Harun-or-Rashid :
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975) Father of the nation and first president of Bangladesh (26 March 1971 to 11 January 1972). Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on 17 March 1920 in the village Tungipara under Gopalganj subdivision in the district of Faridpur. His father Sheikh Lutfar Rahman was a serestadar in the civil court of Gopalganj. Mujib, the third among six brothers and sisters, had his primary education in the local Gimadanga School. His early education suffered for about four years due to eye problems. He passed his Matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942, Intermediate of Arts from Calcutta Islamia College in 1944 and BA from the same college in 1947.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman showed the potential of leadership since his school life. While a student of Gopalganj Missionary School, AK Fazlul Huq, the then Chief Minister of Bengal, came to visit the school (1938). The young Mujib is said to have organized an agitation in order to impress the Chief Minister about the depressed situation of the region. While a student in Islamia College he was elected General Secretary of the College Students Union in 1946. He was an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and a member of the All India Muslim League Council from 1943 onwards. In politics he had been a fervent follower of hs Suhrawardy.
During the general elections of 1946, Sheikh Mujib was deputed by the Muslim League to work for the party candidates in the Faridpur district. After partition (1947), he got himself admitted into the University of Dhaka to study Law but was unable to complete it, because he was expelled from the University in early 1949 on the charge of ‘inciting the fourth-class employees’ in their agitation against the University authority’s indifference towards their legitimate demands.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the principal organisers behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (1948). In fact, Sheikh Mujib’s active political career began with his election to one of the three posts of Joint Secretaries of the newly established East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949) while interned in jail. The other two Joint Secretaries were Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad and AK Rafiqul Hussain. In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected General Secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, a post that he held until 1966 when he became President of the party. It was due to Mujib’s initiative that in 1955 the word ‘Muslim’ was dropped from the name of the party to make it sound secular. It is indicative of his secularist attitude to politics that he developed after 1947.
To give full time to the organizational affairs of the Awami League, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman resigned from the Cabinet of Ataur Rahman Khan (1956-58) after serving for only nine months. During the time of general Ayub Khan, Mujib had the nerve to revive the Awami League in 1964, though his political guru, Suhrawardy, was in favour of keeping political parties defunct and work under the political amalgam called National Democratic Front for the restoration of constitutional rule in Pakistan. Mujib, after all, was already quite disillusioned about the concept of Pakistan. The impression that he got as a member of Pakistan’s Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1956) and later as a member of Pakistan National Assembly (1956-1958) was that the attitude of West Pakistani leaders to East Pakistan was not one of equality and fraternity.
Sheikh Mujib was one of the first among the Language Movement detainees (11 March 1948). His address on 21 September 1955 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly on the question of Bangla language is noteworthy. Claiming the right to speak in his mother tongue, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said :
“We want to speak in Bengali 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) what Sheikh Mujib said in the Constituent Assembly in protest against the change of nomenclature of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan is equally pertinent.
“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’ has a history, has a tradition of its own….”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman grew in political eminence in the early 1960s. Through his captivating organizing ability he was able to retrieve the Awami League from intra party politics and exits of a number of factions from the party’s mainstream. A magnetic organiser, Sheikh Mujib had established his full command over the party. In 1966, he announced his famous Six-Point Programme what he called ‘Our’ [Bangalis’] Charter of Survival’. The points are: 1) a federal State and introduction of parliamentary form of government based on universal adult franchise; 2) all departments except defense and foreign affairs will be vested in the hands of the federating units or provincial governments; 3) separate currencies for two states or effective measures to stop flight of capital from East Pakistan to West Pakistan; 4) transfer of all rights of taxation to the states; 5) independence of the states in international trades; and finally 6) rights of the states to create’ militia or para-military forces for self-defense. In short, the programme envisioned a new approach to political life. In letters and spirit, the Six-Point Programme meant virtual independence for East Pakistan. Though conservative elements of all political parties looked at it with consternation, it roused the imagination of the younger generation right away, particularly the students, youth and working classes.
