Abdul Latif Siddiqui

Abdul Latif Siddiqui (born on 18 Dec 1937)^[1] is a former Bangladesh Awami League politician. He is a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Tangail-4 constituency.^[2][3] He served as the Minister of Textiles and Jute in the second Hasina ministry and Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology in the third Hasina ministry.

Abdul Latif Siddiqui
আব্দুল লতিফ সিদ্দিকী
Siddiqui in 2014
Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology
In office 12 January 2014 – 30 September 2014
Preceded by	Position Established
Succeeded by	Tarana Halim
Minister of Textiles and Jute
In office 6 January 2009 – 24 January 2014
Succeeded by	Emaz Uddin Pramanik
Member of the Bangladesh Parliament for Tangail-4
In office 10 January 2024 – 6 August 2024
Preceded by	Hasan Imam Khan
In office 25 January 2009 – 1 September 2015
Preceded by	Shajahan Siraj
In office 14 July 1996 – 13 July 2001
Preceded by	Shajahan Siraj
Personal details
Born	(1937-12-18) December 18, 1937 (age 87) Tangail District, Bengal Province, British India
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Political party	Bangladesh Awami League
Spouse	Laila Siddiqui
Relatives	Abdul Kader Siddique (brother)

Siddiqui is the elder brother of politician Abdul Kader Siddique.^[4]

Career

Siddiqui served as a Jatiya Sangsad member from Tangail-4 constituency.^[5] He resigned on 1 September 2015.^[6] He served as the Jute and Textiles Minister from 2009 to 2013. In January 2014, he was appointed as the Posts and Telecommunications along with Information Communication Technology Minister in the 10th cabinet.^[7][8]

In March 2014, Siddiqui was reported by media to have beaten a PDB engineer with a stick, leaving him severely injured.^[9][10]

In September 2014, Siddiqui was widely criticised for his remarks criticising the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, and the Islamic organisation, the Tabligh Jamaat, leading to strong calls for his removal from the cabinet.^[11] On 30 September, he was sacked from his ministerial post in the cabinet.^[12][13] He was also expelled from Awami League. On 22 August 2015, he declared to resign from the Jatiya Sangsad membership.^[14]

On 17 October 2018, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accused Siddiqui for misusing power and damaging government property under the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 1947. On 20 June 2019, a Bogura court denied his bail and ordered him to be jailed.^[15] In July 2020, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order that stayed for six months the trial proceedings.^[16]

In January 2021, a government owned land in Tangail illegally occupied by Siddiqui was recovered. It had the market value of 50 crore taka.^[17]

He made a comeback in politics after winning the Tangail-4 constituency in the 2024 Bangladeshi general election as an independent candidate.

References

1. "Abdul Latif Siddique". Government of Bangladesh.
2. "List of 7th Parliament Members (Bangla)". Bangladesh Parliament (in Bengali). Retrieved 16 November 2016.
3. "List of 9th Parliament Members". Bangladesh Parliament (in Bengali). Retrieved 16 November 2016.
4. "Kader Siddique's nomination cancelled, his party calls Tangail shutdown for Wednesday". Retrieved 21 August 2018.
5. "Latif Siddique bids farewell to elections". bdnews24. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
6. Molla, Mohammad Al-Masum (2 September 2015). "Latif Siddique resigns from Jatiya Sangsad". Dhaka Tribune.
7. Rahman, Syedur (2010). Historical Dictionary of Bangladesh. Scarecrow Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-8108-7453-4.
8. "Abdul Latif Siddiqui made telecom and ICT minister". telecomnews. 12 January 2014. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
9. "Latif Siddiqui beats PDB engineer". banglanews24. 29 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
10. "Minister allegedly beats PDB engineer". bdnews24. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
11. "I strongly oppose Hajj and Tablig Jamaat: Latif Siddiqui". The Daily Observer. Dhaka. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
12. "Bangladesh minister sacked after criticism of Haj". Arab News. Agence France-Presse. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
13. "Bangladesh 'Hajj critic' AL Siddique is arrested". BBC News. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
14. "অবশেষে পদত্যাগের ঘোষণা লতিফ সিদ্দিকীর". Prothomalo (in Bengali). 12 December 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
15. "Latif Siddique sent to jail in graft case". The Daily Star. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
16. "Trial against Latif Siddique in corruption case stayed for 6 months". The Daily Star. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
17. "লতিফ সিদ্দিকীর দখলে থাকা ৫০ কোটি টাকা মূল্যের সরকারি জমি উদ্ধার". Bangla Tribune (in Bengali). 24 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2023.