Abdur Rasul (Maulvi) = Kanchan Mia

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Abdur Rasul (nick name Kanchan Mia) (1872-1917), a Muslim leader of Bengal who wholeheartedly supported the Congress. He was one of those leaders under whose guidance the agitation against the Partition of Bengal spread like wild-fire all over Bengal and even far outside it.

He was born in in a zaminder family of a village named Guniauk under the jurisdiction of Nasirnagar Thana of the then Brahmanbaria sub-division of Tripura (now Comilla) district. He lost his father Golam Rasul in his childhood but his mother raised him well and sent him to England. He had passed the Entrance Examination at Oxford in 1888 and took the BA degree in 1896 and the MA degree in 1898 before being called to the bar from the Middle Temple in London in 1898. While in London, he became acquainted with noted Indians like Ali Imam, Syed Hasan Imam, Aurobindo Ghosh and others.

He began a lucrative practice at the Calcutta High Court in 1899. Abdur Rasul was made an honorary lecturer in International Law at the University of Calcutta. He also angaged in politics in the swadeshi movement. Abdur Rasul opposed the partition of Bengal in 1905 and with Abdul Majid and Khawaja Atikullah joined the anti-partition movement.

He presided over the Bengal Congress Conference held at Barisal in 1906. In collaboration with Abdul Halim Gaznavi, Abul Kashem and Mujibur Rahman Khan, he published the Weekly Mussalman in 1906.

In 1909 Abdur Rasul joined the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and in 1912 presided over the Bengal Provincial Conference at Chittagong.

He attended the annual session of the All India Muslim League at Lucknow. He was part of the group (working under Muhhamad All Jinnah) that drafted the Congress-League accord at Lucknow in 1916 in which the Congress accepted the Muslim League demand for separate electorates. He presided over the annual session of the Bengal Presidency Muslim League at Burdwan. He was elected to the Bengal Legislative Council from the Muslim Constituency of Chittagong division. In 1917 Abdur Rasul was elected the Secretary of the Bengal Presidency Muslim League but he died in the same year at the early age of 45.

His residence was at 14, Royal Street, Calcutta. He has the only child, the daughter.

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