Bangabandhu, the Great Leader
Saiful Islam Azad
This year the nation will be observing the 42nd death anniversary of the founder of Bangladesh, the Father of the Bengali Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On the day of 15th August, 1975 this legend hero was brutally murdered by a group of assassins along with most of his family members. We mourn for him and his family members and express our wrath and abhorrence towards the disgruntled military officials who were involved in the massacre.
From his early life, Mujib showed the potential of leadership, who gradually grew as the torchbearer of the Bangali Nation. It is the reality of history that Bangladesh wouldnt get freedom without Mujib. Only he was able to raise the nation with new hopes and aspirations to come out from the long lasting oppressions and repressions by the West Pakistani rulers. J.N. Dixit, the then Deputy High Commissioner of India in Dhaka said, As a professional diplomat, I saw Bangabandhu as a symbol of Bangladeshs freedom and independence. As a leader he was handsome, self-confident, faithful, popular, simple, far- sighted, charismatic and patriot. He never compromised with anybody under any threat or illegal pressure. He proved these attributes all through his life. He was a poet of politics. He was able to attract a crowd of millions people to his rallies and hold them spellbound with great rolling waves of emotional rhetoric.
His Patriotic and uncompromising roles in politics made him so popular that people could see their freedom in him. Mujib actively took part in the Language Movement in 1952. He was also arrested for his highest activities to organize the movement. His deep love towards Bengali and Bangladesh proves that he was a dedicated Bengali leader. His address on 21 September 1955 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly on the question of Bengali language is noteworthy. He claimed the right to speak in his mother tongue. He said: We want to speak in Bengali (Bangla) here, whether we know any other language or not it matters little for us. If we feel that we can express ourselves in Bengali we will speak always in Bengali even though we can speak in English also. If that is not allowed, we will leave the House, but Bengali should be allowed in this house; that is our stand.
In another address (25 August 1955), he protested against the change of nomenclature of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan. He said, Sir, you will see that they want to place the word East Pakistan instead of East Bengal. We have demanded so many times that you should use [East] Bengal instead of [East] Pakistan. The word Bengal (Bangla) has a history, has a tradition of its own....
From the very beginning of the partition in 1947, Sheikh Mujib could realize the step-motherly attitudes of the West Pakistani leaders to the people of East Pakistan. He got the impression as a member of Pakistans Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1956) and later as a member of Pakistan National Assembly (1956-1958). The prevailing political and economic inequality and boundless extortion and repression on the East Pakistani people by the West Pakistani dictators eventually made Mujib a revolutionary leader. He saw the unfortunate plight of the Bangalis and desired to save his people from sufferings and tried to show them way of expressing their right of self-determination. His only dream was to bring their liberty to live as free citizens.
As a visionary leader Mujib was able to organize his party with competence. He was one of the principal organizers behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League. Later he was elected to the posts of joint secretary and general secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League respectively. In 1955 the name of the party was reformed as Awami League and Mujib became president of the party. As he was a magnetic organizer, he brought back Awami League from intra party politics and factions. He became a political eminence in the country and the West Pakistani rulers began to adopt conspiracy against him. Their conspiracy became hasty when he announced his historical Six-point Programme known as Bengalis Charter of Survival in 1966.
That the seed of independent of Bangladesh was lying in that Charter, was not unknown to the West Pakistani rulers. A sedition case, known as Agartala Conspiracy Case was brought against Mujib along with 34 others to foil the movement. The trial of the case stirred up Bengali emotion and sentiment against Pakistani domineering attitude to East Pakistan. The after-effect of this case was the mass movement that went beyond the control of the rulers. In early 1969 the mass movement reached such a momentum that the Ayub regime was bound to withdraw the case.
