Comilla UNO under fire for asking man to address her as 'ma'

The UNO of Comilla’s Burichang upazila has come under fire for asking a man to address her as "ma" (mother/daughter) instead of "apa" (elder sister). 

UNO Sabina Yasmin reportedly asked Jamal Uddin, 45, to address her as he would address his daughter when he went to her office on Monday.

In Bengali culture, it is quite common to address one's son as "father" and daughter as "mother".

In a Facebook post that went viral on Tuesday, Jamal wrote: “Is it compulsory to address government officials as 'sir'?”

In his post, he claimed that UNO Sabina Yasmin lost her temper when he addressed her as "sister".

According to Jamal Uddin, he addressed Sabina as sister when he went to her office to get his sister’s birth certificate corrected. 

He claimed that she lost her temper and said: “It’s not an official language. Why not call me mother instead of sister?"

Responding to queries, Sabina Yasmin said: “A much older man is calling me apu, hence I told him that since he was my father’s age, he should address me as though I were his daughter.”

“It is normal that someone of his age would address me as his daughter. Otherwise, it shows that he has a 'bad character'. I will obviously object to a man who has one foot in his grave addressing me as 'sister',” she added.