Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on March 17, 1920 in Tungipara, Gopalganj to Sheikh Lutfur Rahman and Saira Begum. He was the third of six siblings. After studying at Gopalganj Public School and Kolkata Islamia College, he graduated from Dhaka University. At the age of 18, he was married to Begum Fazilatunnessa. They have 2 daughters - Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana and 3 sons - Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell. His political talent began to manifest itself from a young age. In 1940, he joined the Nikhil Bharat Muslim Students Federation, a student body of the Nikhil Bharat Muslim League. He left this radical organization and joined the liberal and progressive organization Bengal Muslim League in 1943. Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy came close here. While at Dhaka University, he founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students League to undermine the authority of the conservative hardline Nikhil Bharat Muslim Students Federation. Sheikh Mujib played a very important role as a political leader during the language movement. In 1948, it was under his leadership that the first protest and student strike began on the language question, which culminated on February 21, 1952. Fifties was the time of his political rise. Gradually he became a skilled political leader with foresight and wisdom. Meanwhile, Sheikh Mujib left the Muslim League and formed the Awami Muslim League along with Hossain Suhrawardy and Maulana Bhasani. He was elected the first joint general secretary of the party. In 1953, he became the general secretary of the party. After winning the 1954 general elections, Mujib became the Agriculture Minister of the United Front government. In 1956, he was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the Cabinet of the Coalition Government.
After the death of Hossain Suhrawardy in 1963, Sheikh Mujib was elected as the president of Awami Muslim League. He was a staunch critic of Ayub Khan's theory of fundamental democracy. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman raised the historic 6-point demand at the national conference of the opposition parties held in Lahore in 1966. These six points were the outline of autonomy for East Pakistan.
Afraid of public support for Mujib's 6 points, the then Pakistani ruling group arrested Sheikh Mujib in the Agartala conspiracy case. All the people of Bengal became angry. The exploiters were forced to release him at one point by succumbing to the public outrage. On February 23, 1969, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was given a mass felicitation at the Race Course Maidan in Dhaka at the initiative of the Central Student Struggle Parishad. Eleven point demands were raised there, which included all the points of the six points. In this gathering of millions of people, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was awarded the title of 'Bangabandhu'. In a public meeting organized on December 5, 1969, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib named East Bengal 'Bangladesh'. He said, "At one time, an attempt was made to erase even the last trace of the word 'Bangla' from the chest of this country, from the page of the map. ... The existence of the word 'Bangla' has not been found in the name of anything other than 'Bay of Bengal'. ... I declare on behalf of the people - from today the name of the eastern province of Pakistan is only Bangladesh instead of East Pakistan". In the general election on December 7, 1970, the Awami League under the leadership of Sheikh Mujib won an absolute majority in the provincial legislature. Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats in the National Assembly and 305 out of 310 seats in the Provincial Assembly in the then East Pakistan. But the West Pakistani ruling class was completely against Mujib's policy of autonomy. To prevent the formation of the government of Awami League, President Yahya Khan began to struggle by calling a session of the parliament. Sheikh Mujib soon realized that there was no alternative to fighting to end the misrule of the West Pakistani rulers.
On March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for independence in a historic speech at the Race Course Maidan. Bangabandhu announced to the public at the race course, "This struggle is the struggle for our liberation, this struggle is the struggle for freedom". In this historic speech, the father of the nation Bangabandhu called the Bengali nation for continuous liberation and declared, "When I have given blood, I will give more blood." I will release the people of this country inshallah. ... Everyone built a fort from house to house. He must face the enemy with whatever he has”.
Bangabandhu's call made the entire Bengal uproar. Frightened by this awakening of the Bengali nation under Mujib's leadership, Yahya Khan imposed martial law, banned the Awami League and ordered the arrest of Sheikh Mujib. Then came March 25, 1971. In the darkness of the night, the Pakistani soldiers pounced on innocent unarmed Bengalis like vultures; Starting with the worst murder in history called Operation Searchlight. After winter, from the old to the lap baby - no one is safe from the hellishness of the Pak hyenas. Mujib was arrested and taken to West Pakistan. However, before that, when the operation of the Pakistan Army began, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced the independence of Bangladesh in the early hours of March 26 and called on the people to participate in the all-out movement. On April 17, 1971, the first government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was formed and Sheikh Mujib was made the president. In his absence, Syed Nazrul Islam acted as the interim president. Mukti Bahini was formed under this government and the turn to resist the Pak army began. After nine long months of bloody fighting, victory finally came at the cost of 30 lakh Bengalis. On December 16, the Suhrawardy Udyan from where Bangabandhu called for the freedom struggle, the Pakistani army surrendered to the Bangladesh-India alliance. A new country named Bangladesh was born on the world map. On January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu returned to his beloved motherland, the independent country of his dreams. Millions of people flocked to the airport to welcome the dreamer of freedom, the father of the nation. After returning home, Bangabandhu jumped into the reconstruction of the war-torn country. Bangabandhu appealed for international aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis and aid began to arrive in no time. A new war for the reconstruction of Bangladesh began. Meanwhile, an anti-independence circle became active. This cycle has risen to create political instability with the direct fuel of domestic and international circles opposing the liberation war. At this time, Bangabandhu understood that development of the country is not possible without political stability. In 1974, he established Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League or 'Bakshal' to bring all political parties under one umbrella. At the same time all other political parties were banned. Note that the first party to be banned was the Bangladesh Awashi League, Sheikh Mujib's own party.
As a result, stability began to come to the country. Just when the whole country was recovering from the damage, another blow came. Sheikh Mujib and his family members were killed by a group of misguided army officers at midnight on August 15, 1975. Only his two daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were out of the country at that time. This heinous killing brought an irreparable loss to the life of the newly independent nation, creating a political vacuum, disrupting the course of democratic development.
No comments:
Post a Comment