বাংলা 
English 
Comrade Raushan Ali Some people are born into this world who devote their lives to the welfare of ordinary toiling working people rather than to changing their own fortunes. Though the number of such noble souls in this world is very small, the appearance of such rare-born people is exceedingly scarce in our society.
In a society where people are becoming ever more self-absorbed, where collective interest counts for nothing next to personal gain, where human values are being stained by money and ideals and principles trampled in exchange for wealth - where is there time to think of others? And yet some people still remain who are devoting their lives to the service of humanity. One such self-forgetting, selfless politician is Comrade Sheikh Raushan Ali - a blazing example of the struggle for life, the hero of a legend. His entire life was for people, for the cause of workers, professionals and the deprived sections of humanity.
Family history:
Sheikh Raushan Ali was born into a Muslim family in Kushtia town. His father was Sheikh Elahi Baksh, his mother Mitijan Nesha Bibi. Sheikh Elahi Baksh had two wives: the first, Motijan Nesha Bibi, and the second, Maziran Nesha Bibi. The father was a very small-time meat trader. In other words, Sheikh Raushan Ali was born into an illiterate "butcher" family. From the first wife there were two sons and one daughter. The elder son was Raushan Ali; the second son was Sheikh Abdul Gani [Tuna Mia]; and the youngest was a daughter [her name is not known], who died at the age of 6-7. From the second wife there was a single daughter, Ashia Khatun.
Sheikh Raushan Ali was born on 18 July 1905. From childhood he grew up amid want and hardship. At the age of five he was admitted to the local Christian Missionary Primary (CMS) School. But because the family could not afford it, he had to give up this stage of schooling after the second grade. Because of the family's poverty, at only 10 or 11 he joined a bread factory as an assistant worker. His father, Sheikh Elahi Baksh, was a meat seller in his early life; later he somehow kept the family going by driving a horse cart. He died in 1943.
As an adolescent, Raushan Ali studied at home while working at the bread factory. In his spare time he formed a games group with the boys of the neighbourhood, and at one point became its leader. Around this time, with his co-workers he formed a circus troupe. In 1932, at only 22, he got a job in the weaving section of Mohini Mill. In 1934 he married Golapi Nesha Bibi, the 12-year-old younger daughter of a certain Sadhu Fakir of the village of Mollategharia next to the town. His household had three sons and one daughter. The eldest daughter was Rizia Khatun. The next son died at the age of only six months. On 2 December 1940 the twin sons Nanu and Chunnu were born.
Nanu died at the age of two. The elder daughter married Kazi Golam Kibria of Aruapara in the town. Their household has three sons and three daughters; the children are Kazi Tarikul Islam Jontu, Kohinoor Begum, Shahida Khatun Kobi, Kazi Kabir, Kazi Palash and Chobi. Raushan Ali's only son is Sheikh Nausher Ali Chanu. He married Shahanara Khatun, the elder daughter of Mohammad Ali of Mollategharia village. They have two daughters and one son. The elder daughter is Sheikh Afroza Sultana Dola; grandfather Raushan Ali named his eldest granddaughter with affection. Recently, suddenly, his beloved granddaughter passed away at only 23, leaving one son. The younger daughter is Sheikh Tania Sultana and the youngest is Sheikh Md. Abdul Nur.
In 1942, at only 20 years of age, Raushan Ali's wife Golapi Nesha Bibi died almost entirely without treatment. At the time he was in jail. Although the news of his wife's death reached the prison, his comrades at first did not want to tell him. But he had guessed the news of this heart-rending death. Speaking on the subject, Raushan Ali told his comrades: to think of the people of the country, you must forget your own troubles. Thinking of the country's cause, how easily he accepted the news of the death of his beloved - his wife, the sole companion of his life. His comrades were astonished and awed by this self-sacrifice. In 1943 another disaster descended on his household. Within an interval of just 13 days, his son, mother and father died. First his twin son Chunnu died of pneumonia at only 2 years old. Four days later his mother Motijan Nesha Bibi died, and nine days after that his father Sheikh Elahi Baksh died of pernicious malaria. For the "offence" of being an active organizer in the workers' union, Raushan Ali lost his job at Mohini Mill in 1939. The family was poor anyway, and with the loss of the job he fell into extreme hardship. Then, with his younger brother Tuna, he somehow kept the household going by running a small eatery.
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