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Dipu Moni

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Dipu Moni
দীপু মনি
Moni in 2021
Minister of Social Welfare
In office
11 January 2024 – 05 August 2024
PresidentMohammed Shahabuddin
Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina
Preceded byNuruzzaman Ahmed
Succeeded byTBD
Member of Parliament
In office
6 January 2008 – 6 August 2024
Preceded byG. M. Fazlul Haque
ConstituencyChandpur-3
Minister of Education
In office
7 January 2019 – 11 January 2024
Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina
Preceded byNurul Islam Nahid
Succeeded byMohibul Hasan Chowdhury
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
30 January 2009 – 20 November 2013
Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina
Preceded byIftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
Succeeded byAbul Hassan Mahmud Ali
Personal details
Born (1965-12-08) 8 December 1965 (age 58)
Kamranga, Chandpur, East Pakistan[citation needed]
Political partyBangladesh Awami League
SpouseTawfique Nawaz
Parents
Alma mater
ProfessionDoctor & Lawyer

Dipu Moni (Bengali: দীপু মনি; born 8 December 1965)[1] is a Bangladeshi politician and former Minister of Social Welfare of Bangladesh. She is a Member of Parliament for Chandpur-3 constituency.[2] She was Minister of Education in Fourth Hasina Cabinet and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Second Hasina Cabinet. She was appointed the first female Foreign Minister on 6 January 2009 after victory for the Awami League-led Grand Alliance on 29 December 2008. Currently she is Joint secretary of Bangladesh Awami League[3]

She came under intense scrutiny and opposition when she made controversial remarks in the wake of 2024 Bangladesh Student Protests that resulted in huge number of civilian casualties and violence. Rather than deescalating the situation, she stated that the student protesters should not have the right to hold the flag of Bangladesh. The ruling Awami League party, which she is the joint secretary of, is perceived by many as an autocratic and authoritarian regime. [4][5] According to affidavits submitted to the election office, since the party came to power in 2008, her personal income has soared by over 4000% in just 15 years.[6]

Early life

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Dipu Moni was born on 8 December 1965 in the village of Kamranga in Chandpur, Comilla district, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[citation needed] Her father, Mohammad Abdul Wadud, was a founding member of the Awami League and known especially for his role in the Language Movement and as the first Council-elected General Secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra League. Moni passed HSC from Holy Cross College, Dhaka. Her mother, Begum Rahima, was a teacher. Her brother, Jawadur Rahim Wadud Tipu, is a diabetic foot surgeon.[7]

Moni studied MBBS at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and LLB at Bangladesh National University. She later earned Masters in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and Master of Laws at the University of London as an external student.[8][9] She completed a course on Negotiations and Conflict Resolutions from Harvard University. She is a lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court.

Political career

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Moni with Hillary Clinton
Moni meeting John Kerry

Moni was the Secretary for Women's Affairs and a Member of the Sub‐Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Bangladesh Awami League before her induction to the cabinet. She represented Chandpur‐3 as a Member of Bangladesh Parliament. She worked for women's rights and entitlements, health legislation, health policy and management, health financing, strategic planning, and health and human rights under the Constitution and law in Bangladesh's economic and social development programmes and foreign policy issues of the region and globally. As a Minister of Foreign Affairs she has represented her government's position to the Cabinet Ministers and public representatives of Asia, Europe and the US, Ambassadors and Senior Representatives of International Institutions. As the foreign minister she sought an apology for the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide from Pakistan.[10] She also tried to bring the absconding killers of president Sheikh Mujib.[11] Moni is the Awami League Joint General Secretary.[12] She was elected chairman of Asian University for Women in 2016.[13] She is the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.[14]

Criticisms

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As the minister of foreign affairs, Moni was widely criticized by different news media because of her frequent overseas visits. According to some news reports, she made 187 foreign trips and 600 days of overseas stay in four and a half years.[15][16][17] Moni responded that she went abroad every time with the approval of the prime minister. She said that she made 114 foreign tours, including 36 with the president and the prime minister and claimed that the number of her bilateral visits was 62, not 17 as reported.[17] According to affidavits submitted to the election office, since the party came to power in 2008, her personal income has soared by over 4000% in just 15 years.[6]

Personal life

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Moni is married to Tawfique Nawaz,[18] a senior advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme court.

References

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  1. ^ "Constituency 262_10th_Bn". Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  2. ^ "New faces crowd cabinet of 47 members". Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Dipu Moni new chairperson of AUW". The Daily Star. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Is This the Beginning of the End of Sheikh Hasina's Rule?". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  5. ^ Campbell, Charlie (25 July 2024). "How Mass Protests Challenge Bangladesh's Past—and Threaten to Rewrite Its Future". TIME. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Dipu Moni's income soars by 4,000% in 15 years". The Business Standard. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  7. ^ "চাঁদপুরে আনন্দের বন্যা 'দীপু আপা শিক্ষামন্ত্রী হয়েছেন' এ কথা সবার মুখে মুখে". Jugantor (in Bengali). 7 January 2019. Archived from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  8. ^ Smith, Mike. "Public Health Travels in South Asia - Departments - Johns Hopkins Public Health Magazine". magazine.jhsph.edu. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Dipu Moni". The Opinion Pages. bdnews24.com. 25 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Dipu Moni seeks Pak apology for 1971, Khar prefers moving on". Firstpost. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  11. ^ "One killer safe in US with political asylum". The Daily Star. 15 August 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Dipu Moni: BNP has restored to falsehood". The Financial Express. Dhaka. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Dipu Moni elected AUW chairman". Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Bangladesh crucial to India's Northeast: Dipu Moni". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Dipu Moni slammed over foreign trips". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  16. ^ Dipu Moni's foreign trips galore
  17. ^ a b "Dipu Moni blasts media reports". The Daily Star. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  18. ^ "HC summons Dipu Moni's husband". The Daily Star. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
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