Following the presentation of the challenging Six-Point programme by Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind the bars. A sedition case, known as Agartala Conspiracy Case officially named as State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Others, was brought against him along with 34 others. Majority of them were Bangali officers and servicemen in Pakistan Air and Naval forces. They also included three senior Bangali civil servants. As Mujib was already in prison he was shown arrested as number one accused. He was charged with conspiring against the state of Pakistan together with the other co-accused. According to the allegations, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the other accused were secretly planning to separate East Pakistan by force with the help of India. The counter-offensive move, however, proved to be counter-productive. The trial of the case in a special tribunal in the Dhaka Kurmitola Cantonment stirred up Bangali emotion and sentiment against Pakistani domineering attitude to East Pakistan. During the trial in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, Mujib’s charisma grew further and almost the whole nation stood up in protest of the trial of their leader. The mass movement, organized especially by the younger generation, reached such a momentum in early 1969 that the Ayub regime tried to avoid an impending civil war in the country by withdrawing the case. Sheikh Mujib was released on 22 February 1969 unconditionally. On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) which proved to be the most effective political and social force in compelling the government to free Sheikh Mujib unconditionally, organised a mass reception to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Ramna Racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Udyan). On behalf of the Sangram Parishad Tofael Ahmed, the President of the Sangram Parishad, bestowed on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the title of ‘Bangabandhu’ (Friend of the Bangalis). In him, they saw a kind of sacrificing 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 proved to be more a prison than a free homeland.
The first ever general elections of Pakistan in December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan. Under his leadership, the Awami League won 167 (including 7 women reserved seats) out of 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the Pakistan National Assembly. The people gave him the absolute mandate in favour of his Six-point doctrine. Now it was his turn to implement it. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a solemn ceremony held on 3 January 1971 at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives took an oath never to deviate from the Six-Point when framing the Constitution for Pakistan.
Under the circumstances, General Yahya’s military junta and Z.A Bhutto, the elected leader of West Pakistan, conspired not to allow Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to form the government in the centre. On 1 March 1971, President Yahya Khan postponed unilaterally the Dhaka National Assembly meet scheduled to be held on 3 March.
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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975) Father of the nation and first president of Bangladesh (26 March 1971 to 11 January 1972). Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on 17 March 1920 in the village Tungipara under Gopalganj subdivision in the district of Faridpur. His father Sheikh Lutfar Rahman was a serestadar in the civil court of Gopalganj. Mujib, the third among six brothers and sisters, had his primary education in the local Gimadanga School. His early education suffered for about four years due to eye problems. He passed his Matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942, Intermediate of Arts from Calcutta Islamia College in 1944 and BA from the same college in 1947.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman showed the potential of leadership since his school life. While a student of Gopalganj Missionary School, AK Fazlul Huq, the then Chief Minister of Bengal, came to visit the school (1938). The young Mujib is said to have organized an agitation in order to impress the Chief Minister about the depressed situation of the region. While a student in Islamia College he was elected General Secretary of the College Students Union in 1946. He was an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and a member of the All India Muslim League Council from 1943 onwards. In politics he had been a fervent follower of hs Suhrawardy.
During the general elections of 1946, Sheikh Mujib was deputed by the Muslim League to work for the party candidates in the Faridpur district. After partition (1947), he got himself admitted into the University of Dhaka to study Law but was unable to complete it, because he was expelled from the University in early 1949 on the charge of ‘inciting the fourth-class employees’ in their agitation against the University authority’s indifference towards their legitimate demands.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the principal organisers behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (1948). In fact, Sheikh Mujib’s active political career began with his election to one of the three posts of Joint Secretaries of the newly established East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949) while interned in jail. The other two Joint Secretaries were Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad and AK Rafiqul Hussain. In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected General Secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, a post that he held until 1966 when he became President of the party. It was due to Mujib’s initiative that in 1955 the word ‘Muslim’ was dropped from the name of the party to make it sound secular. It is indicative of his secularist attitude to politics that he developed after 1947.
