of the 1952 Language Movement, Abdul Matin, has been admitted to Dhaka's City Hospital in a critical condition.

He was first taken to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases on Monday after his condition worsened, Matin's nephew Abdus Salam said.

Later, he was transferred to City Hospital in capital's Mohammadpur.

A team of doctors there were to hold an emergency meeting around 10:30pm to review his condition and treatment, Salam said.

Matin's relative Tipu Biswas told bdnews24.com, "Doctors have said that his right side has been paralysed following a stroke."

He is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital's ICU, Biswas said.

The 88-year-old Language Movement veteran lives with his family at Mohammadpur.

Doctors at the hospital held an emergency meeting, attended by specialist doctor Prof Mahmud Hasan, to review his physical state and treatment.

Biswas said Prof Hasan had told him that there was a blood clot near Matin’s neck under the brain.

“The patient is not physically strong enough to overcome the stress of an operation,” he said quoting the doctor.

However, doctors hope they can perform an operation within a day or two once Matin’s condition improves.

All documents of the veteran’s treatment will be taken to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on Tuesday. Doctors there will review them and decide their next move.

Biswas said BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Pran Gopal Dutta had assured him of transferring Matin to a better facility if needed.

Matin, a leader of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, was born on Dec 3, 1926 at Dhublia village under Sirajganj’s Chouhali Upazila.

He entered the Dhaka University in 1945.

He is known as ‘Bhasha Matin’ (language warrior Matin) for his role as the convenor of all-party state language movement committee in 1952.

The veteran played an active role in forming the Chhatra Union after the Language Movement and became its president later. He then got involved in communist movement.

Matin was appointed the secretary of the Communist Party’s Pabna district unit in 1954, but joined Maulana Bhasani’s NAP three years later.

He formed the ‘East Pakistan Communist Party’ a year later.

In 1992, he took an active part in forming the Workers Party of Bangladesh and resigned in 2006.

He joined Workers Party again three years later, when it was reformed under Haider Akbar Khan Rono. Matin remained with it, although Rono later moved to the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

The veteran has authored several books on the Language Movement.

Of them, ‘Bangali Jatir Utsya Sandhan and Bhasha Andolan’ (in search of the Bengali’s root and the Language Movement), ‘Bhasha Andolan Ki Ebong Keno’ (what is Language Movement and why it took place), and ‘Bhasha Andolaner Itihash’ (the history of Language Movement) are well known.