The father of the nation - Sheikh Mujibor Rahman was is great leader of Bangladesh. In general, the aim of Bangabandhu was to build hunger, poverty and communalism free progressive Bangladesh. Fidel Castro said- "I don't see Himalya but Bangabandhu". David Frost mentioned- Where is your power, Sheik Mujib said 'I love people' again where is your weakness, and he said 'I love people'.
General outlook of our father of nation: There are three pillars of Bangabandhu's viewpoint: 1. Global (all men are equal, men creates history),
2. Political( socialism, democracy, secularism and nationalism), 3. Development (discrimination-inconsistency free welfare state).
Mr Faland came to meet Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Bangladesh and demand to lease of Saint Martin's Island (Situated 150 miles away from Chittagong). Our father of nation directly refused him referring responsibility for military coup in Indonesia and Argentina that time. Regarding this article, I will try to explain three basic questions. Firstly, what Bangabandhu wanted for collective welfare, his progression strategies? Secondly, strategies to renovate war-scratched economy. Thirdly, his attitude regarding the world--is it possible to build welfare state.
Economic challenges: Since the independence of Pakistan, the government never treated Bangladesh equally. Bangabandhu realized that along with social and political dimensions this inequality had economic dimensions as well. He strongly condemned the 'Federal Control of Industries Act' which virtually gave full control of the industrial sector to the central government bypassing the provincial authorities. In between 1953 to 1956, the central government allocated 350 million (35 crore) taka for 150 large industrial units in West Pakistan, and only 20 million (2 crore) for 47 such units in Bangladesh.
While East Pakistan had better agricultural growth potential, the then central government was spending more on agricultural development in West Pakistan. The farmers of Eastern Province of Pakistan produced excellent quality jute and yet more than 90 per cent of the foreign exchange earned through export of jute and jute goods went to West Pakistan to pay their import bill. Even large industrial units in East Pakistan (e.g. Karnaphuli Paper Mill, Platinum Jubilee Jute Mill etc) ware being handed out to West Pakistani owners. Pakistan was then an oligarchy (only 22 families getting all the business) and industrialization and development of Eastern Province of Pakistan was the last thing in their mind.
The phrase 'Sonar Bangla' was very common in speeches and writings of Bangabandhu well before the independence of Bangladesh. He was always thinking about re-establishing 'Sonar Bangla'. But this was not a mere political rhetoric for him. This aspiration was based on his consciousness about the past glory of this land. He knew that only a few centuries back Bangladesh was really a land of prosperity, a golden country. This country was famous for its agricultural production.
In the 18th century the living standards of Bengal was comparable with that of the Great Britain. Bangabandhu was aware of this glorious past, and strongly believed that the past glory could be revived through a proper struggle for economic emancipation of the people.
Cost of the Liberation War:
The economic cost of deprivation under military dictatorship of 23 years would be 50 lakhs core taka as West Pakistan demolished all industry, infrastructure, agriculture and people livelihoods in East Pakistan. But 53 per cent people of East Pakistan wanted political freedom, social security, economic efficiency and transparency. Remarkably, 25 lakhs rural people whose average age was 25 years were killed, 1 out of 33 women was raped, 1 out of 25 houses were (total 43 lakhs houses) demolished by Pakistani military.
In addition, 300 rail bridges, 298 roads, 3000 boats, 18000 primary schools, 6000 high schools and madrassa, 19000 village huts, 3000 offices were destructed. Also, shooting of intellectual group' was a great loss for Bangladesh. Prof Abul Barkat discusses Bangladesh is a result of liberation war conducted by every nation-religion-caste-women-men-age-sex-community of this country where 30 lakhs people and 2 lakhs women dedicated their life and dignity. Professor Barkat explains that just within 1 year a complete constitution was constituted on the basis of 'nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism' under the supervision of Bangabandhu.
In 1970, the GDP was $899 cores, 1972? $629 cores and in 1973 it was $806 cores. He wanted to reshape war-scratched state through - repatriation of mass people, national music and flag, ministerial bodies(12 members), employment opportunity, agricultural movement, electricity development, re-erection of roads, bridges, culverts, rail lines, telephone lines; improvement of health and education level, 5th year plan(1973-78). The development planning of Bangabandhu was to punish corrupted people, to escalate industrial and agricultural production, population planning and national unity. But in 15th august 1975, the killing of our father of nation had stopped our collective dreams.
