Greatest Bengali of All Time

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman:
Voted as the Greatest Bengali of all time in the 2004 BBC opinion poll

Soon after the completion of 100 Greatest Britons poll in 2002, the BBC organized a similar opinion poll to find out the greatest Bengali personalities throughout the history of Bengali people.[1][2][3] In 2004, the BBC's Bengali Service conducted the opinion poll from 11 February to 22 March, with the title Greatest Bengali of All Time (Bengali: সর্বকালের সর্বশ্রেষ্ঠ বাঙালি, romanized: Sarbakālēra Sarbaśrēṣṭha Bāṅāli). Bengalis around the world, specifically from Bangladesh, India (states of West Bengal, Tripura, Orissa and Assam) and overseas Bengali communities participated in the poll.

A total of 140 nominations were produced from the opinion poll. The BBC Bangla started to announce the top 20 names from 26 March declaring one name each day starting from 20th position. On 14 April, the final day, which was also the Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year's day), the BBC announced Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, as the Greatest Bengali of All Time voted by Bengalis worldwide.[4][5]

  1. ^ "Listeners name 'greatest Bengali'". The Asian Age. 2016-01-10. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  2. ^ "News Details". BSS. 2016-04-13. Archived from the original on 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  3. ^ Heath, Deana; Mathur, Chandana (2010-12-22). Communalism and Globalization in South Asia and Its Diaspora. Routledge. p. 145. ISBN 9781136867873.
  4. ^ "Listeners name 'greatest Bengali'". BBC News. 2004-04-14. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
  5. ^ Habib, Haroon (2004-04-17). "Mujib, Tagore, Bose among 'greatest Bengalis of all time'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2017-12-14.