Online Desk: At the Ekushey Book Fair 2024, the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) stall is all set to welcome bookworms. Located at the Bangla Academy premises as usual, this year’s stall introduces a new attraction — a graphic novel based on another book by Bangabandhu, titled “Amar Dekha Noya Chin” (The New China as I Saw). Alongside this novel, the stall will also feature the previously published graphic novel “Mujib” and other books by CRI.

Nasrul Hamid, a trustee of CRI, was present on Thursday to oversee the final preparations of the stall, including arranging the books and ensuring everything was in order before the unveiling of the graphic novel. He shared on his verified Facebook page, “The CRI stall (No. 878-879, Bangla Academy premises) is ready for visitors at the Ekushey Book Fair. Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will soon unveil the graphic novel ‘Amar Dekha Noya Chin’.”

CRI shared that “Mujib” was their first venture into graphic novels, aimed primarily at graphic novel enthusiasts and to present Bangabandhu in a way that children and teenagers could easily understand. Following the great reception of “Mujib”, CRI planned to adapt another popular book by the Father of the Nation into a graphic novel for readers.

The graphic novel’s publisher is CRI trustee Radwan Mujib Siddiq, with illustration by Sabyasachi Mistry. Siddiq Ahmed worked on the narrative and dialogue, while Shibu Kumar Shill was responsible for project curation and editing.

The cover of the book shows a young Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a suit and his iconic glasses, with images of significant Chinese landmarks in the background. This book recounts Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s journey to China in 1952 to attend a peace conference — a trip he couldn’t fully document at the time but wrote about in detail while in prison in 1954. Nearly 65 years later, in 2019, this travelogue was published as a book with the assistance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangabandhu.

The graphic novel describes Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s trip to China not just as a journey but as a golden opportunity to gain political education and experience. Observing the political, governance, and societal conditions in China just after the revolution, Sheikh Mujib was deeply impressed by the transformation within just years, including the candidness, honesty, and commitment of the new Chinese government. He traveled to major cities like Peking (now Beijing), Nanjing and Shanghai by train and was inspired by the genuine affection of the people for Chairman Mao Zedong.

This book promises to offer insights into the political preparation period of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hinting at his future role as the undisputed leader of the nation. The publishers believe that the book will help understand the political groundwork of Bangladesh’s greatest leader.