“Menon is a surname familiar to us Keralites, but this Khan-Menon combo is a little surprising,” CPI(M) Ernakulam district secretary P. Rajeev told Rashed Khan Menon quizzically.
Khan Menon, the chairman of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, a Communist party, and the country’s Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, beamed an endearing smile and told Mr. Rajeev that his father, Abdul Jabbar Khan, was a staunch fan of former Indian Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon and was fond of addressing his son as Menon.
But the nickname stayed and was officially added to Mr. Khan’s name on record over a period of time. Mr. Khan Menon is among the 13 foreign delegates taking part in the ongoing summit of Communist and Left parties of South Asia in Ernakulam.
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Mr. Menon, who was associated with the National Awami Party before the formation of Bangladesh, played a key role in the ouster of the Hossain Mohammed Ershad government. He survived a violent attack in 1992 and remains an active parliamentarian.