Saogat editor Nasiruddin’s birthday celebrated

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DHAKA, Nov 20, 2017 (BSS) – The 129th birth anniversary of Mohammad Nasiruddin, a pioneering journalist and editor of Bengali literary magazine Saogat, was celebrated today.

Marking his birthday, Bangladesh National Museum organized a memorial meeting at its Poet Sufia Kamal auditorium here.

“Mohammad Nasiruddin devoted his entire life to establishing an educated and literary minded society. He called for emancipation of womenfolk to establish a progressive society,” writer and journalist Rahat Khan told the meeting as the chief guest.

World Federation of Teacher’s Union President Prof Mahfuza Khanam chaired the function while writers Shamsuzzaman Noor and Dr Gulshan Ara and Nasiruddin’s granddaughter Flora Nasreen Khan Sathi, among others, addressed it.

Rahat Khan said Nasiruddin published illustrated weekly “Begum” in 1946 for bringing the womenfolk in the forefront of the society and flourishing their thoughts and conscience.

He demanded that the birth and death anniversaries of Nasiruddin be observed at the state level.

Professor Mahfuza Khanam said the then Bengali literary magazine Saogat had played a pivotal role to free the women from the state of confinement in the four walls of homes.

Born on November 20, 1988 at Paikadi village in Chandpur, Nasiruddin published the ‘Saogat’ on December 2, 1918 in Calcutta.

He played a pivotal role in the field of journalism and Bangla literature defying different obstacles during the then British rule in the undivided Bangla.

Saogat, also called Saugat, was a leading Bengali literary journal. Abdul Karim, a scholar, also edited the magazine, which was published on a monthly basis.

It mostly covered the work of Bengali Muslim authors and supported the involvement of Bengali Muslim women in literary activities.

The publication of Saogat was kept suspended in 1922 due to financial constraints. In 1926, its publication was resumed and since then it continued uninterruptedly until 1947. In 1926, Nasiruddin organized the Saogat Sahitya Majlis. He the weekly ‘Begum’ in 1946. After the India partition in 1947, he migrated to Dhaka, East Bengal, wherefrom the Saogat began to appear again regularly since 1954.

In 1985, Nasiruddin served as the first chairman of the trustee board of Nazrul Institute.

He got the Bangla Academy Award in 1975, Ekushey Padak in 1977 and Independence Day Award.

Nasiruddin introduced the ‘Nasiruddin Gold Medal’ after his name in 1976 to be awarded to writers and journalists.