List of people from Barisal

The following is a list of prominent people who were born in/lived in or around the city of Barisal as well as Barisal division in Bangladesh.

Government and politics

Abul Hasanat Abdullah, politician, former Chief Whip (Bangladesh)
Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, Mayor of Barisal
Hafizuddin Ahmed, Bir Bikrom, politician, former Minister of Water Resources, former Minister of Commerce
Amir Hossain Amu, politician, former Minister of Industries
Mirza Agha Baqer, Mughal jagirdar after whom Bakerganj was named after
Abdur Rahman Biswas, President of Bangladesh (1991–1996)
Mohammad Ali Bogra (1909–1963), Bengali politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Pakistan
Gurudas Dasgupta, member of the Indian Parliament
Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, noted Congress politician, former Union Minister and member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India; represented the Raiganj of West Bengal and was a member of the Indian National Congress party
Shawkat Hossain Hiron, former Member of Parliament, Mayor of Barisal (2008-2013)
Dr. Kamal Hossain, lawyer and politician, 1st Law Minister of Bangladesh, creator of the Constitution of Bangladesh
M Sakhawat Hossain, Election Commissioner of Bangladesh (2007–2012)
Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, Prime Minister of Bengal (1937–1943), Chief Minister of East Bengal (1954) and Governor of East Pakistan (1956–1958)
Syed Azizul Huq, politician and former Member of Parliament
Abdul Jabbar Khan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan (1965–1969)
Khan Bahadur Hasem Ali Khan, politician, lawyer, former cabinet minister, peasant movement leader
Sabi Khan, Mughal faujdar of Bakla
Wazil Khan, governor of Bakla under Sultan Ruknuddin Barbak Shah
Kazi Golam Mahbub, language movement activist and politician
Jogendra Nath Mandal, one of the Founding Fathers of Pakistan, first Law Minister of Pakistan
Jahangir Kabir Nanak, politician, former State Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives
Shahjahan Omar, Bir Uttam, politician, former State Minister of Law
Abdur Rahim, founding leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Nasreen Jahan Ratna, politician, former member of parliament
Majibur Rahman Sarwar, politician, former Mayor of Barisal and former member of parliament for Barisal-5
Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, vice-president of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Manikuntala Sen, revolutionary
Abdur Rab Serniabat, cabinet minister

Art, literature, journalism, and philosophy

Muhammad Reazuddin Ahmad, Islamic writer, journalist, and thinker
Jogesh Chandra Bagal, Indian journalist, historian and writer
Abdul Gaffar Choudhury, an author, columnist, lyricist
Asad Chowdhury, poet, writer, translator, radio, television personality and journalist
Jibanananda Das, Bengali poet, writer, novelist and essayist
Kusumkumari Das, poet, writer and social activist
Mukunda Das, Bengali poet, ballad singer, composer
Narayan Gangopadhyay, writer and academic
Buddhadeb Guha, writer
Ahsan Habib, poet and journalist
Abul Hasan, poet and journalist
Shamsuddin Abul Kalam, writer
Sufia Kamal, poet
Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah, founding editor of The Daily Ittefaq
Aroj Ali Matubbar, philosopher
Ghulam Murshid, Bangladeshi author, scholar, and journalist, based in London
Abu Zafar Obaidullah, Bengali poet and language movement activist
Bazlur Rahman, journalist and editor of The Sangbad
Kamini Roy, Bengali poet, social worker and feminist
Golam Sarwar, journalist and writer, founding editor of daily Samakal and Jugantor
Barun Sengupta, journalist, political critic, founder-editor of daily Bartaman

Entertainment

Film, television, theater, and radio

Tania Ahmed, television actress and model
Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, media personality
Arundhati Devi, actress and director
Utpal Dutt, actor, director, and playwright
Alamgir Kabir, film director and cultural activist
Mosharraf Karim, film and television actor
Shahidul Islam Khokon, filmmaker and producer
Golam Mustafa, film actor
Suborna Mustafa, film and television actress
Sohel Rana, film actor, director and producer
Masum Parvez Rubel, film actor
Mir Sabbir, television actor and director
Omar Sani, film actor
Hanif Sanket, television host, writer and producer, best known as the creator and host of popular television show Ittyadi
Nikhil Sen, dramatist

Singers and instrumentalists

Anil Biswas, film song composer
Nachiketa Chakraborty, Indian musician
Nikhil Ghosh, musician and teacher
Pannalal Ghosh, musician and flutist
Parul Ghosh, playback singer
Abdul Latif, singer, musician, and lyricist
Altaf Mahmud, musician and language movement activist
Khalid Hassan Milu, singer
Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, music composer and singer of Nazrul geeti
Papia Sarwar, singer

Performing arts

Jewel Aich, magician and bansuri player
Laxman Das, wrestler, weight lifter, circus performer, founder of Royal Pakistan Circus

Educationist and reformers

Abala Bose, educator and social reformer
Ashwini Kumar Dutta, Bengali educationist, philanthropist, social reformer
Sal Khan, American educator, mathematician and entrepreneur, founder of Khan Academy

Freedom fighters and revolutionary

A. B. Bardhan, Indian politician, trade union leader and the former general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI)
Kirtinarayan Basu, 17th-century raja of Chandradwip who converted to Islam
Kanai Chatterjee, Indian Maoist ideologue, founder of the Maoist Communist Centre of India
Gurudas Dasgupta, Indian politician and a leader of Communist Party of India
Mohiuddin Jahangir, Bir Shreshto, Liberation War veteran
Major M A Jalil, sector 9 commander during Bangladesh liberation war
Mostafa Kamal, freedom fighter in Bangladesh liberation war
Hayat Mahmud, feudal lord, commander and founder of Miah Bari Mosque
Niranjan Sengupta, revolutionary
Tarakeswar Sengupta, revolutionary

Science and academia

Swadesh Bose, Bengali language movement activist and economist
Basudeb DasSarma, chemist
Kadambini Ganguly, first South Asian female physician, social activist
Biswajit Ghosh, professor, essayist and researcher
Debaprasad Ghosh, Indian mathematician and politician
Ranajit Guha, historian of the Indian subcontinent and founding member of the Subaltern Studies Group
Hiranmay Sen Gupta, nuclear physicist
A. M. Harun-ar-Rashid, physicist and professor of physics at the University of Dhaka
Ehsan Hoque, medical doctor and philanthropist
Sardar Fazlul Karim, scholar, academic, philosopher and essayist
Nazia Khanum, , academic and management consultant
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology
Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri, historian
Tapan Raychaudhuri, historian
Sukharanjan Samaddar, professor, educationalist, and martyred freedom fighter in the Bangladesh Liberation War
Kaliprasanna Vidyaratna, Indian scholar of Sanskrit

Religious leaders

Islam

Nesaruddin Ahmad (1873–1952), inaugural Pir of Sarsina and founder of Darussunnat Kamil Madrasa
Ayub Ali (1919–1995), former Principal of Government Madrasah-e-Alia, Dhaka
Fazlul Karim (1935–2006), former Pir of Charmonai and founder of Islami Andolan
Rezaul Karim (born 1971), current Pir of Charmonai and leader of Islami Andolan
Syed Faizul Karim (born 1973), senior vice-president of Islami Andolan
Maqsudullah (1883–1961), inaugural Pir of Talgasia and founder of Ashraful Uloom Madrasa
Abu Zafar Mohammad Saleh (1915–1990), former Pir of Sarsina and Independence Award recipient