Portal:Communism/Selected biography/50
Rashed Khan Menon (b. 18 May 1943, Faridpur) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the chairman of Workers Party of Bangladesh and a member of Jatiyo Sangsad, the parliament of Bangladesh. As of 2009, Menon served as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Education.
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 faction linked to the National Awami Party 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 and that the situation was ripe for revolution. Menon built a revolutionary Maoist organisation along with Kazi Zafar Ahmed. The Menon-Zafar group built a base in 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.