Rashed Khan Menon (b. May 18, Faridpur

Faridpur District

Faridpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Faridpur District has a population of over 1.7 million people and is situated on the banks of the Padma river . It is bordered by Madaripur, Narail, Rajbari, Magura, Shariatpur, Gopalgonj, Dhaka and Manikganj...

) is a Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

i politician. He is the chairman of Workers Party of Bangladesh

Workers Party of Bangladesh

The Workers Party of Bangladesh is a Communist party in Bangladesh.WPB was founded in 1980 by the Bangladesh Communist Party , Revolutionary Communist League, Majdur Party and another group. Amal Sen was the founding general secretary....

 and a member of Jatiyo Sangsad, the parliament of Bangladesh. Menon is the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Education.

Early activism

Menon studied at Dhaka Collegiate School, finish in 1958. In 1960 he passed intermediate in arts group from Dhaka College. He graduated from Dhaka University in 1963 with a degree in Economics. In 1964 he achieved his master's degree.

In the late 1960s, Menon the president of the East Pakistan Students Union

Bangladesh Students Union

Bangladesh Students' Union is a left-leaning political organization in Bangladesh. It was established on 26 April 1952.BSU functions as an independent secular students' organisation for the student right as an interest group. During the Liberation War, BSU had its own guerrilla units...

 faction linked to the National Awami Party

National Awami Party

The National Awami Party was a leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded in Dhaka in erstwhile East Pakistan in July 1957 through the merger of several leftist and progressive groups. It advocated provincial autonomy, rights on the basis of ethnicity, recognition of ethinicities...

 of Maulana Bhasani. However, Menon differed with Maulana Bhasani when the latter accepted participation in elections in January 1970. Menon's East Pakistan Student Union launched a campaign against elections, stating that they would be merely a facade of democracy, that fair elections could not be held under martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

 and that the situation was ripe for revolution. Menon built a revolutionary Maoist organisation along with Kazi Zafar Ahmed

Kazi Zafar Ahmed

Kazi Zafar Ahmed was born in 1939, in the upazila of Chauddagram in Comilla. He was originally a leader at the Dhaka University. He served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 20 March 1989 to 6 December 1990. He has a M.A...

. The Menon-Zafar group built a base in Khulna

Khulna

Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers in Khulna District. It is the divisional headquarters of Khulna Division and a major industrial and commercial center. It has a seaport named Mongla on its outskirts, 38 km from Khulna...

 (in Begerhat), amongst workers near Dacca and had a student group named Revolutionary Students Union.

Menon contested the 1973 Bangladeshi parliamentary election as a NAP(Bhasani) candidate. He did not win any seat, and afterward he complained that the Awami League government had used unfair methods to win the election.

Later political career

Menon was elected to parliament in 1979. In 1990, he played a leading role in the mass struggle that toppled the Hossain Mohammad Ershad

Hossain Mohammad Ershad

Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad is a Bangladeshi politician who was President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990. Previously, he was Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Army and then Chief Martial Law Administrator in 1982....

 regime. In 1991 he was again elected to parliament. In 1991 Menon, then a Workers Party of Bangladesh parliamentarian, submitted four demands for constitutional amendments in the parliament. These demands and others were submitted to a 15-member constitutional review committee, in which Menon was included. After 29 meetings, the committee submitted a unanimous report to the parliament.

On August 17, 1992 Menon survived a violent near-fatal attack. Unidentified assailants opened fire on the Workers Party office, injuring Menon.

Family

Menon's father, Abdul Jabbar Khan

Abdul Jabbar Khan

Justice Abdul Jabbar Khan was the 6th Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was Preceded by Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry.- External links:*...

, hailed from Khudrakathi village, in Babuganj upazila

Babuganj Upazila

Babuganj is an Upazila of Barisal District in the Division of Barisal, Bangladesh.-Geography:Babuganj is located at . It has 25144 units of house hold and total area 164.88 km².-Demographics:...

, Barisal. Menon is closely related to several prominent Bangladeshi personalities. His father was the speaker of the Pakistani National Assembly. His siblings include poet Abu Zafar Obaidullah

Abu Zafar Obaidullah

Abu Zafar Obaidullah , a career civil servant by profession, was a first-rank poet of Bangladesh. Two of his long poems, namely, 'Aami-Kingbodontir-Kathaa Bolchi' and 'Bristi O Shahosi Purush-er Jonyo Pranthona' have gained legendary renowence since their first publicaiton in late 1970s.-Life and...

, former minister Selima Rahman, journalist and ambassador to Burma A.Z.M. Enayetullah Khan and the publisher of New Age

New Age (Bangladesh)

New Age is a Bangladeshi English daily newspaper. It is one of the major English-language newspapers in the country....

Shahidullah Khan Badal.

Menon is married to Lutfunnesa Khan Beauty.