Abstract of 'collective welfare philosophy' of Bangabandhu: The nationwide movement was led by Bangabandhu was primarily a movement for economic equality and political emancipation. But when he understood that without political freedom economic goal cannot be achieved. And then he started a long political movement aimed at the independence of Bengal. Bangabandhu was essentially a politician and economist. Yet, he first proposed two separate economic proposals for West and East Pakistan. He said that "the gap between fifteen hundred miles between East and West Pakistan is geographically true. Therefore there is no alternative for two separate economies for these two regions." "The ambition of Bangabandhu's economic independence for the people of this country and the lack of reluctance of the Pakistani authorities played the role of catalyst for the liberation war of 1971 and independence of Bangladesh. People's belief was that economic disparity would decrease if Bangladesh achieves independence. Subsidy will be given to the farmer and social security will increase. The constitution of 1972 saw a great reflection of the people's repentance. Bangabandhu wanted to build a society free of exploitation. We know that Bangabandhu put emphasise on agriculture and industrialization simultaneously. He realized exactly that agriculture would not only provide food for the people but also would continue to be the main source of income for this country for many more years. Besides, along with poverty reduction, the strong agricultural sector will provide necessary raw materials for the country's expanding industrial sector. After the independence, as already indicated in the beginning of this piece, Bangabandhu got a war-ravaged country where the infrastructure was severely damaged, economy was broken, and the people were hungry. Challenges also arose in international arena because of geo-political reason as the US and China directly opposed our struggle for freedom. On the first anniversary of independence Bangabandhu uttered: "We will turn this war-ravaged country into a golden one. In the Bengal of future, mothers will smile, and children will play. It will be a society free of exploitation. Start the movement of development in the fields, farms and in the factories. Let us work together so that the Golden Bengal shines again." It is evident that Bangabandhu rightly prioritised agricultural development and industrialisation as the forces to rely on. He understood that agriculture will not only provide food to feed the people, but also will remain as the main source of income for majority of the people for many years to come. A vibrant agriculture can also ensure supply of raw materials for a burgeoning industrial sector. Immediately after the independence of the country, Bangabandhu took some prudent initiatives to ensure agricultural growth. Some of these initiatives are: rebuilding the war-ravaged agricultural infrastructure, ensuring supply of agricultural equipment on emergency basis free of cost or at concessional rates, ensuring adequate supply of seed, cancelling 1.0 million certificate cases for loan default against farmers filed during the Pakistan period, fixing minimum fair prices for agro-products, ration facilities for poor and marginal farmers etc. Bangabandhu was also conscious about the complementarily between agricultural and industrial sectors. For example, fertilizers are critically important agricultural inputs and so he prioritized establishment of fertilizer factories across the country. Bangabandhu knew there was no alternative to industrialization. Industrial expansion was needed on the one hand, for producing goods to consume internally and to export; on the other hand, industrialization would ensure employment for a growing population. However, just after the independence, with no foreign reserve, no foreign investment, very little backward and forward linkages, and above all, very few people with entrepreneurial experience, industrialization perhaps was the biggest challenge that Bangabandhu had to face. Entrepreneur-friendly Bangabandhu was always for facilitating businesses to grow. Even when he was the Provincial Minister for Industry, he proposed initiatives that would reduce cost of doing business. During that time, he encouraged entrepreneurs from home and abroad to invest in East Pakistan and committed full support to them from the provincial government. But in the post-liberation era, the situation was entirely different. Due to reasons mentioned above, there was little to no scope for private sector to grow. In the newly liberated country, Bangabandhu rightly chose to go for state-led industrial growth. He nationalized major banks and insurance companies, all jute mills, sugar mills and textile mills as all the Pakistani owners and managers left these enterprises, often taking away with them all the money and inputs. In the first year since independence, the jute mills were producing at 56 per cent of their capacities. The same ratio for textile mills, paper mills and fertilizer factories were 60 per cent, 69 per cent, and 62 per cent respectively. All these factories were doing better than they were during the Pakistan period. While Bangabandhu chose to expand industrial sector by nationalising at the beginning, his medium to long-term plan was to create environment for the private sector. These are apparent in the first five-year plan and budget proposals of the government of the newly independent country. For example, in the budget for FY 1974-75, the upper limit for private investment was shifted from 250 thousand (25 lakh) taka to 30 million (3.0 crore) taka, and there was provision for developing new industries by the private sector. Apart from these, 133 abandoned industrial units were handed over to private sector during this government. So it is evident that the process of deregulation began during Bangabandhu's time to facilitate a balance development in all the sectors to ensure collective progress. Bangabandhu to Sheikh Hasina: Story of Sustainable Development Bangabandhu was leading the country along the path of inclusive development based on agricultural and industrial policies. But evil forces took him away and left us off track. After a lot of sacrifice his daughter backs that prudent growth under her leadership. If we can do so, we will indeed have a country with golden future - the true 'Sonar Bangla'. For that to happen we must remain focused on completing the mega-projects initiated by the present government including Padma Bridge, Special Economic Zones, major power plants, deep sea port, metro rails, up gradation of rail and waterways and, of course, developing digital infrastructures to promote e-commerce and mobile banking. We must also remain mindful of promoting skills and digital entrepreneurship to address the burgeoning challenge of unemployment among educated youths. We should continue to support mechanization of all shades of agriculture, particularly in promoting mechanized combined harvesting and user-friendly mulching of cows. Finally, we must remain focused on developing sources of renewable energies including solar and wind energies to achieve our Sustainable Development Goals in time. We must also encourage the private sector and non-state non-profit sectors for joining the government for a collaborative mission of achieving SDGs. We will also have to be welcoming foreign direct invest (FDI) by taking the opportunities of the foreign entrepreneurs. Bangabandhu knew that there is no alternative to industrialization. But perhaps in the newly independent country industrialization was the biggest challenge in front of Bangabandhu. Despite the challenges of poverty, lack of variety in export products, lack of expertise in public resources, we are hopeful that as a country of dynamic and expanding economy, we will be able to observe Bangabandhu's birth anniversary in a short time. This achievement is really worth seeing in comparison to the neighbouring countries. Standing on this tight foundation, in the larger context of the Delta Plan 2100, we hope that the prime minister has shown us the dream of achieving the status of a high-middle-income country by 2031 and the status of developed country by 2041. However, quality of development must be kept in mind. Quality is the biggest challenge for us. Concluding remarks: Bangabandhu made a history giving a general election just two years after independence and giving the nation an exact constitution, what people needed, with four state principles: nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism. Based on these strong foundations, we will certainly be able to complete our mission of transforming Bangladesh into a upper-middle economy in 2031 and a developed economy by 2041. To ensure collective welfare, it demands uncompromising visionary leadership, wellbeing of marginal people, political organization with progressive ideology and finally solidarity with international community. It is one of the soul responsibilities of a government to create an environment to trim down inequality, deprivation and discrimination. To ensure a prosperous society, our government should word for reducing inequalities among the various classes of the society.
The writer is environmental analyst and associate member, Bangladesh Economic Association
