Demise of an avuncular political leader
Courtesy New age 7/9/09
One thing I learned from my senior colleagues who used to meet him in different meetings is Mr Saifur Rahman did never like theoretical deliberations; he was eager to listen to problems from someone who could present the immediate practical solutions, writes Maswood Alam Khan
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BACK in 2003, it was a conference organised by Agrani Bank to evaluate the performance of an IFAD-aided project called ‘Employment Generation Project for the Rural Poor’, in short EGPRP, which was held in the IDB auditorium at Rokeya Sarani of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in
We tried our best to organise the prestigious conference as seamlessly as possible always keeping in view the decorum, etiquette and protocol to be maintained. As usual the conference started with a recitation from the holy Qur’an followed in proper order by speeches of dignitaries like governor of the central bank and other very important personalities who were associated with different projects meant for employment generation and poverty alleviation.
When one of the respected persons in his address was narrating what the banks and NGOs have done so far and can do in future in respect of poverty alleviation, Saifur Rahman all on a sudden asked in his vexing and shouting voice to stop the litany of his lecture, to everybody’s utter dismay! Bluntly he said: ‘Lectures kill time and issues. I want to hear from those ladies sitting in the front row why they have come and what they have to say.’ The whole protocol arrangement plunged into a topsy-turvy situation and we had to hurriedly cut short and rearrange the sequence of the inauguration programme allowing only those ladies – the beneficiaries of EGPRP – to narrate their stories.
To everybody’s surprise Saifur Rahman spent about four hours, oblivious of his lunch time, listening to long tales. Not less than ten women narrated how with small seed money taken from the Agrani Bank through EGPRP they started their micro-enterprises and found themselves freed from the shackles of local lenders and NGOs who used to charge them with abnormally high rates of interests for micro-loans. Mr Rahman prodded every one of the ladies with questions to know how the Agrani Bank treated them, whether anybody asked for any bribe and how they found their new entrepreneurship experience.
That day about 400 participants who packed the auditorium were flabbergasted and enamoured by Mr Rahman’s candid and frank way of looking at the acute problem of rural poverty and his suggestions based on practical premises appropriate to our rural scenario. That day we came to learn from his own words that his father died a tragic death after being attacked by cholera.
One thing I learned from my senior colleagues who used to meet him in different meetings is Mr Saifur Rahman did never like theoretical deliberations; he was eager to listen to problems from someone who could present the immediate practical solutions.
There is an adage known to the banking community that whenever Mr Saifur Rahman met or addressed the managing directors of banks he often used to call them simply by a common salutation ‘Hallow Manager Sahib’ knowing or not knowing that there is a huge difference between a branch manager and the managing director of a bank.
He used to treat the government functionaries, the journalists, his associates in politics, the industrialists, the bankers, and people from his constituency in Sylhet with an avuncular touch. Those people and officials who enjoyed his humour, warmth and cordiality will fondly remember him throughout their life. In spite of his few failings mainly due to follies committed by some of his close relations the nation will remember his stature and general people will visualise the twelve budget speeches he delivered inside the parliament during his tenures as finance minister for three terms. With his death the nation must have lost a luminary.
Die everybody must – today or tomorrow. But the way Mr Saifur Rahman died is a tragedy and a shame on our part. He died because the driver of the microbus carrying him had to skid to save a dog on the highway and plunged into a pond. Why should there be dogs, goats, cows, men, women, children, carts, vans and rickshaws roam and move on a highway? Is it not ludicrous?
Nowhere in the world, not even in
Standard highways are so designed and constructed that a motorist is not supposed to worry about any impediment while driving at a specific speed, not to speak of hazards like rickshaws and vans moving slowly on or by the side of a highway or a dog crossing the highway.
The tragic death of Saifur Rahman should wake up our policymakers to find ways and means on how to ensure safety in roads and highways. We don’t want to hear another tragedy that could be avoided by proper redesigning of our roads and highways and by immediate implementation of stricter traffic laws.
Maswood Alam Khan is a banker.
maswood@hotmail.com
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