Many real organizers and freedom fighters of the liberation war of 1971 weren’t recognized due to parochial politics of some members of the scrutiny committee in Srimangal upazilla under Moulvibazar district in Bangladesh.

It’s learnt that Chairman of Srimangal Municipality MA Musabbir, the founding president of the then Chhatra League MA Rahim, SA Mujib, local Awami League General Secretary & former upazilla chairman Md. Ismail Hossain, AL President Dr. Rama Ranjan Dev, Dr. Sudhanshu Ranjan Das, Chairman of Srimangal Union Md. Rais Mia (father of Md. Afzal, former local up chairman ), Awami League leader Kamlesh Bhattacharya (he was also a member of the Sangram Management Committee and became Chairman of Srimangal Municipality after independence), Bimal Jyoti Chowdhury Nani, Municipal Commissioner Shahidul Alam, NAP leaders Rasendra Datta Chowdhury & Mohamed Shajahan Miah and many more kept a great contribution in the liberation war of 1971.

It may be mentioned here that the Pakistan government arrested NAP leaders Rasendra Datta Chowdhury ( a brave journalist and patriotic politician), Mohamed Shajahan Miah and the then student’s League leaders M.A Rahim ( Later elected local municipality chairman) and S.A Mujib respectively and sent them to Moulvibazar Jail on charge of breaking Pakistan under martial law act 60 MLR Clause -8 ( a) which popularly known as Joybangla Case on April 6, 1970.

The next day there was a pre-arranged public meeting of NAP at Srimangal Municipality ground.

Central NAP leaders Begum Matia Chowdhury ( Now ruling Awami League leader), who was, once upon a time, known as the fire daughter of the era and former VP of DU and eminent politician cum journalist Ahmedul Kabir came here from Dhaka and made a fiery speech in the public meeting and demanded the unconditional release of the arrested leaders.

As a result, the Pakistan government was forced to release them unconditionally the next day in the face of spontaneous intense agitation by thousand of activists and leaders of both Awami League and NAP and the common people.
Later, the said four leaders and others worked as the organizers of the liberation war of 1971.

Dr. Rama Ranjan Dev and Dr. Sudhanshu Ranjan Das served refugees and freedom fighters as doctors at camps in India.

Rasendra Datta Chowdhury, a veteran journalist and leader of NAP, who worked as a joint secretary in a camp in India, was awarded an honorary certificate by the Indian government for his contribution and cooperation in maintaining law and order and working for the freedom of the people of Bangladesh.

Due to parochial politics of some members of the Srimangal upazilla freedom fighter’s scrutiny committee, opted devided opinions and sent all the applications of dedicated leaders Rasendra Datta Chowdhury, M.A Rahim, Mohamed Shajahan Miah and Md. Rais Miah to the national freedom fighter’s council in 2017 ignoring their special contribution about liberation war of 1971.

Even, Some members of the scrutiny committee in Srimangal ignored the contribution of the said leaders and commented in their application forms as saying that no reliable information about their involvement in the liberation war was found and sent the reports to Jamuka due to parochial politics.

Among the applicants, some appealed to the head office of Jamuka in Dhaka.

Many could not appeal because they did not know the rules and regulations about appeal while others didn’t take further steps due to severe poverty.

Rasendra Datta Chowdhury appealed to the national freedom fighter’s council on 12 October 2022. But no hearing following the appeal has yet been held.

On 19 May 2024, a top official of the ministry of liberation affairs said that he had nothing to do about arrangement of the hearing of Mr. Datta when contacted.

Many old citizens and local people who knew and saw about their politics and contribution in the liberation war expressed their grave concerns.

Many expressed regret and said that it wasn’t appropriate to deny the contribution of those who did politics for the people and country, helped and fought to liberate the country from the clutches of the Pakistani invaders during the 1971 war of independence.