My first encounter with Bangabandhu was in 1970; if my memory serves me correctly back then I was working for The People Daily. I went to the old Awami League office in Purana Paltan. As in the journalism profession, we normally acknowledge people, regardless of their position as bhai (brother) or apa (sister). Naturally, I called him Mujib bhai. When I first saw him I had a Rolleiflex camera that could only take good photos from a distance of 3 to 4 feet away. As I entered his room, I saw a large group of people discussing the different political matters. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a stylish man and I can't help but think that he always admired photographers. Looking at me he paused the meeting and automatically started giving different poses. He knew that I was looking for, a good shoot and he tried to help me out. After 10 to 15 minutes I took about 5 shots and decided not to disturb him anymore.
My second, encounter with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was when I was going to cover the 1970 Bhola cyclone in November. As we were near the cyclone-affected area we saw Bangabandhu has already visited the affected areas and was coming back to Dhaka. He stopped his car and talked with us for some time. Then the National Assembling took place but Pakistan was not going to hand over power. By this time I was assigned and to an extent out of my own interest I was used to be present in front of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's house. He knew my face and called me by my name. We had a group of 18 photographers and I was the youngest among them. Bangabandhu knew each of us by name. Today I am the only living photographer of that group.
Another encounter I had with Bangabandhu on March 3rd in 1970, I went to photograph him in Hotel Purbani. I consider myself to be blessed as I got the opportunity to photograph Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7, when he was giving his historic speech. We photographers were very close to him. A record company named HMV started to market the epic speech of March 7. They were selling per record at 5 Taka and it sold like hot cake. On March 25, four newspaper offices were burned, Ittafaq and The People's Daily was among them. On March 27, I and our senior colleague Rashid Talukder came out from our house to check the situation, it seems like the entire city is empty, a few dead bodies lying in front of old Awami League office. I was young, afraid and even was not able to find the courage to bring out my camera from my bag. However, Rashid Talukder took some photos. On the day India recognised us as an Independent country, I remember we went to a studio darkroom and brought 2 Taka worth sweets and ate them while rejoicing in silence. Back on those days, it was not so easy to take photos and to process them, thus we always used studios. After the war ended, the day Bangabandhu came home. I didn't have any official media identification, so the security was not allowing me to enter the old Tejgoan Airport. I thought for a second and took a rickshaw and waited in front of what is now Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). When Bangabandhu was passing by that place I took a few clicks.Bangabandhu through the camera and canvas
SHEIKH IRAJ
Rafiqur Rahman has been working as a photographer for various newspapers since the late 60s. For last 30 odd years Rahman, 72, has been working in Thomson Reuters as a photographer. From 1968 onwards he was one of the many photographers who covered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the activities of Awami League. The Independent recently met with him, where he talked about some of his personal and professional encounters with Bangabandhu.
My first encounter with Bangabandhu was in 1970; if my memory serves me correctly back then I was working for The People Daily. I went to the old Awami League office in Purana Paltan. As in the journalism profession, we normally acknowledge people, regardless of their position as bhai (brother) or apa (sister). Naturally, I called him Mujib bhai. When I first saw him I had a Rolleiflex camera that could only take good photos from a distance of 3 to 4 feet away. As I entered his room, I saw a large group of people discussing the different political matters. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a stylish man and I cant help but think that he always admired photographers. Looking at me he paused the meeting and automatically started giving different poses. He knew that I was looking for, a good shoot and he tried to help me out. After 10 to 15 minutes I took about 5 shots and decided not to disturb him anymore.
My second, encounter with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was when I was going to cover the 1970 Bhola cyclone in November. As we were near the cyclone-affected area we saw Bangabandhu has already visited the affected areas and was coming back to Dhaka. He stopped his car and talked with us for some time. Then the National Assembling took place but Pakistan was not going to hand over power. By this time I was assigned and to an extent out of my own interest I was used to be present in front of Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans house. He knew my face and called me by my name. We had a group of 18 photographers and I was the youngest among them. Bangabandhu knew each of us by name. Today I am the only living photographer of that group.
