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Creation of the Past Creator of Our History

Anisuzzaman
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was at the same time a product of history as well as the creator of our history. And to put it correctly, he was more a creator of history than its creation. His school-life was spent in Gopalganj. The tide of Bengal's politics, sometimes of Indian politics, and occasionally of global events during and after the Second World War hit that place as well. He was at first attracted towards the Swadeshi (homeland) movement after hearing about the sacrifices of armed revolutionaries as well as the revolutionary exploits of Poornachandra Das at Madaripur near his home. He became a fan of Subhas Chandra Bose near the fag end of his life. In 1938, a reception, meeting and exhibition were arranged in honour of the then Prime Minister of Bengal A K Fazlul Haque and the labour minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy on their arrival in Gopalganj. Sheikh Mujib, then a school student, was made the leader of the volunteers’ group on that occasion. However, as directed by Congress, the upper caste Hindus removed themselves from this program at the last moment. This touchable and untouchable phenomenon of Hindu society experienced during that reception hurt Sheikh Mujib immensely and wielded exceptional influence in his mind. The next year, he met Suhrawardy by going to Kolkata and then formed the Muslim Chhatra League and Muslim League in Madaripur after returning home. He himself became the secretary of Chhatra League and also took the responsibility of directing the activities of the person who became the Muslim League secretary.
There were two factions within Bengal Provincial Muslim League. One was led by Mohammad Akram Khan-Khwaja Nazimuddin, and the other by Suhrawardy-Abul Hashim. The second group was considered to be a progressive one. They tried to give Muslim League the shape of a people’s institution and declared a resolve to dismantle the Zemindari system. Sheikh Mujib got himself involved in this group and became a full-time activist of Muslim League as advised by Abul Hashim. A terrible famine befell Bengal in 1943. Then a student of Islamia
College, Sheikh Mujib worked day and night in the gruel-kitchens, occasionally returning to the Baker Hostel at night and sometimes passing the night by sleeping in the Muslim League office. The Muslim League issued a call for observing ‘direct action day’ on 16 August 1946. On the eve of that day, Suhrawardy asked his workers to take care so that the day was observed peacefully. Abul Hashim asked them to convince the Hindu neighbourhoods that the day was not against the Hindus, rather it was being observed as part of the movement against British rule. But the most terrible killings took place in Kolkata centring on that day, which later spread to Noakhali and Bihar. A group of workers led by Sheikh Mujib then exerted all their might in rescuing Muslim female students from Hindu areas and escorting Hindu teachers through Muslim areas.
It was not that Sheikh Mujib liked all the decisions of the Muslim League. But it was not possible for him to speak out openly against those as he was a worker. Examples include stands against replacement of the word ‘states’ by ‘state’ in the Lahore resolution of 1947, sabotage of the proposal by Suhrawardy-Abul Hashim to constitute an independent and sovereign Bengal, and unseating Suhrawardy by issuing directive for electing a new leader of the East Bengal legislative assembly. Sheikh Mujib viewed the last instance as a conspiracy by some leaders of central
Muslim League against Suhrawardy; he later felt that it was the beginning of the conspiratorial politics in the then Pakistan.
When Sheikh Mujib took leave of Kolkata after the partition of India, Suhrawardy asked him to take care so that no communal riots broke out in Pakistan. When an initiative was taken to constitute the Ganotantrik Jubo League in Dhaka in September 1947, Sheikh Mujib said that the only objective of that organization should be to work for communal harmony. Opposing the adoption of an economic program by Ganotantrik Jubo League, he opined that such demands should not be raised then as the country had achieved independence only two months earlier. Not only did he remove himself from that initiative, he forced the removal of the signboard of Ganotantrik Jubo League from the Moghaltuli office of Muslim League after it was hung there; he also asked the Jubo League workers to leave the place along with their belongings. But he could not maintain his confidence on the Muslim League regime for long. Therefore, he took the initiative to form East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League in opposition to the All East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League formed under government patronage. The question of state language came up in the month of February and Chhatra League took a stand in favour of Bangla. Sheikh Mujib was arrested while picketing before the secretariat after joining the strike called by state language action council on 11 March 1948. It was the first time that he was put behind bars in Pakistan. He was expelled from Dhaka University in 1949 while leading the movement of class four employees of the university, and was again put behind bars. The new political party Awami Muslim League was bom while he was in jail, and he was elected as one of the two joint secretaries of the party.
The democratic movements in Pakistan and the life of Sheikh Mujib became almost inseparable after that. He demonstrated extraordinary organizational acumen as the general secretary of Awami Muslim League during the decade of 1950s. The cabinet was dissolved by the central government sixteen days after he became a minister for the first time. He left the job of a minister another time in order to concentrate on his party’s organizational tasks. The latter incident showed the extent of greedless disposition in his character. He played a notable role in omitting the word Muslim from the Awami Muslim League and adoption of a resolution in the provincial assembly in favour of a joint electoral system for East Bengal. As a member of the constituent assembly, he proposed the omission of Islamic Republic from the country's name in the first constitution of Pakistan; naming of the province as East Bengal instead of East Pakistan; and provision for provincial autonomy, although none of these proposals were accepted. The Awami League was banned after the promulgation of martial law in Pakistan in 1958. Mujib was at first jailed and then put under house arrest.
Provincial autonomy was like an obsession for Sheikh Mujib. He lost confidence in the integrity of Pakistan due to the indifference showed by the central government on this issue. It is claimed that Mujib extended support when the leaders of Chhatra League formed two secret organizations during the 1960s with the goal of making East Bengal independent. He raised the 6-point demands as the president of Awami League in 1966 and asserted that the Lahore Resolution was framed with the objective of provincial autonomy. When the government took a strong stand against him on the issue, Sheikh Mujib generated public opinion in its favour by holding public meetings all over East Bengal. He was repeatedly arrested at this juncture, but continued to hold meetings after obtaining bails. In 1968, an initiative was taken for holding the trial of Mujib and 34 others in a special tribunal on charge of a secessionist conspiracy in East Pakistan. The outcome was counter-productive for the Pakistani regime. There was a mass upsurge in East Bengal in support of Mujib’s freedom, withdrawal of the so-called Agartala Conspiracy Case and implementation of the 6-point demands. President Ayub was forced to resign, but he handed over power to the army chief Yahya Khan. A conspiracy was then hatched to kill Sheikh Mujib while he was in jail under this case, but that was foiled when he took precautions after getting information about it. An accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case Colonel (retired) Showkat Ali later claimed in his book that the allegations brought against them were true. Sheikh Mujib was accorded a massive reception in Dhaka after getting acquittal from the case and he was conferred the title ‘Bangabandhu’. He reached the pinnacle of popularity at that juncture.
The Awami League won absolute majority, which was beyond its expectations, in the first general election of Pakistan held in 1970. But the ruling clique refused to hand over power to Bangabandhu and frame a constitution in accordance with his desire. In protest, the non-violent non-cooperation movement that was built up in East Bengal at Bangabandhu’s
urging in March 1971 amazed the entire world. With the exception of cantonments, all entities were run in accordance with his directives. The speech that he delivered in Dhaka’s racecourse ground on 7 March has now been recognized as one of the greatest speeches of all time in world history. In the backdrop of popular demand for freedom, Bangabandhu informally declared the country's independence without proclaiming it formally during that speech. He called upon the people to turn their houses into fortresses and to combat the enemy with whatever they possessed. He roared out in a thunderous voice: The struggle this time is for our freedom, the struggle this time is for independence.
At midnight of 25 March, the Pakistani army struck the ultimate blow against unarmed Bangalis. Sheikh Mujib made a formal declaration of independence, but he was arrested and then taken to Pakistan. The liberation war of the Bangalis then started. The Bangladesh Government was formed after its leaders took shelter in India; Mujib was declared the president. Bangabandhu was awarded death sentence on charge of treason in the trial held at a Pakistani court; but the Pakistani government could not execute that verdict due to the pressure of world opinion. Meanwhile, the people of Bangla achieved victory in the war fought in Mujib’s name. Bangabandhu returned home as a victor on 10 January 1972 after being freed from a Pakistani prison.
Immediately after taking over responsibility as the Prime Minister, he undertook reconstruction of the war-ravaged country, framed the constitution within minimum possible time, reconstituted the administration, brought back the Bangalis stuck in Pakistan, elicited recognition for Bangladesh state from many countries, and got membership of the United Nations. On the other hand, a famine-like situation spread in the country due to foreign conspiracies, and some changes were introduced in the government system. Before the outcome of this change could be visible, the conspirators killed him along with his family; but he could never be removed from the hearts of the people.
Bangabandhu made the people dream about independence; he inspired them to make self-sacrifices for materialising that dream. The world knows that he had led that struggle in 1971; it was not a secessionist movement, rather it was a struggle for emancipation of the oppressed masses, a just war for establishing the right of self-determination. He had created history. □
Translation: Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed