Rashed Khan Menon
{{Short description|Bangladeshi politician (born 1943)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{infobox officeholder
| name = Rashed Khan Menon
| native_name = রাশেদ খান মেনন
| native_name_lang = bn
| image = Rashed Khan Menon (01).jpg
| caption = Menon in 2020
| office = Member of Bangladesh Parliament
| constituency = Barisal-2
| term_start = 30 January 2024
| term_end = 6 August 2024
| predecessor = Shah-e-Alam
| constituency1 = Dhaka-8
| term_start1 = 25 January 2009
| term_end1 = 29 January 2024
| predecessor1 = Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu
| successor1 = AFM Bahauddin Nasim
| constituency2 = Barisal-2
| term_start2 = 5 March 1991
| term_end2 = 24 November 1995
| predecessor2 = Syed Azizul Huq
| successor2 = Golam Faruque Ovi
| constituency3 = Bakerganj-9 (now defunct)
| term_start3 = 2 April 1979
| office4 = Minister of Social Welfare
| primeminister4 = Sheikh Hasina
| term_start4 = 3 January 2018
| term_end4 = 7 January 2019
| predecessor4 = Geetiara Safya Chowdhury
| successor4 = Nuruzzaman Ahmed
| office5 = Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism
| primeminister5 = Sheikh Hasina
| term_start5 = 14 January 2014
| term_end5 = 3 January 2018
| predecessor5 = Faruk Khan
| successor5 = A.K.M. Shahjahan Kamal{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/country/menon-being-replaced-kamal-cabinet-1514311|title=Menon being replaced by Kamal at cabinet|date=2018-01-03|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2018-01-03}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|5|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Faridpur, Bengal Presidency, British India
| nationality = Bangladeshi
| spouse = Lutfun Nessa Khan
| party = Workers Party of Bangladesh
| alma_mater = Dhaka College
| occupation = Politician
| father = Abdul Jabbar Khan
| relatives = {{unbulleted list|Sadek Khan (brother)|Enayetullah Khan (brother)| Selima Rahman (sister)|Abu Zafar Obaidullah (brother)}}
| otherparty = Bangladesh National Awami Party-Bangladesh NAP
}}
Rashed Khan Menon (born 18 May 1943){{cite news |title=Rashed Khan Menon steps into 65 |url=http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/18/met.html |newspaper=New Age |location=Dhaka |access-date=2010-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127035357/http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/18/met.html |archive-date=2019-01-27 |url-status=dead }} is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the president of Workers Party of Bangladesh and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Barisal-2, Dhaka-8 and Bakerganj-9 constituencies. He was the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Education.{{cite news |title=Menon for edn system without discrimination |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=96535 |newspaper=The Daily Star |agency=BSS |date=11 July 2009}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/council-ministers-reshuffle-comes-surprises-1514674|title=Council of Ministers: Surprises in reshuffle|date=2018-01-04|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2018-01-03}} Earlier, he served as the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism.{{cite news |title=Hawkers greet Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon |url=http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=382777&date=2014-01-13 |newspaper=Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha |date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112213/http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=382777&date=2014-01-13 |archive-date=2017-12-29}}
Early life
Menon was born in Faridpur. He studied at Dhaka Collegiate School, finish in 1958. In 1960, he passed intermediate in arts group from Dhaka College. He graduated from Dhaka University in 1963 with a degree in economics. In 1964, he received his master's degree.
