Hiren Pandit
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest Bengali, father of the nation, is the great architect of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu is not just a person, Bangabandhu is a flag, a map, an architect of the state, and a symbol of freedom.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib is not an asset of any particular party or group. Bangabandhu means independent country, and Bangabandhu means 23 years of liberation struggle – the final result of which is the liberation war, Bangabandhu means the final victory of December 16.
With the typical Bengali appearance, personality, height, high index finger, voice, courage, determination to achieve goals, completely non-sectarian, and ever loyal to Bengal and Bengalis, Bangabandhu was the most reliable character of the long-cherished dream of Bengalis.
Bangabandhu has become a leader to Bengalis through his actions, sacrifices, political wisdom, foresight, bravery, honesty, organizational skills, and above all his incomparable love for Bangladesh and Bengalis.
Bangabandhu is the central essence of our pride, our liberation war, and our independence in national life. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh are built on the same formula. We got our beloved Bangladesh for the brave sunshine children of this country who woke up under the brave leadership of Bangabandhu.
In return for the unlimited sacrifice of 30 lakh martyrs and 2 lakh mothers and sisters. Bangabandhu was the leader of the freedom fighters. He has been the main attraction of the Bengali nation since 1947. The history of liberation of the Bengali nation has revolved around him.
Young Sheikh Mujib gradually became the liberator of the Bengali nation. Formed the Chhatra League in 1948 with new political thinking. In 1949, he was elected joint secretary of the newly formed East Pakistan Awami Muslim League. Political activity started by participating in the movement demanding Bengali as the national language.
Then he became the undisputed leader of Bengali through the Great Language Movement of 1952, the formation of the United Front in 1954, the anti-military movement of 1958, the education movement of 1962, and the historic six-point-based movement of 1966. He was given the title of ‘Bangabandhu’ by the students in the 1969 mass uprising.
In the 1970 elections, Bengalis strongly supported the clause. But instead of handing over power to the Awami League, the Pakistani ruling group started politics of conspiracy. Due to his visionary leadership, he realized that war against the Pakistanis was inevitable as early as March 1971.
So, he ordered the people of Bangladesh to join the liberation war on March 7, 1971. He said, “this time’s struggle is ours for freedom, this time’s struggle is for independence”. In this speech, the picture of killing-persecution-torture by Pakistanis towards Bengalis is embodied. To face the enemy, he instructed the Bengali nation, ‘Be ready with whatever you have.’ Inspired by this hypnotic speech, the Bengali nation started preparing for an armed liberation war.
This world-shaking thunderous speech of only 19 minutes on March 7 was a reflection of thousands of years of emotions, dreams, and aspirations of Bengalis, which was a firm promise to liberate Bengalis. Bangabandhu pronounced in a profound voice, ‘When we have given blood, we will give more blood, we will free the people of this country, Inshallah.’
It was this historic speech that motivated the freedom-mad Bengali nation to jump into armed struggle in the great war of liberation against the invading Pakistanis, and through this speech, the future destiny of Bengalis was determined.
Bangabandhu delivered the speech in a highly symbolic style. On the one hand, the freedom fighters asked people to prepare for a long struggle, while on the other hand, they pointed their thumbs at the Pakistani rulers. He was not a learned politician; he was a world-class diplomat. In his March 7 speech, he revealed everything like a diplomat.
He said the past 23 years is a history of deprivation. He talked about Bengali deprivation in Pakistan including the language movement, the 1954 elections, the 1958 military rule, the six points of 1966, the 1969 popular uprising, 1970 elections, on the other hand, he also gave war tactics and an organized unscripted speech.
Many people say Bangabandhu was absent in our liberation war. They never judge, the liberation war of Bangladesh was a war to drive out foreign invaders-enemies from within an independent country led by an elected representative of the people.
After independence on March 26, 1971, it took us 9 months to drive out those enemies. We managed to do that on 16th December so this day is our victory day. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the leader of Bangladesh declared independence on March 26, that declaration is the basis of the declaration of independence of Bangladesh, based on this declaration, the full declaration of independence or the constitution was declared on April 10 and the independent government of Bangladesh was formed.
The complete constitution of Bangladesh was written based on this declaration. Bangabandhu declared independence on March 26 as the elected leader of the people of Bangladesh after the genocide and war were imposed on Bangladesh during the 1970 elections. That is what all the public representatives accepted as a valid declaration on behalf of the people of Bangladesh through the Declaration of Independence.
Bangabandhu formed the government for the declared independent country. Bangabandhu was appointed as the head of that government i.e. President and Syed Nazrul Islam as Vice President. The legitimate government then gets all legislative and fiscal rights over the country as per the Declaration. There are only two obstacles in this path. Firstly, several places inside the country were occupied by the Pakistani army and secondly, Bangladesh needed formal recognition by other countries. Two things were essential for this formal recognition.
