Basanta Kumar Das (Pakistani politician)

Basanta Kumar Das (Bengali: বসন্ত কুমার দাস; Urdu: بسنت کمار داس, 1883–1965) was Pakistani lawyer and politician of the Pakistan National Congress who was federal minister and a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan from East Pakistan.

Das, came from a Sylheti family, was born on 2 November 1883 in Negal, Renga Pargana, Sylhet District, North-East Frontier Province, British India (present-day Dakshin Surma Upazila, Sylhet District, Bangladesh).^[1][2][3] He received his education from Sylhet Government College, Bangabasi College, Vidyasagar College and Ripon Law College.^[1] He started his political career by joining 22nd session of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1906.^[2] After acquiring his law degree, he joined at Sylhet District Bar in 1910 and got a job as munsif after five years. However, in 1917, Das left his job and became leader of the district bar.^[1]

In 1921 he joined the non-cooperation movement and fought legal battle on the behalf of the movement's activists.^[1] In the 1930s, his efforts as Assam's MLC resulted the Sylhet–Shillong highway and a bridge on the Umngot River.^[4] As a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, Das proposed to change the name of Assam Province, formerly North-East Frontier Province, as according to him Assamese were not majority of the province.^[5] In 1932, he was imprisoned for his involvement in the civil disobedience movement and was released in 1934. In the 1937 Indian provincial elections, he was elected and became the speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly. After the 1946 Indian provincial elections, he became minister for the home department of Assam Province.^[1] In the 1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election, he was elected as a INC politician from Assam Province.^[6] In April 1947, Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, governor of Assam, proposed to let the immigrants settle in the north bank of Brahmaputra River to resolve immigrants issues, which Das opposed.^[7] During the 1947 Sylhet referendum, Das advocated for vote for joining Sylhet District to the dominion of India. However, the referendum's turnout was in favour of joining the dominion of Pakistan.^[8] On 2 January 1948, a delegation led by Das and composed of members from several organizations submitted a memorandum of complaints to Vallabhbhai Patel, India's deputy prime minister, regarding discrimination against Bengalis in the newly formed Indian state of Assam.^[9] After the partition of India in 1947, Das immigrated to East Bengal (later renamed as East Pakistan), part of newly-founded Pakistan, from Assam, India.^[10] As a leader of the Pakistan National Congress (PNC), he became leader of the opposition of East Pakistan Provincial Assembly.^[1][11] In 1955, he became finance minister of East Pakistan as a member of the first Sarkar ministry.^[1] In the same year, he was elected and became a member of the 2nd National Assembly of Pakistan.^[12][13] In 1958, until a military coup happened, he was education and labor minister of Pakistan as a member of the Feroze Khan administration.^[1][14]

In 1959, restriction on political activities was imposed for him according to Election Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) by the provincial tribunal of East Pakistan.^[15] After that, he retired from politics. In 1960, Das moved to India for medical treatment.^[14] He died on 19 January 1965 at his son's house near Deshapriya Park, South Calcutta, India.^[1] His wife, social worker Kusum Kumari, was founder of the Sylhet Womens Association.^[2] After Das's death, his residence in Chalibandar, Sylhet was confiscated under the Enemy Property Act, 1965. In 1983, a school was established in his residence.^[14]