Freedom fighter Shib Narayan Das, one of the original designers of the first national flag of Bangladesh, passed away while undergoing treatment in the ICU of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on Friday at 9:30am.
His son Arnab Aditya Das confirmed this.
Shib Narayan left behind his wife Gitashree Chowdhury and their son Arnab Das.
Shib Narayan was born in Comilla and his father was Satish Chandra Das -- who was captured and killed by the Pakistani army during the liberation war in 1971.
Shib Narayan joined politics following the language movement hero Dhirendranath Dutta. He participated in the education movement of 1962 and was imprisoned.
He served as an activist and Chhatra League leader. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was set to appear in a student parade in Dhaka's Paltan Maidan on June 7, 1970.
To accomplish this, a student squad known as the "February-15 Force" was formed. The student leaders agreed to design a flag for this force.
On June 6, 1970, then-Chhatra League leaders ASM Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Kazi Aref Ahmed, and Marshal Monirul Islam met in room No 108 of Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall at Dhaka University to discuss the flag plan.
Swapan Kumar Chowdhury, Jagannath College BCL leader Nazrul Islam, Comilla district BCL General Secretary and central student leader Shib Narayan Das, Buet BCL General Secretary Hasanul Haq Inu, and student leader Yusuf Salauddin all attended the meeting.
Based on Kazi Aref's first idea, it was agreed to create a flag with a yellow map of Bengal in the centre of a red sun on a green background. Kamrul Alam Khan then embroidered a red circle in the centre of a huge green cloth purchased from a Bihari tailor's shop in Dhaka's New Market.
The map of East Pakistan was then made on tracing paper using an atlas from Enamul Haque's room No 312 in Titumir Hall at the University of Engineering.
Shib Narayan Das eventually sketched the map with a deft hand in the centre of the red circle.
Later, at the instruction of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Kamrul Hasan gave a new look to the national flag of Bangladesh.
The version modified by Kamrul Hasan is the current national flag of Bangladesh.
In a condolence message, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JaSoD President Hasanul Haque Inu and General Secretary Shirin Akhtar expressed deep grief at the flag designer's death and conveyed sympathy to the grieving family.
