Several Hindu families and some Muslim people ("Hira Lal Sarkar" who was the collector of British Government) played a critical role in the development of the township during the British Raj in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. After partition of India in 1947, the Hindu influence in the area waned following the departure of many prominent Hindu families. The 1960s saw the establishment of some important institutions, including a dairy farm and a University in the area. Concurrently, communist politics was on the rise in the area. However, this was replaced with Bengali nationalist zeal, when the Bangladesh Awami League won the 1970 election in this constituency. In 1975, Savar came to the spotlight when the Maoist leader Shiraj Shikdar was secretly tortured and executed at Savar Cantonment. Savar was politically important to the military dictators of the mid-1970s and 1980s, as the cantonment armory here was the closest one outside the capital.