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The life of a political giant

Syed Mahbubur Rashid
SYED Badrul Ahsan is a renowned journalist. He is the Executive Editor ofThe Daily Star, the leading English daily of the country. Badrul Ahsan has written a book on Bangabandhu. His style of writing is superb. All kinds of his writings have always been admired. But here the case is to be examined from a different and complex situation. The author has put himself to an acid test. Why? Sheikh Mujib is a legend, a history. Bangladesh and Bangabandhu are inextricable. In writing the biography of such a gargantuan personality like Bangabandhu, the author is to maintain a tricky balance between contemporary history and the personality. One cannot be overplayed or downplayed at the cost of the other. In a word, the author will have to be true to the history, notwithstanding the fact that he may have some personal liking or disliking. We believe that the author has been very faithful and committed to the responsibility of a true biographer. There has not been an iota of sycophancy in the writing.
The book starts with a most appropriate comment: "While it is quite legitimate to argue that Mujib was no intellectual in the sense that India's Jawaharlal Nehru was, it would be quite incorrect to believe that he did not have a comprehension of what politics was all about. The steady manner in which he was to rise to the top, over nearly three decades, gives the lie to the argument that it was circumstances alone that made the man. In more instances than one, it was Mujib who shaped circumstances for his country" (Part-1, Page-1, line 10-16). Mujib's revival of the party after the death of Suhrawardy was testimony to the aforesaid comment. After the withdrawal of martial law by Ayub Khan, most of the senior politicians were of the view that they would not resume party activities till the selfproclaimed field marshal Ayub Khan had bestowed parliamentary democracy upon them. Of course Bangabandhu did not think so before the death of Suhrawardy as he well knew that his mentor was a thousand
times more Pakistani than Bengali. Bangabandhu's activities, spread a little over three decades, have been vividly described in a picturesque manner. The presentation of the Six Points by Sheikh Mujib in the political scenario of Bangladesh is another brilliant example of how Sheikh Mujib shaped circumstances. The Six Points were a Magna Carta for the emancipation of the Bengali nation.
When Henry Kissinger, then US secretary of state, visited Bangladesh and held a press conference at Gonobhaban, the official residence of the prime minister, Bangabandhu himself was present. The author comments, "The Kissinger trip was to serve as a defining moment in relations between Dhaka and Washington in that it formalized a restructuring of diplomacy between the two countries (P-241)." I do not agree with the author about what he calls a defining
moment. At least subsequent attitude and activities were to compel us to believe that Kissinge'rs visit was to hoodwink Bangabandhu in particular the and people of Bangladesh in general.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the abettor of the genocide perpetrated in Bangladesh by the Pakistan army in 1971. It was an irony that he was invited to and welcomed in Bangladesh, three years later, though he did not publicly express any sorrow over the happenings of 1971. The haughty and arrogant Bhutto reluctantly went to visit the National Mausoleum at Saver. In the language of the author, "He refused to doff the Mao cap and as Tofail Ahmed, the Bangladesh Prime Minister's political secretary, offered him the visitors book, Bhutto huffed. "Enough of this nonsense", he said angrily as he pushed the book away. Of course the author has very efficiently described Bhutto's arrogant, haughty and megalomaniac behavior on page 97 of the book. Bhutto was a liar. Though there was no secret clause in the Tashkhent Declaration signed between India and Pakistan after the 1965 war between those two countries in 1966 under the auspices of the then Soviet Union, yet Bhutto continuously propagated this lie to gain political mileage.
As mentioned earlier, the biographer's role is not to be confined to the person concerned only, but also to mention the circumstances and other incidents of historical importance. A youth leader's belligerent attitude towards Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed, The great public Leader Maulana Bhashani's unfortunate role after liberation and the treachery of Khandoker Mostaq have been described in a very objective manner. The chapter where the killing of Bangabandhu along with other members of his family described has been captioned, "Murder of Caesar" The title itself is a great tribute to the best Bengali in a thousand of years. After the murder of Caesar, while Antony was addressing the Roman crowd, he intoned, "When the great Caesar fell, O What a fall was there my
countrymen/then you and I and all of us fell down/whilst bloody treason flourished over us." Unfortunately, we did not have any Antony on that fateful day of 15 August to utter these most appropriate words. There are a thousand books on Bangabandhu and thousands will come out in future. But quality books on him, particularly in English, are rare.
The most important issue for a biographer is to approach his subject in a very objective manner without any distortion. Syed Badrul Ahsan has been very much objective. He knew Bangabandhu from his boyhood but that did not have any bearing on his writing. Remaining impartial and objective, he has shown great respect to Bangabandhu and contemporary history.
SYED MAHBUBUR RASHID IS A FORMER CIVIL SERVANT AND AT PRESENT WRITES FOR A NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS