A.K. Golam Jilani

A.K. Golam Jilani (Bengali:এ.কে. গোলাম জিলানী) (24 October 1904 – 9 February 1932) was a Bengali revolutionary of the Indian independence movement from the Nawabganj Upazila, Dhaka in present-day Bangladesh.

Early years

A.K. Golam Jilani was born in 24 October 1904 in the Algichor village of the Nawabganj Upazila of the Dhaka district of British India (Present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). His father’s name was Golam Muhammad Chowdhury, who was also a revolutionary against the British Raj. Golam Jilani was educated at the National School, where he completed his matriculation. He later went to Patna (capital of the Indian state of Bihar) and passed his B.A. there.

Involvement in the Indian independence movement

Golam Jilani, during his student life got involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj and fought for the independence of India from the Great Britain. He became the Assistant Secretary of Bengal Nationalist Muslim Party and the Councillor of All India Muslim League at the age of 27. He was a great patriot of his country and this was proved when he refused to serve as the Deputy Magistrate under the British Government. In the Galimpur village, Golam Jilani and the revolutionary leader Asab Ali Beg called for a meeting where they invited the people to join the revolutionaries against the British Raj for the independence of India from the Great Britain. At Nawabganj, many meetings and conferences took place for the Indian independence movement, for which many honourable leaders like Satish Chandra Dasgupta, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Indra Narayn Dasgupta and Mahatma Gandhi visited Algichor to meet Golam Jilani.

Arrest and Death

In a meeting at Nawabganj in 1932, Golam Jilani gave a ferocious speech against the British Government, for which he was arrested in the meeting by the Police. Jilani was first taken to Algichor to see his mother for the last time and later taken to Dhaka Central Jail for captivity. There he was kept in a dark cold cell. He got weak day by day and suffered from typhoid fever. The British Government sent a recognizance to Golam Jilani’s father that if Jilani stop rebelling against the English, than he will be released from the Jail. Jilani’s father, Golam Muhammad Chowdhury, who was also a revolutionary against the British Raj, said that Jilani would die as a Martyr in Jail rather than conspiring with the English. In Jail, Jilani was tortured by the police even though he was a patient of typhoid fever. Heavy rocks were kept on his chest and blood came out of his nose and he breathed his last on 9 February 1932.

His body was taken back to his home village at Algichor, where he was buried next to his house.

Source: ইছামতির বাঁকে by Abdul Karim