Abdul Matin Chaudhury

Abdul Matin Chaudhury (Bengali: আব্দুল মতিন চৌধুরী; 1895–1948), also known by his daak naam Kola Mia (Bengali: কলা মিঞা); and the epithet Jinnar Daain Haat (lit. Jinnah's right hand); (also spelled Abdul Matin Chaudhary in English) was a Pakistani Bengali trade unionist, journalist, politician, and a member of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly as a representative of East Bengal.

Chaudhury was born on 13 February 1895 to a Bengali Muslim family in the mahalla of Fatehkhani in Bhadeswar pargana, Golapganj Upazila, Sylhet District, in the then Assam province. His father, Abdul Karim Chaudhury, was a sub-inspector of police and his mother, Habibunnesa Khatun, was a housewife. The title of Chaudhury was awarded to his ancestor Dost Mohammed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

He completed his secondary education at the Habiganj Government High School where he gained a first division in 1912. He then proceeded to study at the Murari Chand College in Sylhet where he completed his Intermediate Arts examination in 1914. In 1916, Chaudhury graduated from the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh (later Aligarh Muslim University) He also completed his Bachelor of Law from Ripon College, Calcutta in 1919.

Chaudhury practiced law for a short time in 1920–1 but soon became active in politics by joining the Khilafat Movement in 1921. In 1923, he joined the Swaraj Party and, prompted by Subhas Chandra Bose, began to organize its members in Sylhet. However, following the death of the party's founder Chittaranjan Das in 1925, Chaudhury moved his affiliation to the Indian Congress Party led by Mahatma Gandhi.

From 1925 to 1937, Chaudhury was an elected member of the Indian Legislative Assembly for Assam. He soon aligned with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's grouping of independents. In 1930, he argued that there should be legislation to set minimum wages and reduce working hours for railway workers and other tradespeople. In 1930–31, he was a member of the Drugs Enquiry Committee headed by Ram Nath Chopra which examined the need for imports, control and regulation for pharmaceuticals. One of its conclusions was that the quality of quinine, which was used to prevent malaria, was often very poor.

Jinnah and the Simon Commission had recommended that constitutional reforms in India be discussed with the British government and three Round Table Conferences were held. Chaudhury attended the first of these in London (November 1930 – January 1931) as Private Secretary to Sir Muhammad Akbar Hydari, who represented Hyderabad. Jinnah remained in England until 1934 but in this period Chaudhury maintained an extensive correspondence with him and urged him to return to India. Chaudhury realised that he could encourage this by attempting to unify the political factions within the All-India Muslim League. In this, he was successful and in 1933 he became its Vice-President, while Jinnah became President in 1934.

In 1933, Chaudhury was elected Deputy President of the Assembly (a post equivalent to deputy speaker). In 1934, he attended the Melbourne Centenary in Australia as the sole representative of the Indian Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association. He travelled by train and boat and wrote a diary which has been published.

In 1937, as a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly, he supported a resolution for the abolition of the Line System, which he called "a system of racial prerogative, a system of economic exploitation for which you won't find a parallel anywhere in India". The more charismatic and 'man of the masses' Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani helped Chaudhary in agitating against the Line System with prominent All-India Muslim League leader Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman of the United Provinces, with Bhashani's invitation, visiting Assam annually between 1941 and 1946 to agitate against the Line System.