We have a group photo where 13 out of the 18 photographers were present when that photo was taken. Some of the names of the photographers I can recall are Mosarraf Hossain (Lal Bhai), Rajon Bhai, Rashid Talukder, Matiur Rahman (Mati Bhai), Aftab Ahmed and, Moazzem Hossain (Bulu Bhai), Akil Khan, Haji Mohammad Zahirul Huq, Manu Munshi, Matin Bhai, Mokaddas Ali, Golam mawla and Jalajuddin Haider Manwar Ahmed.
Another encounter I had with Bangabandhu on March 3rd in 1970, I went to photograph him in Hotel Purbani. I consider myself to be blessed as I got the opportunity to photograph Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7, when he was giving his historic speech. We photographers were very close to him. A record company named HMV started to market the epic speech of March 7. They were selling per record at 5 Taka and it sold like hot cake. On March 25, four newspaper offices were burned, Ittafaq and The Peoples Daily was among them. On March 27, I and our senior colleague Rashid Talukder came out from our house to check the situation, it seems like the entire city is empty, a few dead bodies lying in front of old Awami League office. I was young, afraid and even was not able to find the courage to bring out my camera from my bag. However, Rashid Talukder took some photos. On the day India recognised us as an Independent country, I remember we went to a studio darkroom and brought 2 Taka worth sweets and ate them while rejoicing in silence. Back on those days, it was not so easy to take photos and to process them, thus we always used studios. After the war ended, the day Bangabandhu came home. I didnt have any official media identification, so the security was not allowing me to enter the old Tejgoan Airport. I thought for a second and took a rickshaw and waited in front of what is now Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). When Bangabandhu was passing by that place I took a few clicks.
We were young and used to act childish at time during that time. I remember we used to enter Bangabandhus house and his security never used to ask why we are going to meet him. We used to go upstairs and would peek at his room, we knew if he gets a glance of us he will call us in, no matter how busy he was. One day we were waiting for a good amount of time, Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib always used to serve snacks to whoever came to the house. We saw her serving some food in their dining table, now those were for some other guests. We were so naughty that we ate most of the foods at the table. When Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib found out what we did, she started yelling, you good for nothing boys, I cant keep any food away from you. Bangabandhu heard and called us in, which was our intention in the first place.
On early 1972 I recall we were gossiping at press club. We received a phone call requesting us to meet Bangabandhu immediately. When we met him Bangabandhu said, in India we have been given a stall to showcase our countrys products. Now in this war-torn country, we do not have anything ready to showcase. Wittingly he said, you photographers made me a hero. Your photos represent Bangladesh, send your films to India, our stall will be a stall representing Bangladesh through photographs. We made Haji Johirul Islam our team leader and gave him all our films. In Delhi, 150 photographs were processed and were exhibited. Unfortunately many of our photos were lost during that time.
One day I had nothing in particular to do so I went to Bangabandhus house. He was laying on his bed, at his bedside table there were at least 10 smoking pipes. Looking at me, he said, Rahman what are you doing here at his hour. Anyway come in, look what I do. He had a boy servant who was preparing the pipes, one by one Bangabandhu puffed them, and with each puff, he would utter names of Presidents who gifted him the pipes. I was so immature that I didnt understand it could have been a marvelous photo. On August 21, he was at his home all day, so were numerous people. That was the last time I saw him smiling, carrying his charismatic personality.
