Doctors at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital declared him dead around 9am on Wednesday, said neurosurgery department's professor Afzal Hossain.

The 88-year-old had been hospitalized on Aug 18 following a stroke. Two days later, BSMMU doctors performed a surgery on his brain to remove a clot.

He had been kept in hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) since then.

His condition worsened on Oct 4 and he was put on life support.

As per his wish, his eyes would be donated to a voluntary organisation, Sandhani, and the body for medical students.

His wife Gulbadan Nesa Monica told bdnews24.com that the body would be taken to the Shaheed Minar on Thursday around 12 pm to pay last respects to the Language Movement veteran, who was popularly known as 'Bhasha Matin' (language warrior Matin).

Matin, a leader of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, was born on Dec 3, 1926 at Dhublia village under Sirajganj’s Chouhali Upazila.

He entered the Dhaka University in 1945.

He was known for his role as the convenor of all-party state language movement committee in 1952.

The veteran played an active role in forming the Chhatra Union after the Language Movement and became its president later. He then got involved in communist movement.

Matin was appointed the secretary of the Communist Party’s Pabna district unit in 1954, but joined Maulana Bhasani’s NAP three years later.

He formed the ‘East Pakistan Communist Party’ a year later.

In 1992, he took an active part in forming the Workers Party of Bangladesh and resigned in 2006.

He joined Workers Party again three years later, when it was reformed under Haider Akbar Khan Rono. Matin remained with it, although Rono later moved to the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

The veteran has authored several books on the Language Movement.

Of them, ‘Bangali Jatir Utsya Sandhan and Bhasha Andolan’ (in search of the Bengali’s root and the Language Movement), ‘Bhasha Andolan Ki Ebong Keno’ (what is Language Movement and why it took place), and ‘Bhasha Andolaner Itihash’ (the history of Language Movement) are well known.