Badrudduja, Syed (1898-1974)  Mayor of Calcutta Corporation (1943-44), politician and parliamentarian. Syed Badrudduja was a renowned activist in the khilafat and civil disobedience movements and an articulate supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity, though later he accepted Jinnah's leadership and became an activist of the Bengal Muslim League. He was one of those patriotic youngsters who joined anti-colonial movements of the early 20th century instead of going for higher education for making careers. He worked with chitta ranjan das and subhas chandra bose and huseyn shaheed suhrawardy. In knocking down the holwell Monument in Calcutta, Badrudduja took an active role with Subhas Bose and others. As Mayor of Calcutta Corporation, Syed Badrudduja earned great popularity by his famine management measures. During the famine he set up a relief fund to feed the famine victims of the city.

Badrudduja fought ceaselessly against the partition of India and that of Bengal. He tried to prevent the disastrous division of Bengal and therefore supported the sarat bose-Suhrawardy plan for the creation of an independent and united Bengal.

He did not opt for Pakistan when Bengal was actually partitioned in 1947. Several times member of the West Bengal State Assembly and Loksabha he was several times put behind bars because of his political views. Syed Badrudduja lived a challenging political life until he died on 18 November 1974. [Mohammed Ali Syed]