Freedom fighter, Bangladesh Awami Leagueโs Advisory Council Member and nine-time lawmaker Tofail Ahmed has been kept on life support at the capital’s Square Hospital.
A family member of Tofail Ahmed, now aged 82, confirmed this information to the media on Sunday, saying that his condition is not good.
Meanwhile, Square Hospital CEO Yusuf Siddique said: “Tofail Ahmed has been admitted to the Square Hospital for four days. He is ill due to old age complications.”
A shining star of student politics in the 1960s, a pioneer of the mass uprising of 1969 and a valiant freedom fighter of the Liberation War, Tofail Ahmed has been using a wheelchair for the past few years. It is reported that part of his body has become paralysed due to a stroke. He was under the regular supervision of a doctor.
Tofail Ahmed was last elected as a member of the parliament from the Bhola-1 constituency by a huge margin. He got 185,152 votes with the boat symbol while his closest rival, Jatiya Party candidate Md. Shahjahan Mia, received only 5,519 votes.
He has served as a member of the Awami League Presidium for a long time.
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Tofail Ahmed used to live in his house called โPriyo Kutirโ when he visited Bhola. He conducted the party’s political activities from the house. On February 6, the house located on Gazipur Road in Bhola Sadar was set on fire by the supporters of the fascist Yunus regime.
Tofail Ahmed was born in Koralia village, Dakshin Dighaldi Union, Sadar Upazila, Bhola on October 22, 1943. After passing his higher secondary exam from Brajmohan College, Barisal, he did his graduation and post-graduate degree in soil science from Dhaka University.
During the turbulent period of 1968-69, Tofail was the VP of DUCSU. As such, he served as the convener of the All-Party Students’ Struggle Council. He played a leading role in the student community during the mass uprising of 1969.
Due to the strong mass movement, the Pakistan government was forced to release all the accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1969. On February 23 of that year, the Central Students’ Struggle Council organised a public meeting at the Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka.

Sheikh Mujib was awarded the title of โBangabandhuโ at that rally attended by millions of people. And that title was announced by Tofail Ahmed.
Tofail Ahmed won the 1970 election by contesting the National Assembly election on the Awami League’s nomination. In the 1971 Liberation War, he was one of the four regional heads of Mujib Bahini.
After serving as the Awami League’s Organising Secretary for a long time, Tofail Ahmed later became a member of the Presidium. He is currently a member of the party’s Advisory Council.
After Bangladesh became independent in 1972, the then Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appointed Tofail Ahmed as his political secretary with the status of a state minister.
When the Awami League returned to power in 1996, Bangabandhu’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, appointed Tofail as the Minister of Industry and Commerce in her government. Later, he served as the Minister of Commerce again from 2014 to 2019.