Alimuddin Ahmad
{{Short description|Bengali bodybuilder, activist and wrestler}}
{{notability|1=Biographies|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Munshi Syed
| name = Alimuddin Ahmad
| native_name = সৈয়দ আলীমুদ্দীন আহমদ
| caption =
| birth_date = 1884
| birth_place = Dacca, Bengal Presidency
| death_date = {{Death year and age|1920|1884}}
| death_place = Calcutta, British India
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| occupation =
| known_for =
| movement = Anti-colonial independence movement
| footnotes =
}}
Syed Alimuddin Ahmad ({{langx|bn|সৈয়দ আলীমুদ্দীন আহমদ}}; 1884 - 1920), popularly known as Master Saheb ({{langx|bn|মাস্টার সাহেব}}),{{cite book|title=India Wrests Freedom|pages=18, 47|author=Sengupta, Subodh Chandra|year=1982|publisher=Sahitya Samsad}} was a Bengali bodybuilder and wrestler. He participated in the anti-British independence movement as an underground activist and revolutionary,{{cite book|title= In Search of a Revolutionary Ideology and a Revolutionary Programme|author=Mazumdar, Satyendra Narayan|pages=77–78|year=1979|publisher=People's Publishing House}} as a part of the Dhaka Mukti Sangha organisation.{{cite web|url=https://www.netajisubhasbose.org/revolutionary-organizations|website=Netaji Subhas Bose|title=Bengal Volunteers (Revolutionary Organization)}} Ahmed rose to prominence after the organisation was absorbed into Subhas Chandra Bose's Bengal Volunteers during the mayorship of Chittaranjan Das in Calcutta.{{cite news|url=https://dailyasianage.com/news/241629/from-where-west-bengal-was-run-for-three-decades-plus|work=Daily Asian Age|date=18 September 2020|author=Datta, Pradip Kumar|title=From where West Bengal was run for three decades-plus}}
Early life and family
Syed Alimuddin Ahmad was born in 1884 to a Bengali Muslim family in Ashiq Jamadar Lane, Dhaka. His father, Syed Amiruddin, was a tailor by profession and owned a small tailoring shop. He and his siblings were educated in the local primary school and then at madrasas, which was why he was often referred to by the titles of Munshi or Moulvi by his comrades.{{cite news|url=https://news8plus.com/tribute-to-calcutta-tv-on-the-138th-birth-anniversary-of-revolutionary-hemchandra-ghosh/|website=News 8 Plus|title=Tribute to Calcutta TV on the 138th birth anniversary of revolutionary Hemchandra Ghosh|date=22 October 2021}} Ahmad then enrolled at the Dhaka College. Following his father's death, he started working as a home tutor. Ahmad was a devout Sunni Muslim.{{Cite web |script-title=bn:তাঁর নামেই নামকরণ হয় 'আলিমুদ্দিন স্ট্রিট', বিস্মৃতির অন্তরালে সেই বাঙালি বিপ্লবী |url=https://prohor.in/index.php/alimuddin-street-was-named-after-syed-alimuddin |access-date=2020-08-13 |website=prohor.in |language=bn}}
Activism
The start of Ahmad's activism roughly coincided with the 1905 Partition of Bengal movement. As an accomplice of Hemchandra Ghosh, he joined Ghosh's organisation, the Dhaka Mukti Sangha.{{cite book|title=Swami Vivekananda: Patriot-Prophet|page=345|date=16 January 2022|publisher=K.K. Publications|author=Datta, Bhupendranath}} During World War I, many revolutionaries and activists were arrested by the British Army though others such as Ahmad continued to keep the organisation alive underground. Ahmad provided shelter for numerous rebels and assisted them with weaponry. He prevented communal riots in Dacca during his leadership and had recruited many young people in the city. Among his notable disciples was Abdul Jabbar. Ahmad continued his anti-imperial activities in hiding to avoid police arrests. The colonial police were never able to capture him.{{fact|date=July 2024}}
Death and legacy
Alimuddin Ahmad died of tuberculosis in his early thirties in 1920,{{cite book|author=Sengupta, Subodha|editor=Bose, Anjali|title=সংসদ বাঙালি চরিতাভিধান|volume=1|publisher=Sahitya Samsad|location=Kolkata|date=November 2013|page=80|ISBN=978-81-7955-135-6|language=bn}} which was a major setback for the Mukti Sangha.{{cite book|year=2001|title=Defying Death: Struggle Against Imperialism and Feudalism|page=101|publisher=Tulika|isbn=9788185229416|author1=Gupta, Maya|author2=Gupta, Amit Kumar}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Alimuddin}}
Category:Revolutionaries from British India
Category:20th-century Indian Muslims
Category:20th-century Bengalis
Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Category:Tuberculosis deaths in India
Category:Indian independence activists from Bengal
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