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Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

‘My Bengal is Independent’

Published : Tuesday, 17 March, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 482
Nazarul Islam
Nazarul Islam

Nazarul Islam

History offers no relief, and exhibits no mercy to the people who become its integral part. Often it is brutal, as men of substance have reminded us that we are all condemned to repeat history, sooner or later. And, human memory is so short-lived that we tend to forget everything like the mellow rustle of the leaves in the branch. Following the footprints of many others, I realize to have lived through history, beyond its defining, crushing, dark and turbulent years, upgrading myself from one crisis to another-- as though holding on to a swinging pendulum, with all the risks, trappings  and excitements! I have witnessed an era in history,that changed the fortunes of Bengal.
Us, who lived through the days of anguish, liberation war, and genocide, had certainly craved for better days. A lot of us, who are alive today, may have been fortunate in life to have shared a glimpse of Bangabandhu or greater still, having met this statesman--who had influenced history, by shaping a deltaic land into a nation-state, in this part of our planet. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman created his magic while he lived and struggled--the impacts were felt even more profoundly, after his martyrdom.
I remember the cloudy morning of January 10, 1972--the day he returned home to his admirers, in the aftermath of a year-long imprisonment in Pakistan. The RAF Comet aircraft, carrying a special passenger, had dived beneath the cloud cover, flying low from the southern skies of Dhaka, north-east towards the airport. Our city was in global limelight of existence, and had erupted, like the ancient colosseum--moving all witnesses into a domain of total, incessant enchantment. Loud were the echoes. Only one voice and one nation, had reminded us of the presence of Sheikh 'Mujibur'. There was incessant roar of 'Joy Bangla'; joyous, and full of resounding melody. People had hugged each other and cried. God had spared the Founder, and the Father of the nation, to be with his people!
What was obvious that morning was a simple fact-that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had received a tumultuous, triumphant welcome from a crowd of half a million Bengalis. Perhaps, one of the largest ever welcome had been accorded to a leader. Bangabandhu had returned to his native land for the first time, since he was arrested nine months ago by the Pakistani authorities.
The exultant crowd had showered Sheikh Mujib with flowers and chanted 'Joy Bangla!' (Victory for Bengal!), as their leader stepped out from the British Royal Air Force jet, that had brought him home. The nation's founder, had only been released on Saturday, then on his way home, had flown to New Delhi, from London.
Greatest Son of the Soil

