In whom human welfare was all

Shahidullah Kaiser, the greatest novelist, renowned journalist and activist of the pre-liberation Bangladesh, was born in Feni but grew up in Kolkata.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics with honours from famous educational institute, Presidency College in 1946. At that time, Presidency College was the centre for student's organized movements. Later, he got admitted to the University of Calcutta to study MA in Economics.
 
At college, he was engaged with cultural movements and leftist politics. He joined the student federation and became attracted towards Marxism-Leninism. Gradually, he established a deep relationship with the Communist Party. Following the independence of India, he along with his father moved to Dhaka and enrolled himself in MA at University of Dhaka.

He joined the provincial communist party of East Pakistan. At that time, he was responsible for organizing the students of East Bengal. A warrant was issued against him for being a member of the banned Communist Party by the Pakistan government. He was forced to go into hiding and eventually he could not attend the MA examination.

Kaiser also played an important role in the Language Movement in 1952 and was imprisoned for the first time on an accusation of his involvement with the banned communist party. While he was in Chittagong jail, he wrote Naam Nei in 1952 and Jadu-E-Halua in 1954. The famous novel Sangshaptak was written during the third phase of his imprisonment at Dhaka Central Jail. As a revolutionary writer, he wrote the novel Sangshatak in the form of a reflection of his own revolutionary life-philosophy igniting the nationalistic spirit of Bangladesh.

He won Adamjee Literary Award and Bangla Academy Award for the novel Sareng Bou.  Both Sareng Bou and Sangshatak are village centric; but one is social, the other is political. Both the novels have portrayed the struggling life of the common people.
In the novel Sareng Bou, Nobitun, the wife of the protagonist, has to fight with fate, with the nature, with the lust of Lundar Sheikh, and with the inhuman society. Leku and Hurmati of Sangshaptak struggled and strived against the exploitation of social discriminations.
In the novel Sareng Bou, the protagonist Kadam Sareng is a peasant. On the contrary, in the novel Sangshaptak the protagonist Jahed is a leftist who had a major role in the Pakistan movement. But, Pakistani regime doesn't even allow Jahed to eat or sleep rather sent him to the jail. 

The novel shows us how the feudal regime became the frontrunner of Pakistan. The nature of the merciless exploiters has appeared through the characters of Ramjan and Felu Mia. Shahidullah Kaiser showed that the fall of feudalism has become inevitable. The novel has widely portrayed the pictures of famine, riot, and the dire consequences of the partition.

Besides, his literary and political life, his journalist life was unique. Although he started his journalism career with the Weekly Ittefaq, all his achievements in his career are surrounded by Dainik Sangbad. At that time, Dainik Sangbad played a role as the spokesmen of progressive writers-journalists-intellectuals of East Bengal. From 1962 to 1971, he was in-charge of the newspaper and he regularly wrote 'Rajnaitik Parikrama' on this journal.

He came in close contact with senior and famous journalist-writers Zahur Hossain Chowdhury, Satyen Sen, Ranesh Das Gupta, and Santosh Gupta. Because of which he developed a complete humanistic philosophy in his thoughts and writings. He was a journalist by profession but his life's spirit was largely exposed through his political career.

Subsequently, he was promoted to the post of joint editor. In addition to the specific editions of the editorial section of Dainik Sangbad, he wrote about the context of contemporary politics in two pseudo-names - 'Deshpremik' and 'Bisshokarma'. 

Before leaving Dhaka during the War of Liberation, many people left their ration card with poet Sufia Kamal. Poet Sufia Kamal collected many essential items like rice, pulses, and medicines with those ration cards and gathered them at her home. Shahidullah Kaiser would supply those things to the freedom fighters. They collaborated with the freedom fighters in many ways. His house was a safe haven for the freedom fighters. During the day, he collected money and medicine from different places and delivered them to the freedom fighters at night.

On December 14, 1971, a few masked men came and took Shahidullah Kaiser away from his residence. He never returned, and his body was not found either.

Notable Works    

Novels
Sareng Bau (1962)
Sangshaptak (1965)
Timir Balay
Digante Phuler Agun
Samudra O Trsna
Chandrabhaner Kanya
Krishnachura Megh
Kabe Pohabe Bibhabari (Unfinished)

Autobiography
Rajbandir Rojnamacha (1962)
Peshwar Theke Tashkhand (1966)