anguage, culture and birth, been a full blooded Bengali. His physical stature was towering. His voice was redolent of thunder. His charisma worked magic on people. The courage and charm that flowed from him made him a unique superman in these times.” Newsweek magazine called him the poet of politics. The leader of the British humanist movement, the late Lord Fenner Brockway once remarked, “In a sense, Sheikh Mujib is a greater leader than George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi and De Valera.” A great journalist of Egypt, Hasnein Heikal (former editor of Al Ahram and close associate of the late President Nasser) said, “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman does not belong to Bangladesh alone. He is the harbinger of freedom for all Bengalis. His Bengali nationalism is the new emergence of Bengali civilisation and culture. Mujib is the hero of the Bangalis, in the past and in the times to be.”
sembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1958).
d working classes.
n, himself becoming the de facto head of government of the province.
ittees in 1972, Administrative and Services Reorganization Committee (ASRC) and the National Pay Commission (NPC). The committee/commission was entrusted with the responsibility of suggesting measures towards reorganising the central bureaucracy, including local government, accompanied by devolution of power from the central to the local level and a national pay structure.
kable success of Bangabandhu was the framing of a foreign policy of the new-born country. The main theme of the policy was ‘friendship to all and malice to none’. Under Bangabandhu’s leadership Bangladesh became a member of the UN, OIC and other world bodies and also secured recognition of most of the countries of the world.BANGABANDHU, THE GREATEST BENGALI EVER
Keeping in mind the celebration of the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or Mujib Barsha in 2020, The Independent took up a study to make a detour around Bengals political history from ancient period to the time when Bangladesh emerged as an independent state in 1971. The reason for undertaking this study is to find out 10 most influential rulers who ruled the geographical entity called Bengal during the time span of the last 14 centuries. To make this study successful, the newspapers Editorial Board talked to noted historians of Bangladesh namely Prof. Syed Anwar Husain, Prof. Mesbah Kamal, Prof Dr. Aksadul Alam and Associate Prof. Sania Sitara all of whom are history faculties of Dhaka University. After research and interviews, it was found really difficult to single out 10 most important rulers of Bengal because in the last 14 centuries, many rulers permanently shaped the history of Bengal. Many may find the names in the final list incorrect, but few would disagree with the fact that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the first Bengali head of statenote the word Bengaliof an independent and democratic Bangladesh, notwithstanding the fact that in the different periods of Bengal history, the map of Bengal was much larger than the map of present Bangladesh. Our aim was not to make a historical research as historians would do on the topic, but we made an attempt to be factually accurate with available information in our hand. The 10 leaders in the study findings are: Shashanka, Gopala, Dharmapala, Vijaya Sena, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, Sher Shah Suri, Murshid Quli Khan, Siraj ud-Daulah and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This article featuring Bangabadhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the final part of the viii-part series Rulers of Bengal.
Today, hundred years ago, when the world was in turmoil because of the WWI, was born a child in the village of Tungipara in Gopalganj, who was to change the course of history of the Bengali nation. No single individual has managed to make so great an impact for the Bengali nation than Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Regarded as the greatest Bengali ever, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans contribution to the Bengali nation is unparalleled. Journalist Cyril Dunn once said of him, In the thousand years of history of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujib is the only leader who has, in terms of blood, race, language, culture and birth, been a full blooded Bengali. His physical stature was towering. His voice was redolent of thunder. His charisma worked magic on people. The courage and charm that flowed from him made him a unique superman in these times. Newsweek magazine called him the poet of politics. The leader of the British humanist movement, the late Lord Fenner Brockway once remarked, In a sense, Sheikh Mujib is a greater leader than George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi and De Valera. A great journalist of Egypt, Hasnein Heikal (former editor of Al Ahram and close associate of the late President Nasser) said, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman does not belong to Bangladesh alone. He is the harbinger of freedom for all Bengalis. His Bengali nationalism is the new emergence of Bengali civilisation and culture. Mujib is the hero of the Bangalis, in the past and in the times to be.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in a middle class family unlike the landed gentry who dominated Bengal, particularly Bengal Muslim. His father, Sheikh Lutfur Rahman, was a government employee at the local court. And his mother Sayera Khatun was a housewife.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed his matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942. He was then sent to Kolkata (Calcutta) for his education and got the first taste of politics there. Sheikh Mujib worked actively for the Muslim Leagues cause of Pakistan and in 1946 he became general secretary of his alma mater Islamia Colleges Students Union. After the partition of India his phenomenal rise in the political arena in East Bengal, later East Pakistan, is quite astonishing. He was a founding member of the Awami League (formerly Awami Muslim League) and as a relatively young man he became the provincial Minister of Agriculture and Forests in the Jukto (united) Front government formed in 1954. He gave up that lucrative post, an action which was rare then as it is now, to organise Awami League at the grassroots level in his capacity as the partys general secretary. The fruits of his endeavour are still being enjoyed by Awami League, which has a presence in almost every village of the country. He was also a member of the Pakistan Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1958).