Greatest Son of the Soil

Sheikh Mujib, looking tired but elated by this gigantic reception, later had stated at an enormous rally at the Dacca Race Course: 'My life's goal has been fulfilled. My Bengal is independent' His voice had broken up with emotion.
I remember with all clarity--a half million admirers had chanted one voice, in Bengali: 'A new nation has come upon the earth - Bangladesh! Bangladesh! A new 'ism' has been gifted to the world - Mujibism Mujibism!
That moment in time had epitomized the ecstatic finale of a bitter nine?month liberation struggle for autonomy in the eastern wing of Pakistan, and also had marked the end of a large scale and bitterly fought two?week 'War', between India and Pakistan.
I can visualize another special day in history, when the beleaguered 51 year?old Sheikh Mujib, would initiate another of his popular struggles to lead a nation, two years in the future, when he realized his people caught in the mire of political violence, hunger and bankruptcy. And, beyond a doubt his vision of Bangladesh had solidified his already broad powers, to enable him after next three years, to shed the office of Prime Minister and step into the new office of the President of Bangladesh--hurriedly made possible under a constitutional amendment.
He was known in history, and to everyone's joy--as someone who had called himself, the 'father of the nation'. To a few international journalists covering the historic event, perhaps this move was taken with mixed responses, that had underlined a possible 'crisis' in Bangladesh, after its birth. A country of 75 million people, would soon be hyphenated, then echoed together by a few nations, as the most underfed and overcrowded country in the planet.
Even his detractors had conceded however, that the 'Father' was revered in his shrewdness to become the most dominant political leader. Some had praised: 'Mujib is a pungent orator, an extrovert, an adept and manipulative politician whose popularity amounted to mass worship during the autonomy movement.
Obviously, the handicapped nation of Bangladesh was born in the flames of war, liberation struggle, missing essential infrastructure, and of course had been broken down with burdens, with little or no help. One could also feel in the air, the noiseless and moving counter energy waves that would gather into a powerful storm sometime, in the nation's future.
Born on March 17, 1920, in Tungipara, a village about 60 miles southwest of Dacca, Sheikh Mujib was one of six children of a middle?class Muslim family. He was particularly 'brilliant' in his school, and eventually developed an interest in politics and a powerful antipathy to British rule. As a teen?ager he was jailed for six days for agitating in favour of India's independence.
His bout with Beriberi had affected his eyesight, which again had interrupted his studies and his teachers said that he did not finish high school until he was 22. He then went on to earn a B.A. in history and political science at Calcutta's Islamia College, where he had developed a taste for Bernard Shaw and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet.
After the 1947 partition of the subcontinent and the creation of the Muslim nation of Pakistan--a unique entity, then found itself divided into two wings, each separated by 1,000 miles of Indian Territory. Sheikh Mujib had rapidly emerged as an advocate of Bengali rights, a role that earned him the enmity of the authorities. He would spent more than 10 of the next 23 years in prison because of his restless activities that denounced what he termed West Pakistan's exploitation of the eastern wing. 'Prison is my other home', he once reminded his admirers.
The emerging Bengali leader had helped organize the Awami League, the East Pakistani political party, and briefly served as a provincial minister twice-1954 and 1956 governments. As a member of the constituent assembly of Pakistan in 1955, he was the chairman of the Pakistan Tea Board from June, 1957, to October, 1958.
The advent of the military dictatorship of Field Marshal Mohammed Ayub Khan in 1958, had been coupled with disenchantment over the India- Pakistan of 1965-- which obviously had catalyzed Sheikh Mujib. He was appalled to discover that the West Pakistani central leadership had left the country's eastern sector virtually undefended, spurred demands for domestic autonomy for East Pakistan.
The six?point program advanced by Sheikh Mujib and his followers in 1966 had led to his imprisonment for three years, including 13 months in solitary confinement. When he was released in 1969, more than a million people had turned out to greet him at a homecoming rally at Dacca's racecourse. By then, both East and West Pakistan had found themselves drifting further apart.
Tall for a Bengali-nearly six feet in height, Sheik Mujib had developed graying hair and a carefully groomed moustache that his fingers would unconsciously touch, while talking to visitors. He usually wore a loose vest over white cotton (pyjama) that looked like pantaloons to those who lived in the West, along with his long sleeved kurta, or pajama style shirt, which is traditional Moslem dress in Bangladesh, representing the educated and well groomed class of people. The 'Sheikh' in his name was not a title, but an honorific word meaning that his father was landowner, in the predominant rural settings.
As was traditional in East Bengal villages, Sheikh Mujib was pledged to his wife in an 'arranged' marriage when she was 3 and he was 14. After they came of age and married together, they had five children. His eldest child, Hasina Wajed, would become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, many years later. She had given birth to a son, shortly after his tumultuous return to Bangladesh just a year ago. That child was named Joy, from the new country's wartime rallying cry, Joy Bangla! Or Victory to Bengal!
