Birangana Roma Chowdhury dies PM mourns death of Rama

M Humayun Kabir: Roma Chowdhury, the writer and Liberation War heroine (birangana), has passed away yesterday after a long illness.
She was 79. Roma breathed her last at 4:40am at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, said her long-time companion and publisher Alauddin Khokon, reports bdnews24.com.
Chowdhury was admitted to the hospital in January due to her diabetes, high blood pressure and various other health complications.
“Her condition deteriorated last night and she was put on life support at the ICU around 11:30am,” said Khokon. “But we lost hope of her recovery this morning.”
Her body was taken to the Chattogram Central Shaheed Minar at 11am so people can pay their respects, Chattogram United Cultural Alliance Convening Committee Member Secretary Ahmed Iqbal Haider told bdnews24.com.
Political and cultural activists, students from different education institutions placed their floral wreaths to pay their respects to Roma since her body was brought here.
She will then be laid to rest at her ancestral home in Boalkhali.
Roma Chowdhury graduated from Dhaka University in 1961 with a degree in Bangla Literature and chose to teach.
On May 13, 1971, during the Liberation War, Chowhdury was with her three children at her home in Boalkhali’s Popadia village.
Her husband was abroad in India at the time.
The Pakistani military in collaboration with local Razakars raped her and set the house on fire. Since that day Chowdhury has chosen to walk barefoot.
Her two children – Sagor, 5, and Togor, 3 – died within two years of the incident and her third child was killed in a road crash.
Liberation War heroine (birangana), Roma Chowdhury, wrote a total of 19 books over the course of an illustrious career.
‘71 Er Jononi’, ‘Ek Hazar Ek Din Japoner Poddo’ and ‘Bhab Boichitre Rabindranath’ are among of those books.
She controlled the sales of her own books and dreamed of using the earnings from them to build an orphanage.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of Rama Chowdhury, one of the Biranganas of the Liberation War who is also known as ‘Mother of 71’
In a condolence message, the Prime Minister recalled her sacrifice and struggle for the great Liberation War, adds Asian Age.
She prayed for the peace of the departed soul and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family.