In his memoirs Bangabandhus political mentor Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardi has written about his lieutenant Sheikh Mujibs growing disillusionment with West Pakistani misrule and his determination to do something about it. The genesis of his historic Six-Point Programme in 1966 lies there. He called for a federal state structure for Pakistan and full autonomy for Bangladesh with a parliamentary democratic system. The Six-Point became so popular in a short while that it turned into the Charter of Freedom for the Bengalis or their Magna Carta.
In the meantime he continued his meteoric rise and by the late 1960s became the most popular leader among the Bengalis. It is amazing to think that in his historic 7th March speech he addressed the people of the land as tumi and tomader (the informal you in Bengali). One has to remember that he was 51 at the time.
Bangabandhu was a genuine peoples leader. It was his love for his people and empathy for his peoples sufferings that made him strive for their freedom. His popularity which reached the stratosphere could not diminish his love for the common people. Till his last breath he never forgot his real source of power the ordinary man and woman of Bangladesh. It was his tremendous love for the people that made him eschew his official residence and continue to live in his Dhanmondi Road 32 residence. Unfortunately, that made things easier for his killers.
Sheikh Mujib was an undaunted advocate of the Bengali interests from the start. He was among the first language prisoners. He reorganised the Awami League and put it on a firm foundation. In 1966, he announced his famous Six-Point programme, calling it Our [Bengalis] Charter of Survival, which aimed at self-rule for East Pakistan. Struck sharp at the roots of West Pakistani dominance, the Six-point Programme at once drew the attention of the nation. Though conservative elements of all political parties looked at it with consternation, it instantaneously stirred the younger generation, particularly the students, youth and working classes.
Disturbed by the political views of Sheikh Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind bars. A sedition case, known as Agartala Conspiracy Case, was brought against him. It may be noted that during most of the period of the Ayub regime, he was in jail, first from 1958 to 1961 and then from 1966 to early 1969. During the second term in jail, his charisma grew so much that a mass uprising took place in his favour in early 1969 and Ayub administration was compelled to release him on 22 February 1969 unconditionally. On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) organised a mass reception to him at Ramna Racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Uddyan) and accorded him the title Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal). In him they saw a true leader who suffered jail terms for about twelve years during the 23 years of Pakistani rule. Twelve years in jail and ten years under close surveillance, Pakistan, to Sheikh Mujib, indeed proved to be more a prison than a free homeland.
The general elections of December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan. The people gave him the absolute mandate in favour of his six-point doctrine. Now it was his turn to implement it. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was so serious about the six-point that on 3 January 1971, he held a solemn ceremony at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives and took an oath never to deviate from the six-point when framing the constitution for Pakistan.
Bangabandhus most uncompromising stand on the Six-point Programme led Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Yahyas military junta to take a stringent view. Instead of allowing him to form the government, the junta resolved to undo the results of the elections. President Yahya Khan cancelled unilaterally the National Assembly meet in Dhaka scheduled to be held on 3 March 1971. The announcement triggered off the death-knell of Pakistan. Bangabandhu called an all-out non-cooperation movement in East Pakistan. The whole province supported the non-cooperation movement. During the course of non-cooperation (2-25 March 1971) the entire civil authorities in East Pakistan came under the control and directives of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, himself becoming the de facto head of government of the province.
During this time, on 7 March Mujib made a historic address at a mammoth gathering at the Race Course which marked a turning point in the history of the Bengali nation. In his address Mujib made specific charges against the Martial Law authorities which failed to transfer power to the elected representatives.
