Siraj Sikder was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary and founder of the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, known for his uncompromising opposition to the post-1971 state led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Siraj Sikder rejected the political settlement that followed independence, arguing that it replaced colonial domination with elite rule and left structural inequality intact.
On January 1, 1975, Siraj Sikder was arrested in Chattogram and taken into state custody. The following day, the government announced that he was killed while attempting to escape during a police operation in Savar. This claim was immediately disputed. Political observers, left activists, and later historians have consistently described his death as an extrajudicial killing carried out by state forces.
At the time, Bangladesh was experiencing growing political repression. Radical left organisations were targeted through arrests, disappearances, and killings. Siraj Sikder’s death occurred months before Sheikh Mujib introduced the one-party BAKSAL system, marking a decisive shift toward authoritarian rule. His killing is widely seen as part of the broader suppression of dissent that defined the final phase of Mujib’s government.
The state branded Siraj Sikder an “extremist” and an enemy of the nation. Yet for many on the left, he remains a symbol of resistance against state violence, class domination, and the abandonment of the Liberation War’s emancipatory promises. His life represents an alternative political imagination that was forcefully erased.
Nearly fifty years later, there has been no independent investigation, judicial process, or accountability for Siraj Sikder’s killing. His death remains a stark reminder of how the post-independence state dealt with radical opposition—and how certain histories are systematically silenced in Bangladesh’s official memory.
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