Barrister Mainul Hosein: A tribute from the heart

– Syed Badrul Ahsan :

It was a day in early December 1983 when, accompanied by Motahar Hossain Siddiqui, the editor of the New Nation, I stepped into Barrister Mainul Hosein’s office at the Ittefaq building on RK Mission Road.

It was my very first meeting with him, though I had known of him as a lawyer and as a politician since my college days.

That he was the son of the venerable Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah was a thought which played in my mind as I shook hands with him.

That he had been a member of Parliament and had resigned from it was also a thought which was in me.

It was with diffidence that I met him on the day, to be introduced to him as an incoming assistant editor at the New Nation.

Motahar bhai was effusive in his praise of my writing and at one point told Barrister Hosein that I did not have any politics that I identified with.

The barrister broke into a smile, and asked how one who wished to come into journalism could go through his career without any political convictions.

In any case, Barrister Hosein directed his administration to issue an appointment letter for me immediately.

I walked out of his office as a new, happy member of the New Nation team.

The New Nation was my very first journalistic job; and many were the realities that I learned during my stay there for the next seven years.

It was education in journalism I went through at the newspaper.

In all that time, my contacts with Barrister Hosein remained constant.

There were all the times when he would ring me — and I was at home after the day’s work — and ask me in irritation who had written a particular editorial.

I told him. The next day, meeting him in the office, I discovered that he had been right to be indignant about the editorial in question.

It had been written by a colleague and lacked the ingredients necessary for such a piece of writing.

Barrister Mainul Hosein was insistent that the New Nation uphold democratic values.

And this was at a time when the military dictatorship of General Ershad had foisted itself on the country.

Wherever the barrister spoke, he made it a point to argue that democracy was a paramount need for the country.

There were of course the times when people did not agree with his prescription for democracy, but there was little question that he believed in the rise of conditions that would move the country away from authoritarian rule.

Through his articles in the New Nation, he expounded his thoughts about the political conditions confronting the country. Many were the times when he asked me if I could translate his articles, written in Bangla, into English. I did and he was happy.

It was at the New Nation that I made my acquaintance with such journalistic luminaries as Waheedul Haque (our revered Waheed bhai), Hasan Saeed, Amanullah Kabir, Shihab Sarkar, Azizur Rashid (Babu Bhai), Zakeria Shirazee, Nilratan Halder, Arunabh Sarkar, Afzal Khan and so many others.

It was a vibrant working place, with the newspaper climbing up in the circulation chart. I made my way out of the New Nation in early 1990 and moved on to newer pastures.

But in a surprisingly happy way, my links with Barrister Hosein remained.

He called me quite a few times on the phone to let me know he appreciated my write-ups in the news media I happened to be working for at the time.

I recall with fondness the day when he asked me to have lunch with him at the Intercontinental.

We had a fruitful discussion, though I must admit I did much of the listening to his ideas of what he thought of journalism and how it ought to be projected in Bangladesh.

As we were walking out after lunch, I suggested we step into the bookstore in the hotel, for I meant to collect the new issues of The Economist, Time and Newsweek. When I proceeded to the counter to pay for the journals, Barrister Mainul Hosein stopped me from doing so. He insisted on paying for them.

As he passes into the hereafter, it is the memories of my association with the New Nation and Barrister Mainul Hosein which come alive.

In my post-New Nation days, I read his articles, heard him on talk shows. It is not that I agreed with everything he said or wrote, a fact which he once noted in a phone conversation with me. But it was always interesting to listen to him putting his point of view across.

There was vitality, sheer energy in Barrister Hosein. It is this energetic individual who now falls silent.

He leaves behind a vacuum — and memories — for many of us who interacted with him at the New Nation.

(Syed Badrul Ahsan is an independent journalist and writes on politics and diplomacy) ***