Rupa Huq’s relatives at Pabna overjoyed at her win in UK polls

Rupa Huq’s relatives at her ancestral home in Pabna district of Bangladesh are overjoyed at her win in British national election.

Saikat Afroz Asad Pabna Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 9 May 2015, 07:30 PM
Updated : 9 May 2015, 07:30 PM

Her father Fazlul Huq hailed from Maksedpur in Pabna city while her mother Dulali Biswas was from Kuthipara.
 
Her maternal uncle Abul Based Biswas Antu said he was overwhelmed by emotion after hearing the news of Huq’s win.
 
“Pabna’s girl our Rupa has become a British MP. What a big news! May she prosper more,” he said.
 
He believed his niece would work for the welfare of Bangladeshi expatriates in Britain.
 
His wife Rizia Biswas said she prayed for Huq’s victory.
 
Huq’s cousin Selim Biswas said she used to ride only on his bike whenever she visited Kuthipara.
  
“She knows many places in Pabna. This place is very dear to her and so we are very happy at her win. We couldn’t even imagine that she would go to such a top position,” he said.
 
“It’s not only a matter of pride for the residents of Pabna but all of Bangladesh,” he added.
 
Huq’s uncle Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Apache Biswas, was involved with Leftist politics as a student.
 
She came to Pabna four to five times, he said.
 
“She used to often ask me why I kept the portraits of Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Maulana Bhasani in my room. Why I was involved with Leftist politics,” he recalled.
 
“I had to explain her in details. Since then she got engrossed into politics. Later she got involved with the Labour Party while studying in university in Britain. At last she is a Labour MP now,” he added.
 
He expressed hope that Huq would work for the underprivileged people of Britain.
 
Apache Biswas said her father Fazlul Huq, who was a chartered accountant by profession, moved to London via Kolkata during Bangladesh’s Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.
 
Rupa Huq, 43, is the second of the three children of Fazlul and Dulali. Her full name is Rupa Asha Huq.
 
Her younger sister Konnie Huq is a presenter of BBC children's television programme Blue Peter and that made her a household name in United Kingdom.
 
Their eldest sister is Nutun Huq.
 

Labour Party candidate Rupa Huq has been elected to the British Parliament from London’s Ealing Central and Acton constituency by a narrow margin of 274 votes.
The voting was held on Thursday.
She polled 22,002 votes to claim the seat from her Conservative rival Angie Bray who got 21,728.
In the 2010 election, the Labour candidate lost the seat to the Conservative candidate by around 4,000 votes.
Huq studied politics, social sciences and law at Cambridge University and served in local government as Deputy Mayor.
The multifaceted Huq also authored several books on sociology, besides being a music DJ, a columnist for major UK newspapers.
She also teaches sociology, criminology and also on media and cultural studies courses at Kingston University.  
Her doctoral thesis dealt with youth culture, which took her to France as a post-graduate student.