Often overlooked is the administrative genius of Bangabandhu. On January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu came back to his people from the captivity of the Pakistanis. From then on, a new phase in the life of Bangabandhu started with new herculean challenges. He made history by achieving different milestones within a short span of about three and half years as the head of the government and the state. During early 1972, the allied forces or the Mitra Bahini- the Indian military forces left Bangladesh at the request of Bangabandhu. Very quickly under his guidance Bangladesh armed forces took their formal shape. The paramilitary force like the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles was reorganised.
There was the urgent need for the restoration of the administrative system and civil character from that of the military one of the Pakistani period. Once it was successfully done, it took over the responsibility of running the administration of a newly independent country under political leadership. Here it must be remembered that the administrative system that Bangladesh inherited at the time of liberation was meant to run a provincial government.
To address the issue, the government formed the Civil Administration Restoration Committee to examine and suggest ways and means for restoration of civil administration at various levels. Based on the recommendations, the provincial secretariat was transformed into the national secretariat with ministries and related directorates/departments and corporations.
Later Bangabandhus government appointed two major committees in 1972, Administrative and Services Reorganization Committee (ASRC) and the National Pay Commission (NPC). The committee/commission was entrusted with the responsibility of suggesting measures towards reorganising the central bureaucracy, including local government, accompanied by devolution of power from the central to the local level and a national pay structure.
The ASRC recommended a unified grading structure covering all services into 10 grades in which there would be an appropriate number of pay levels.
Relief and rehabilitation was the other huge task that Bangabandhus government embarked upon to address. About 10 million refugees went to India during the war. They were brought back and rehabilitated. Repair and reconstruction of the nearly destroyed infrastructure of rail and road communication turned out to be a daunting task for the government. Yet Bangabandhus government managed to restore the communication network of the country quite fast.
Chittagong port is the gateway to foreign trade of the country. During the war mines were laid all over in the port channel. With the help of the Soviet Union, in the shortest possible time, the mines were removed and the port was made operational.
During the Liberation war, the economy of the country came to a standstill. Moving forward the wheels of the economy and putting it on the growth path was the other urgent need that needed government interventions. Bangabandhus government took a number of initiatives in this regard. Several public corporations were created and industries and businesses were incorporated in them. Here it needs to be mentioned that several industries and businesses were owned by the Pakistanis who abandoned them and left for Pakistan. The new government had to take them over and started running them under state management. Slowly the economy started to move forward and was gaining momentum.
The other remarkable success of Bangabandhu was the framing of a foreign policy of the new-born country. The main theme of the policy was friendship to all and malice to none. Under Bangabandhus leadership Bangladesh became a member of the UN, OIC and other world bodies and also secured recognition of most of the countries of the world.
Perhaps the most noteworthy contribution of Bangabandhu was presenting the country with a constitution within just one year of the independence of the country. The constitution has been acclaimed around the world for its egalitarian principles safeguarding and guaranteeing particularly the equal and human rights of all citizens of Bangladesh irrespective of religion, creed, culture and ethnicity. As a nation builder, Bangabandhu started from scratch. But within the shortest possible time of just three and a half year, everything that a country needs to survive and move forward were created, framed, established and made operational.
To the great misfortune of the Bengali nation Bangabandhu could not lead Bangladesh for long. Criminal elements of the army carried out a massacre rare in terms of sheer brutality. Just as in life, so also in his death Sheikh Mujib stands unique. Few heroes of history met as tragic an end as Bangabandhu. Not only was he so brutally murdered but so also were all his family members except the two sisters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana. After his death every effort was made to erase Bangabandhu from history. However, it was impossible to do so. Paraphrasing the poem by Annadashankar Roy, as long as the rivers of Bengal will run, the greatness of Bangabandhu will remain in the hearts and souls of the Bengalis.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the final leader in our list of the 10 most influential personalities who led Bengal in its history of fourteen centuries. But Bangabandhu was not a ruler like the others: they either came to power by defeating their opponents or as an heir to the dynasty they belonged to. But Bangabandhu rose from the grassroots winning heart of people who put their trust on him. Unlike them, he was born and bred in a modern society and a democratically elected leader. Here lies the uniqueness of Bangabandhu.
