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Published : 21 Oct 2025, 07:43 PM
Awami League heavyweight and nine-time MP Tofail Ahmed has been taken off life support and is now breathing unaided, according to his personal aide.
He has been undergoing treatment at Square Hospital in Dhaka for nearly a month, battling differerent complications brought on by age.
Abul Khayer, Tofail’s personal assistant, said on Tuesday: “His condition has improved compared with earlier days. There has been noticeable progress.”
A family member had earlier said Tofail had long been reliant on a wheelchair after suffering a stroke that left one side of his body paralysed. The effects left him unable to walk.
Born on Oct 22, 1943, in the village of Kodalia in Bhola, Tofail played a key role in Bangladesh’s political landscape for more than five decades.
He last served as an MP from the Bhola-1 constituency.
Tofail studied soil science at Dhaka University after completing his higher secondary education at Brojomohun College in Barishal.
He came to prominence during the student movements of the late 1960s.
As vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU), he also served as the convenor of the All-Party Students Action Committee during the 1969 Mass Upsurge.
On Feb 23 of that year, at a historic rally at the then Racecourse Ground in Dhaka, he famously bestowed the title “Bangabandhu” on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, following the withdrawal of the Agartala Conspiracy Case and the release of all suspects, including Mujib.
Tofail was elected to the National Assembly in the 1970 general election and became one of the four regional commanders of the Mujib Bahini during the 1971 Liberation War.
After independence, he was appointed political secretary to the then prime minister Sheikh Mujib in 1972.
He went on to serve in key party positions, including as organising secretary and presidium member. He is currently a member of the Awami League’s Advisory Council.
Tofail served twice as commerce minister -- first in the 1996-2001 term, and later from 2014 to 2019 under the Sheikh Hasina government.