Mujibs strong leadership became very keen after the general election in December 1970. In that election Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the Pakistan National Assembly. According to the constitution, Sheikh Mujib got the right to form the government in the centre. But Yahyas military junta and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto conspired not to allow Mujib to form the government. As a part of conspiracy, President Yahya Khan postponed the Dhaka National Assembly meet scheduled to be held on 3 March 1971. The announcement triggered off the general agitation in East Pakistan. People came out in streams onto the streets. The Bangalee people started a relentless movement for establishment of their rights. Protesting this move Sheikh Mujib called for an all-out Non-Cooperation Movement in East Pakistan. From then the entire civil administration came under the control of Mujib and moved according to his directives. The students, youths, working class and the Bangali nation as a whole supported Mujib as their only leader and responded to his call. Mujib became the uncrowned king of East Pakistan.
Bangabandhus address to the nation on 7 March before a mammoth gathering was the clear declaration of independence of Bangladesh. The address marked a turning point in the history of the Bangali nation. Through this address he urged the whole nation to combat the enemy with their all means. He urged them to build a fortress in each and every home. There was no alternative against that backdrop. In his address he made his stand clear. According to him, the people have been shedding blood for past 23 years for freedom, survival and right, but got nothing.
According to him, a mandate was won by their party in 1954, but they couldnt take up the reign of this country. Ayub Khan clamped martial law in 1958 and continued for ten years. Then many of the Bangalee people, especially the youths were killed. Finally, in 1970s general election Awami League won the absolute majority. Yet they were not allowed to form the government. Thus the bloodshed continued. The west Pakistani military rulers wanted to subjugate seven crores of people. But they wouldnt be able to do that, because the people of this land learnt to die. So, Bangabandhu declared independence saying, The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation. The struggle this time is the struggle for our independence. Indeed, his March 7 speech including this declaration of independence was such a charisma that worked as the source of inspiration for freedom fighters and for national unity and strength. The speech touched their sole and inspired them to overcome the fear of death and fight for freedom of the country.
The dark night of destruction came on March 25, 1971 when the Pakistani military started genocide. Then the innocent people of this country understood the true value of Father of the Nation, Bangabandhus March 7 speech. But Bangabandhu understood it far before that, to defend the West Pakistani army occupants, he must declare the independence and call for a guerilla action. He was indeed a farsighted and determined leader.
We get the testimony of his farsightedness in state-building and nation-building activities in the war ravaged country after his return on January 10, 1972. There were some colossal challenges before him. Such as restoring law and order, recovering illegal arms, rehabilitating the freedom fighters, rebuilding the communication system, feeding the hungry millions and many others were the formidable challenges before him. But he took the challenges with heroism and intelligence. The state-building activities took off the ground covering all important fields. He enacted a constitution, furnished all processes of returning of the Indian allied forces, secured international recognition and obtained membership of the international agencies, including the United Nations and the OIC in a shortest period of time. It is mostly remarkable that Sheikh Mujibs foreign policies and actions were aimed at protecting Bangladeshs interest. In the context of Indo-Bangla relationship, former Indian foreign secretary J.N. Dixit evaluated Mujibs ideology in this way, As the East Pakistan crisis evolved between December 1970 and March 1971, Mujib realized that the success of his struggle will depend not only on mass support from the people of East Pakistan but also on political and logistic support from India.....But he was equally clear that both in substance and appearance Bangladesh should not be seen as a client state, excessively dependent on India and subject to its Influence. He further said, Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans role in Indo-Bangla relations was governed by his undoubted sense of Patriotism, his perceptions of Bangladeshs national interests and security and his calculations about regional and international equations which he should forge to safeguard these interests.
In Bangabandhus mind, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a very important place in formulating the countrys foreign policy and indeed, he was able to create a strong and dynamic foreign policy for Bangladesh in only three years and a half. The base of his foreign policy was- friendship with all, malice to none and friendly co-existence. Bangbandhu wanted the Muslim countries of the world to recognize Bangladeshs Bengali and Muslim identity and wanted to build political, economic and technology based ties with all major countries in the world as well. He expressed his countrys solidarity with the people of Palestine. He was able to make strong ties with two opponents, the USSR (present Russia) and at the same time with the USA, though it was a very hard task during the Cold War period.
The writer is a freelancer
