DHAKA, May 28, 2022 (BSS) - Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said eminent journalist and columnist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury will always remain alive through his immortal song on the 1952 Language Movement - 'Amar bhaier rokte rangano ekushey February'.

He said this while talking to journalists after paying tributes to Gaffar Chowdhury by placing a wreath on his coffin at the Central Shaheed Minar on behalf of Awami League (AL).

Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, said the nation has lost the "largest banyan tree" in the cultural arena of this age at the death of Gaffar Chowdhury, also a political analyst, writer, poet and lyricist, who penned the immortal song on Amar Ekushey.

Chowdhury always gave directives to the nation in different transitional periods, he said. 

"We, who are in state power, will feel his vacuum in getting directives during this ongoing global crisis period," he mentioned.

AL Presidium Members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Nurul Islam Nahid and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Joint General Secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Organizing Secretary Mirza Azam and SM Kamal Hossain, Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua, Central Working Committee Members Dr Mustafa Jalal Mahiuddin and Anwar Hossain were present on the occasion.

Earlier, Obaidul Quader along with the party leaders paid glowing tributes to Gaffar Chowdhury by placing wreath on his coffin.