National flag’s first designer Shib Narayan dies

Shib Narayan Das, the freedom fighter renowned for designing Bangladesh's inaugural flag just before independence, succumbed to illness while receiving treatment at a Dhaka hospital on Friday morning, according to his family. He was 78.

He breathed his last at 9:25 am at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in the capital. His son Arnab Aditya Das confirmed the matter.

Shib Narayan was born in Cumilla and his father was Satish Chandra Das who was captured and killed by the Pakistani army during the liberation war in 1971. Shib Narayan is now survived by his wife Gitashree Chowdhury and their son Arnab Das.

Shib Narayan joined politics following the language movement hero Dhirendranath Dutta. He participated in the education movement of 1962 and was imprisoned.

He was an activist and leader of Chhatra League. On June 7, 1970, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was scheduled to take part in a student parade held at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka. For this purpose, a squad of students was formed named as 'February-15 Force'. The student leaders decided to create a flag of this force.

On June 6, 1970, with this aim the then Chhatra League leaders ASM Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Kazi Aref Ahmed and Marshal Monirul Islam sat in the room No-108 of Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall of Dhaka University to discuss the flag plan.

Chhatra League leader Swapan Kumar Chowdhury, Jagannath College BCL leader Nazrul Islam, Cumilla district BCL general secretary and central student leader Shib Narayan Das, BUET BCL general secretary Hasanul Haq Inu and student leader Yusuf Salauddin were present in the meeting

At the end of the discussion based on the initial proposal of Kazi Aref, it was decided to make a flag with a yellow map of Bengal in the middle of the red sun on the green ground. Kamrul Alam Khan then stitched a red circle in the middle of a large piece of green cloth from a Bihari tailor's shop in Dhaka's New Market.

Then the map of East Pakistan was drawn on tracing paper with an atlas from Enamul Haque of room No-312 of Titumir Hall of the University of Engineering.

Shib Narayan Das finally drew the map with a skillful hand in the middle of the red circle. Later, at the instruction of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Patua Kamrul Hasan gave a new look to the national flag of Bangladesh.