Mokarram Hossain :
Barrister Mainul Hosein was a towering figure in the legal profession as well as in the media. His convictions were always a mark of his confidence in himself.
Unfortunately eminent personality late Mainul Hossain, who was also the adviser of the Caretaker Government, had to serve three months in jail for speaking out at a TV talk show. After entering the prison he had to accept a bed on the floor. The man, who lived forever in comfort, was the chairman of the Editorial Board of The New Nation. He was the beloved elder son of Tafazzal Hossain Manik Mia, a renowned journalist and Editor of the Daily Ittefaq.
Like him, his father Manik Mia was also imprisoned and Daily Ittefaq was declared illegal during the fag end of the Pakistani rule. However, at one stage of the 1969 movement, the ban on the Daily Ittefaq was lifted and Tafazzal Hossain Manik Mia, the dreamer of liberation of Bangladesh, was released from prison.
Mainul Hosein had served as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). He was also the most important member of the Press Commission established for the first time in Bangladesh. He played a major role in finalising the legal framework for press freedom namely the Press Commission Report. He was also elected several times the President of Bangladesh Sangbadpatra Parishad and he left his mark in developing a healthy relationship between the journalists and the newspaper owners.
Today, I want to recall him for his guidance as the chairman of the Editorial Board. In truth, I have learned from him how to write editorials, and commentaries in particular, exposing the misdeeds and corruption of fallen Sheikh Hasina’s 15 years dictatorial rule, her party leaders and the high government officials.
People like him had to suffer so much to say a word. As he was not in the good book of the fallen Sheikh Hasina, he was forced to go to imprisonment. After being released from prison, Mainul Hosein was diagnosed with incurable cancer and suffered a lot. He died of this incurable disease in a hospital in the city on December 9, 2023.
Fortunately for us, he has written some books including ‘Wanted Success of Democracy’ before his death. The weight and weight of these books is immense. Whatever he wrote in these books as a fearless fighter of democracy will be the path of our journey. Soldiers of democracy will find inspiration from these books.
I like to mention that I have joined The New Nation after serving two other newspapers on my retirement from the National News Agency BSS as Managing Editor. Before joining here, I worked in The Independent and The Financial Express in various capacities. I have been working in this daily as an Editor for about three years now. The working pattern of the news agency and the newspapers are one way or another different. But I have adjusted it with the direct guidance of my chairman, the late Mainul Hosein.
I like to mention that Mainul Hosein had turned The New Nation to a new height as a newspaper. It was Mainul Hosein’s baby which he guided from being a weekly to a daily. And within few years, The New Nation rose to being an English language newspaper with a readership second only to wrestwhile The Bangladesh Observer. The total credit goes to Barrister Hosein.
Mainul Hosein won the Parliament election on an Awami League ticket from his village constituency of Bhandaria-Kathalia (Barishal) in the beginning of 1973. When the government changed the basic character of the Constitution to introduce a one-party system (BKSAL) in January 1975 through the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, he was unable to accept the constitutional changes. Together with General M.A.G. Osmany, he exercised the option of resigning from Parliament.
His decision was looked upon by many as an act of courage brought on by conviction. His belief in unfettered democracy was behind his move to quit the legislature. Even in the final years of his life illness and disappointment with the state of affairs could not make him silent. He was not afraid to speak up for the ideas he believed in. For this, he will live long in the hearts of the people.
( The writer is Editor, The New Nation)