Wiping flower petals from his head, Sheik Mujib that historic day, had inspected an honour guard of the army, navy and air force of Bangladesh, the nation proclaimed by his followers in East Pakistan the previous month after India had helped them wrest the 'province' from Pakistan. Sheikh Mujib had greeted the members of the Dacca diplomatic corps, though only India and Bhutan had officially recognized Bangladesh having an official representative office.
The serving American consul general, Herbert D Spivack, had bowed slightly as he shook hands with the Bengali leader, saying, 'Welcome back to Dacca.' Sheikh Mujib smiled broadly and replied, 'Thank you very much'.
Mr Spivack melted the thaw, by informing the Prime Minister that he had been invited in his individual capacity, therefore, his attendance would not have any political significance. Bengali?American relations had obviously been lacking warmth, because of US President Nixon's support to Pakistan during the long War of Liberation.
Sheikh Mujib's wife, Fazilatunnesa did not attend that day's ceremonies, reportedly because she was on the point of nervous exhaustion and was barely able to speak.
Until his release, her husband had been under detention in West Pakistan, where he had been charged with treason.
Standing in the bright sunlight that day Sheikh Mujib had fervently appealed to his vast audience not to seek revenge for the three million Bengalis he said, had been murdered by the Pakistani Army during their nine?month drive to suppress the Bengali secession movement he led.
'Forgive them!' he had shouted to the crowd. 'Today I do not want revenge from anybody! There should not be any more killing!'
Thousands of voices also had chanted:
'A new nation has come upon the earth-Bangladesh! Bangladesh! A new ism has come to the world--Mujibism! Mujibism!"
Many excited spectators had tried to touch their leader and some who managed to break through police lines and hugged him in long embraces.
Sheikh Mujib had long been the overwhelming favourite of the 75 million Bengalis. The Awami League, the party of which he was the president, won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the National Assembly elections held in December, 1970.
When the Bengali leader had demanded autonomy for the eastern region, President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan of Pakistan first, had postponed the assembly session and then, on March 25, 1971 had moved with his army full force, to crush the Bengali movement. Guerrilla type warfare was a natural response that broke out, and out of fear for life-as many as 10 million Bengalis reportedly had fled to India.
The 51?year old Sheik Mujib, who happened to be tall for a Bengali, sported a thick mustache and a heavy stock of graying hair. He was affectionately hailed that day as 'Bangabandhu', or friend of Bengal. He was wearing a black suit with a high buttoned collar.
At the race course, Sheikh Mujib had shared his mammoth audience that the last words of the then  Pakistani President, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, spoken to him before he was released and put on a plane to London: 'Try to keep Pakistan together if there is any way.'
' I said nothing,' Sheikh Mujib recalled. 'But now I say to you, Bengal is independent, and let the people of Pakistan and the people of Bangladesh live happily. The unity of that country has ended.'
Without a doubt Sheikh Mujib's popularity was so great that his word had virtually become law with many Bengalis. His followers in the Bengali cabinet, none of whom could even a fraction of his prestige or popularity. They had all postponed most critical decisions, pending the return back to his country.
Among the questions awaiting Sheik Mujib included the most prominent one-how to disarm the 100,000 or more men who had been fighting as freedom fighters (guerrillas) and also to protect the two million Biharis, who remained in the country. He would also be expected to help Bangladesh gain international recognition and find large amounts of foreign aid to rebuild the nation's shattered economy.
It had been officially estimated that the newly independent nation had  needed at least $3.0 billion for reconstruction, or three?quarters of the region's total annual production of $4.0 billion. The new chief Executive in addition, would have to decide whether to allow any room in his government for members of the small opposition parties, the National Awami party and the Communist Party. Moscow, was instrumental in providing crucial political and military aid to India and Bangladesh. And, that was expected to bring heavy pressure on the Bengalis to permit representation for the two leftist groups, existing at the time....
I wish to stop here, because of limitations of space in the newspaper columns. Since 1969 I have maintained a daily diary of the tumultuous days of our history, as the nation had bounced from one crisis to another. Bangladesh is one nation that was conceived and delivered in the ashes of war. I had preserved my notes, because I always believed my diaries would help me in future to determine whether as a nation, Bangladesh would be able to defend itself against the opposing forces and enemies, who would perhaps collaborate again, to undo everything, after the great leader Bangabandhu was gone.
I am proud that the nation survived, to rise up to the occasion. May Allah bless Bangladesh.

The writer is a former educator
based in Chicago






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