In the late 1960s, Menon was president of the East Pakistan Students Union faction linked to the National Awami Party of Maulana Bhasani. However, he differed with Maulana Bhasani when the latter accepted participation in elections in January 1970. Menon's East Pakistan Student Union launched a campaign against elections, stating that they would be merely a facade of democracy, that fair elections could not be held under martial law and that the situation was ripe for revolution.{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Nagendra Kr. |date=2003 |title=Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh (Set of 30 Vols.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59rzjgk4430C |publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Limited |pages=19, 22, 42, 44, 168 |isbn=978-81-261-1390-3}} He built a revolutionary Maoist organisation along with Kazi Zafar Ahmed. The Menon-Zafar group built a base in Khulna (in Begerhat), amongst workers near Dacca and had a student group named Revolutionary Students Union.{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Nagendra Kr. |date=2003 |title=Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh (Set of 30 Vols.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59rzjgk4430C |publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Limited |pages=48–49 |isbn=978-81-261-1390-3}}
Menon contested the 1973 Bangladeshi parliamentary election as a NAP (Bhasani) candidate. He did not win any seat, and afterward he complained that the Awami League government had used unfair methods to win the election.{{cite journal |last=Jahan |first=Rounaq |date=February 1974 |title=Bangladesh in 1973: Management of Factional Politics |journal=Asian Survey |publisher=University of California Press |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=125–135 |doi=10.2307/2643085 |jstor=2643085}}
Career
File:Rashidkhanmenon (67).JPG, 2005]]
Menon was elected to parliament in 1979. In 1990, he played a leading role in the mass struggle that toppled the Hossain Mohammad Ershad regime. In 1991, he was again elected to parliament. In 1991, he, as a Workers Party of Bangladesh parliamentarian, submitted four demands for constitutional amendments in the parliament. These demands and others were submitted to a 15-member constitutional review committee, in which he was included. After 29 meetings, the committee submitted a unanimous report to the parliament.{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Nagendra Kr. |date=2003 |title=Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh (Set of 30 Vols.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59rzjgk4430C |publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Limited |page=52 |isbn=978-81-261-1390-3}}
On 17 August 1992, Menon survived a violent near-fatal attack. Unidentified assailants opened fire on the Workers Party office, injuring Menon.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}
Bangladesh Workers’ Party of Menon joined the 14-party alliance led by Awami League and participated in the 2008 national election. They also participated in the 2014 national election which was boycotted by the main opposition party BNP. Menon was appointed as the minister of civil aviation and tourism. Menon, once rose a strong voice against authoritarian West Pakistani regime.
On 22 August 2024, after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina, Menon was arrested from Gulshan area in Dhaka.{{Cite news|date=2024-08-22 |title=Rashed Khan Menon arrested from Gulshan |url=https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/politics/kkef2xylhr |access-date=2024-08-22 |work=Prothomalo |language=en}} While attending a hearings both Menon and Hasanul Haq Inu were assaulted by lawyers at the court premises.{{Cite news |date=28 August 2024 |title=Court security under scrutiny as Inu, Menon assaulted despite heavy police presence |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/court/356366/court-security-under-scrutiny-as-inu-menon |access-date=6 October 2024 |work=Dhaka Tribune}}
After the investigation, the anti-corruption commission of Bangladesh found that Menon had accumulated 25000 crore BDT (2.5 Billion USD) worth of wealth through corruption.[https://www.ittefaq.com.bd/amp/703745/আওয়ামী-জোটের-নেতা-মেননের-২৫-হাজার-কোটি-টাকার-সম্পদ]
Family
Menon's father, Abdul Jabbar Khan, hailed from Khudrakathi village, in Babuganj Upazila, Barisal. Menon is closely related to several prominent Bangladeshi personalities. His father was the speaker of the Pakistani National Assembly. His siblings include journalist and columnist Sadek Khan, architect Sultan M. Khan, Alan Khan, a photographer in Sydney, poet Abu Zafar Obaidullah, former minister Selima Rahman, journalist and ambassador to Burma A.Z.M. Enayetullah Khan and the publisher of New Age Shahidullah Khan Badal.{{cite news |last=Halim |first=Anwar Parvez |date=19 March 2009 |title=All in the family |url=http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=5384 |newspaper=Probe News Magazine |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100404070230/http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=5384 |archive-date=2010-04-04}}
Menon is married to Lutfun Nessa Khan. She is elected as a Jatiya Sangsad member at the 11th Parliament from the reserved women's seat-48 representing the Workers Party of Bangladesh.{{Cite news |url=https://samakal.com/bangladesh/article/19021173/নারী-আসনে-৪৯-জন-বিনা-প্রতিদ্বন্দ্বিতায়-নির্বাচিত|script-title=bn:সংরক্ষিত নারী আসনে ৪৯ জন বিনা প্রতিদ্বন্দ্বিতায় নির্বাচিত|website=Samakal|language=bn|access-date=2019-07-22}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.gov.bd/index.php/en/mps/members-of-parliament/current-mp-s/list-of-11th-parliament-members-english?layout=edit&id=4324|title=Constituency 348_11th_En|website=Bangladesh Parliament|access-date=2019-07-22}}
References
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Category:Bangladeshi communists
Category:Workers Party of Bangladesh politicians
Category:Ministers of civil aviation and tourism of Bangladesh
Category:Ministers of social welfare of Bangladesh
Category:2nd Jatiya Sangsad members
Category:5th Jatiya Sangsad members
Category:9th Jatiya Sangsad members
Category:10th Jatiya Sangsad members
Category:11th Jatiya Sangsad members
Category:12th Jatiya Sangsad members