First of all, those who formed this state have to prove that they are not separatists, and secondly, is the state being run by elected representatives? For a democratic state to recognize another democratic new state, the first thing to do is to see who is claiming to have formed a new state, whether they are separatists or not? If they are not proven to be separatists, they meet most of the conditions for recognition.
If Bangabandhu had escaped the war to drive out these Pakistani invaders of Bangladesh or had gone underground and tried to fight the war like a revolutionary, the military rulers of Pakistan would have had ample opportunity to prove him as a separatist.
But even after the country was attacked, Bangabandhu declared independence sitting in his residence. He urged the people of the country to resist the invaders and sought recognition for the new state from the world. The act of seeking this declaration and recognition was public and as an elected leader.
So, when the Pakistani army arrested Bangabandhu, they arrested the elected head of government of an independent country. Neither he nor his party are separatists. In other words, Bangabandhu, through his public arrest, single-handedly achieved most of the rest of the country’s victories after the declaration of independence.
That is, he proved to the world that he and his party are not separatists, they are fighting for the liberation of the invaders from their land. In 9 months of 1971, he won most of the battles from the jail of Pakistan, he also transformed himself in jail like the Agartala case; His shape became more massive. The democratic world is questioning whether the Pakistani military authorities have the right to arrest this elected leader.
The US President took Pakistan’s side but was repeatedly blocked in the Senate for taking a stand on Pakistan’s side. Everyone says only Bangabandhu has the right to decide about his country. Not Pakistani military authorities. Therefore, just as Bangabandhu was everywhere in the freedom fighters’ rifles, mines, and grenades through the voice of thunder, the arrested leader Bangabandhu fought almost alone in the international world.
As with any liberation war, freedom struggle is through the self-sacrifice of the people of the country, so the freedom-seeking people of the whole world stand beside it as fellow fighters. Bangabandhu justified the freedom-seeking people of the whole world to stand for Bangladesh that day. Bangabandhu defeated Yahya that day in diplomacy.
The Pakistani authorities lost to Bangabandhu’s diplomacy in the battle to drive out the invaders by armed means, forming the government through systematic politics. Bangabandhu won, transformed from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Many people mistakenly say that Bangabandhu was absent in the liberation war. A leader cannot declare the independence of a country at will. Have the right to declare independence.
The one who declares should have the support of the country and the international world. People will not support it if they call for independence. As the leader of the winning party in the 1970s elections, only Bangabandhu had the right to declare independence. Many sun children of Bengal may have dreamed of breaking the shackles of the Bengali nation.
But that dream was transformed into reality by the great hero of history, Bangabandhu, the father of the nation. So, it can be said that Bangladesh and Bangabandhu are the same, complementary to each other. One cannot be imagined without the other.
Bangabandhu was confident in his ideals and duties. It is on this belief that Bangabandhu has moved forward. And with that same faith, he was able to return from certain death as a victorious hero on January 10, 1972, to the land of his dreams – independent Bangladesh. The Liberation War of Bangladesh was not just a conventional war.
It is a song of breaking the chains against thousand years of exploitation-deprivation-oppression-torture-hegemony of Bengali, a poem of protest, a bright flame of fighting spirit. The struggling Bengali nation never bowed down against tyranny. The price of breaking the chains of subjugation repeatedly motivated Bangabandhu.
All his life he struggled for the total emancipation of the common hardworking peasants-laborers-fishermen-weavers-amar people of Bengal. Bangabandhu, the great architect of Bangladesh’s independence, does not have a history of Bangladesh-Bengali. Bangabandhu and Bangladesh alone. Denying Bangabandhu, the great hero of history, is practically denying Bangladesh.
The name Bangabandhu is a monument of freedom struggle, a call to break the chain of exploited-deprived and neglected people. If Bangabandhu was not born, we might never have broken the chains of subjugation. In the 52 years of victory, the history of Bangladesh has been scarred several times. Today’s independent Bangladesh was brutally murdered under the leadership of the great leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
That day, not a great man, but a nation was razed by gunfire. Attempts were made to revive the subjugation of the Bengali nation. The brutal incident was the beginning of a grand conspiracy to destroy the goal, ideology, and purpose of achieving the independence and victory of Bangladesh.
It is the work of the then government to write the history of the liberation war on their way through the aftermath of that scandalous event, to deny the existence of Bangabandhu, to remove Bangabandhu from the history of the liberation war, to give importance to Bengal and Bengali culture. The fact that the name of Bangabandhu was not mentioned for a long time in the history of the liberation war during that period, and the fact that the picture was not displayed does not support the independence of Bangladesh and does not honor the victory.
Bangabandhu, the bearer and bearer of the thousand-year-long Bengali liberation struggle, dyed the soil of Bengal with the fresh blood of his chest but did not compromise in fulfilling the historical responsibility entrusted to him. So, he is the personification of Bengali freedom, the great man of the ages – the father of our nation, the greatest Bengali of all time. Everyone should come forward to build his dream of Sonar Bangla.
Hiren Pandit is a columnist and researcher