To honour the works and ideas of National Professor and Bangla Academy's fellow historian Salahuddin Ahmed, Bangla Academy, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Independent University Bangladesh, Mahmuda Khatun Siddiqua, Abdul Ahad, Hamida Khanam Memorial Council are going to jointly organise a three day memorial seminar titled 'Secularism and Overall
Social Development'. The event will be held from June 13 to 15 at Bangla Academy and IUB.
The seminar will inaugurate today at the Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Auditorium of Bangla Academy on June 13. Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman will inaugurate the seminar as chief guest. Veteran Nazrul exponent Professor Dr. Karunamoy Goswami will preside over the discussion. Professor Shamsuzzaman Khan, director general of Bangla Academy and Professor M Omar Rahman, vice chancellor of IUB will be present as special guests at the event. Nishat Jahan Rana will deliver the opening speech at the inauguration session. After the inauguration, a documentary on the life and works of Salahuddin Ahmed will be screened.
Afterwards a seminar titled 'Mishro Shanskriti, Oitijjo O Amra"' will be presided over by novelist Selina Hossain. Indian researcher Professor Imanul Haque will present a paper at the seminar. Veteran journalist and cultural personality Kamal Lohani, essayist and publisher Mofidul Haque will be present as discussants at the seminar.
On the second day, Nazrul exponent Professor Karunamoy Goswami will present an essay titled 'Rabindra Chintay Dhorma Niropekhotay' at the Shamsur Rahman auditorium of Bangla Academy. Professor Shamsuzzaman Khan will preside over the event. Professor Emeritus Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Professor Hayat Mamud and human rights activist advocate Sultana Kamal will take part at the discussion.
The final day of event will be held at the Lecture Gallery of SLASS, IUB and will be presided over by Professor M Omar Rahman. The seminar of the final day is titled 'The Future of Secularism' where political analyst Professor Ali Riaz will present an essay. Zafar Sobhan, dean of SLASS, IUB and Professor Dr Zakir Hossain Raju will take part at the discussion. Cultural programmes will also take place every day during the three day seminar.
Professor Salahuddin Ahmed led an honest, purist and reserved life, never hesitating to speak out what he knew as the truth said speakers at the memorial meeting. He passed away on October 19, 2014 at the age of 92.
Salahuddin was an outspoken and secular by nature. He always wanted society to be materialistic and the country to be secular.
Salahuddin was born in 1922 in Faridpur. He obtained his BA honours and MA degrees from the Calcutta University and subsequently MA and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and University of London, UK. His teaching career began in 1948 when he joined the capital's Jagannath College, [now university] as a lecturer of history. He served as lecturer and professor of history at the Rajshahi University, and later as professor of history at Jahangirnagar and Dhaka universities.
"Social ideas and social change in Bengal 1818-1835", "Bangladesh: Traditional and transformation", "Bangladesher jatiya chetona unmesh o bikash", Bangladesh otit bortoman", and "Bangaleer shadhona o Bangladesher muktijuddho", are among the notable books he authored. He received many prestigious awards in his life time.