The artistic mind of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Hashem Khan, 78, is one of the prominent painters we have in our country. This veteran artist was about 23 or 24 years old when he first met Bangabandhu in 1961 at Kochi-Kachar Mela, near to then The Daily Ittefaq office. Hashem Khan has painted many photos of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also designed and painted posters for the Awami League before and after the War of Liberation. Hashem Khan told The Independent about his experiences and memories he shared with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In 1961 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came out of jail. Back then I was associated with Kochi-Kachar Mela, one day he came, thats the first time I saw him in person. In Kochi-Kachar Mela we used to stage improvised stories like children portraying different governmental officials, for example, some children played the head of law enforcement agency. Children portrayed all the characters. Would one believe, Sultana Kamal who is a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist now was one of the judges, she must have been a student of class 7 or 8 back then. Another judge was a boy called Shahed. In one of the acts, Keramat Mawla who is now a famous producer and cultural personality portrayed the head of law enforcement. In his play, he showed he has caught a spy. Keramat Mawla said honorable judge I have caught this spy, he has been following Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ever since he came here. This spy needs to be punished. The judges looked at Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and he, to everyones surprise, said, this spy is a poor fellow, he works for the government, please let the poor man leave in peace. On behalf of him, I say sorry to you. This might look all dramatize, planned to perfection but would one believe, everything happened that day was as real as it gets.
In 1966 the 6-point plan titled Our Charter of Survival was proclaimed in front of the Bengali nation. Before it was declared I was requested by Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani who and I was almost the same age and we were friends one can say, to design and paint the logo and poster of the 6-point plan. I was shocked and nervous. After a lot of thinking, I came up with some slogans using black colour on white paper. I didnt paint any faces or figures. I remember Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani took me to Hotel Eden, it was located near Notre Dame College, and the Daily Jugantor office was there also. It was February and the weather was still a little cold, I remember I was very nervous as we reached near the hotel I saw Tajuddin Ahmad, Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah and Montu Khan who was a well-known journalist. I thought to myself what if they do not like what I have done. After a few minutes looking at the design Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah said we have to print it in black and white, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while smoking his pipe said, please make sure these are printed in colour. Thats all he said, and that lifted a burden over me as I understood he must have liked it as he is insisting to print it in colour. We are setting there for some time, we can see a lot of interesting political talk is going all around. Suddenly Sheikh Mani said to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hashem has an interesting take on our six-point plan. I was not expecting Sheikh Mani to say that but it caught everyones attention and I had to share my view. I said, see we have six seasons in our country, through thousands of years people are living their lives by adapting to these six seasons and what they have to offer. That is why I feel people would relate to the number or the idea of six-point plan. Everyone there liked what I had to say.
After that in 1970, Nur Islam who used to look after Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans press and communication, asked me to visit him. Nur Islam was greatly admired by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family members. When we met he said I have to design and come up with posters that will be used for Awami League 1970 election campaign. I could not sleep that night and I came with very simple poster designs. I didnt use any figures only simple words so general people can understand and relate to. In my work I tried to portray the social unjust practices of the Pakistani Government towards Bengalis.
Nur Islam said we have a target to print 20 to 25 lakhs, of course, it was too big of a challenge but they were able to print about 1 lakh in a few days and distributed them all across the country. After the Liberation War, I was working under my teacher and senior co-worker Zainul Abedin. In 1972 Zainul Abedin was requested to design our constitution. I remember going to meet Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after 6 years. He came to greet Zainul Abedin from his gate. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman told Zainul Abedin, Abedin brother we have come a long way, but I need you to be by my side. We have written our constitution and I want your help. Zainul Abedin was going to introduce me as Bangabandhu stopped him and said I already know Hashem, he did the six-point logo and poster design for us. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had an excellent memory, he knew how to respect people and in return, he was loved by all. We designed the constitution under the leadership of Zainul Abedin and when we were showing him the dummy he said I want Hashem and Abdur Rouf to be present when 315 parliament members sign it. Make sure the parliamentary members only use black ink and your pens. We were present just under the speakers stage collecting all the signs the day our constitution was passed.
The last time I saw him was the day Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) was declared. It was raining and there were thousands of people, we went with Zainul Abedin. Bangabandhu saw Zainul Abedin was coming towards the stage, he got out from the stage to greet all of us. My personal feeling is those who criticize (BaKSAL), they do not understand what it was all about. I have painted many pictures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Now painting not necessarily means only painting ones face. Thus portraying the occasions and incidents where Bangabandhu was present is one of ways of showcasing Bangabandhu and how he was a great leader, a man of the people.
The writer is a journalist working
for The Independent