To give full time to the organizational affairs of the Awami League, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman resigned from the Cabinet of Ataur Rahman Khan (1956-58) after serving for only nine months. During the time of general Ayub Khan, Mujib had the nerve to revive the Awami League in 1964, though his political guru, Suhrawardy, was in favour of keeping political parties defunct and work under the political amalgam called National Democratic Front for the restoration of constitutional rule in Pakistan. Mujib, after all, was already quite disillusioned about the concept of Pakistan. The impression that he got as a member of Pakistan’s Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1956) and later as a member of Pakistan National Assembly (1956-1958) was that the attitude of West Pakistani leaders to East Pakistan was not one of equality and fraternity.
Sheikh Mujib was one of the first among the Language Movement detainees (11 March 1948). His address on 21 September 1955 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly on the question of Bangla language is noteworthy. Claiming the right to speak in his mother tongue, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said :
“We want to speak in Bengali 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) what Sheikh Mujib said in the Constituent Assembly in protest against the change of nomenclature of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan is equally pertinent.
“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’ has a history, has a tradition of its own….”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman grew in political eminence in the early 1960s. Through his captivating organizing ability he was able to retrieve the Awami League from intra party politics and exits of a number of factions from the party’s mainstream. A magnetic organiser, Sheikh Mujib had established his full command over the party. In 1966, he announced his famous Six-Point Programme what he called ‘Our’ [Bangalis’] Charter of Survival’. The points are: 1) a federal State and introduction of parliamentary form of government based on universal adult franchise; 2) all departments except defense and foreign affairs will be vested in the hands of the federating units or provincial governments; 3) separate currencies for two states or effective measures to stop flight of capital from East Pakistan to West Pakistan; 4) transfer of all rights of taxation to the states; 5) independence of the states in international trades; and finally 6) rights of the states to create’ militia or para-military forces for self-defense. In short, the programme envisioned a new approach to political life. In letters and spirit, the Six-Point Programme meant virtual independence for East Pakistan. Though conservative elements of all political parties looked at it with consternation, it roused the imagination of the younger generation right away, particularly the students, youth and working classes.
Following the presentation of the challenging Six-Point programme by Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind the bars. A sedition case, known as Agartala Conspiracy Case officially named as State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Others, was brought against him along with 34 others. Majority of them were Bangali officers and servicemen in Pakistan Air and Naval forces. They also included three senior Bangali civil servants. As Mujib was already in prison he was shown arrested as number one accused. He was charged with conspiring against the state of Pakistan together with the other co-accused. According to the allegations, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the other accused were secretly planning to separate East Pakistan by force with the help of India. The counter-offensive move, however, proved to be counter-productive. The trial of the case in a special tribunal in the Dhaka Kurmitola Cantonment stirred up Bangali emotion and sentiment against Pakistani domineering attitude to East Pakistan. During the trial in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, Mujib’s charisma grew further and almost the whole nation stood up in protest of the trial of their leader. The mass movement, organized especially by the younger generation, reached such a momentum in early 1969 that the Ayub regime tried to avoid an impending civil war in the country by withdrawing the case. Sheikh Mujib was released on 22 February 1969 unconditionally. On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) which proved to be the most effective political and social force in compelling the government to free Sheikh Mujib unconditionally, organised a mass reception to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Ramna Racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Udyan). On behalf of the Sangram Parishad Tofael Ahmed, the President of the Sangram Parishad, bestowed on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the title of ‘Bangabandhu’ (Friend of the Bangalis). In him, they saw a kind of sacrificing 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 proved to be more a prison than a free homeland.
The first ever general elections of Pakistan in December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan. Under his leadership, the Awami League won 167 (including 7 women reserved seats) out of 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the Pakistan National Assembly. The people gave him the absolute mandate in favour of his Six-point doctrine. Now it was his turn to implement it. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a solemn ceremony held on 3 January 1971 at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives took an oath never to deviate from the Six-Point when framing the Constitution for Pakistan.
Under the circumstances, General Yahya’s military junta and Z.A Bhutto, the elected leader of West Pakistan, conspired not to allow Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to form the government in the centre. On 1 March 1971, President Yahya Khan postponed unilaterally the Dhaka National Assembly meet scheduled to be held on 3 March.
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