The Dhaka Times Desk Former Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation and Vice Chairman of BNP Sadek Hossain Khoka has passed away. He died today (Monday) at 1 pm Bangladesh time.
BNP Chairperson's media wing member Shayrul Kabir Khan confirmed this information to the media. Tariq Rahman and Mirza Fakhrul expressed grief over Khoka's death.
Sadek Hossain Khoka, Vice Chairman of BNP and Mayor of Undivided Dhaka City Corporation went to New York, USA with his family on May 14, 2014 for cancer treatment.
He has been there ever since. Khoka was recently admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan after his condition deteriorated. His relatives said that Khoka was on the brink of life and death for the past few days.
Khoka left leftist politics and joined BNP politics in the eighties. At that time BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia led the 7-party alliance by starting the anti-Ershad movement from the BNP office in Nawabazar Nawab Yusuf Market. In that movement, Khoka was given the responsibility of convener of the Dhaka Metropolitan Struggle Parishad.
In 1990, Sadek Hossain Khoka played an important role in preventing attacks on the homes and businesses of the Hindu community in Old Dhaka, centered around the demolition of the Babri Mosque. By doing this, Khoka also gained the trust of old Dhaka residents. That is why in the 1991 national election, he defeated Sheikh Hasina from the Dhaka-7 seat (Sutrapur-Kotwali) and became the first MP to be elected. In the 1996 elections, BNP candidates were defeated in 7 out of 8 constituencies in Dhaka, but only Khoka was elected.
Later he became an important leader of BNP by single-handedly leading the Awami League anti-government movement for about 5 years. He became the Minister of Fisheries and Livestock after being elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2001 elections. At that time, he played an important role in building his own circle in the politics of BNP in old Dhaka and strengthening the party in each police station and ward. In 1996, he was given the responsibility of convenor of BNP in the city. On April 25, 2002, Sadek Hossain Khoka was elected mayor in the undivided Dhaka City Corporation elections.
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