Chowdhury, Ashrafuddin Ahmad (1894-1976)  Born in a landed family of Batagram, Comilla (then Tippera), Ashrafuddin Ahmad received his early education from Hare and St Xavier Schools in Calcutta. After graduating from the Rajshahi Government College, Ashrafuddin obtained law degree from the Calcutta University in 1919. He joined the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement as an activist of the All India National Congress.

An initiator of Tippera District Krishak Samiti in 1919 and the General Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee from 1937 to 1941, Ashrafuddin was a strong advocate of Indian nationalism based on Hindu-Muslim amity. However, in the politics of 1940s, Ashrafuddin departed from his original pro-Congress peasant politics and joined Nikhil Banga Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind. In the 1954-elections he was elected from the Comilla Constituency to East Bengal Legislative Assembly as a candidate of the then Nizam-i-Islami Party, a post-partition offshoot of his parent Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind. In the united front Ministry led by ak fazlul huq, Ashrafuddin Chowdhury was a cabinet member. In the 1960s and early '70s his political role was rather obscure. He died on 25 March, 1976. [Rana Razzaq]