The coming 17th November is the 40th anniversary of death of our respected leader of the oppressed, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, laid to rest at Santosh in Tangail. We pay our glowing tributes to this great man admired nationally and internationally by researchers in Western universities. We pray for salvation of his departed soul.
We are also deeply distressed to see the awful twisting of history by our political parties and partisan university teachers which made the new generation ignorant of the glorious past built by our predecessors, known and unknown but great. So much so young political activists having post-graduate degrees from Dhaka University in Political Science and History are unaware of the history of Awami Muslim League founded in 1949 and National Awami Party (NAP) founded in 1957, both by Bhashani, which were the mainstream parties in a true multi-party democracy leading to the emergence of sovereign Bangladesh in 1971 with definite objectives for amelioration of the masses.
It is surprising to know neither their political leaders nor the concerned teachers with whom they have connections to date at the partisan level or for working on foreign-funded NGOs (non-government organisations) told them Maulana Bhashani was the founder president of Awami Muslim League in 1949 after partition of India in 1947. As history progressed, the special council session of the Awami Muslim League was held at the Rupmahal cinema hall, Dhaka, on October 21, 22 and 23, 1955, where the word 'Muslim' was dropped from the Awami Muslim League and Awami League (AL) became the new name of the party. Maulana Bhashani and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were re-elected to the posts of president and general secretary respectively.
The turning point was September 12, 1956 when the Council of Ministers was formed at the Central Government of Pakistan by a coalition led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and the Republican Party. He expounded the 'Zero Theory' while addressing a meeting at the Salimullah Muslim Hall of Dhaka University on December 9. He said, 'Expanding ties with the Muslim world means the summation of several zeroes to one zero.' He stressed the need for extension of relations with Britain and the United States. Prime Minister Suhrawardy strove for support in favour of the Constitution previously rejected by AL, for not providing regional autonomy.
The Prime Minister's statement was criticised by Bhashani. He stated, 'The power and right to alter the principles and programmes declared by the organisation are reserved by the Council Session of Awami League.' He convened the Council Session at Kagmari on February 7-8 in 1957. Re-asserting the demand for providing full regional autonomy based on the 21-point demands, he said, 'If the demands are not met, (then) East Bengal will 'say goodbye' to West Pakistan.' He also demanded cancellation of military pacts and war alliances.
On the issues of regional autonomy and neutral foreign policy, the Prime Minister criticised Bhashani in sharp terms which led to division in AL leadership. In a statement on June 17 Bhashani called a democratic workers' conference in Dhaka on July 25-26, 1957. It formed the National Awami Party (NAP) under the leadership of Maulana Bhashani. It became a mainstream party in the Parliament and outside along with AL and others upholding the spirit of multiparty democracy.
From 1958-62 open politics was banned after imposition of martial law in Pakistan on October 7, 1958. After the death of Suhrawardy on December 5, 1963 Sheikh Mujib took an initiative to reorgane the AL. It was resurrected in a conference on January 25, 1964, which was endorsed in a council session in Dhaka on March 6. It made recommendations and demands for adult franchise and constitutional government. Maulana Tarkabagish and Sheikh Mujib were elected president and general secretary. On February 5, 1966 Sheikh Mujib put forward the six-point demand for regional autonomy at the national conference of opposition parties in Lahore. The council session on March 1 in Dhaka accepted the six-point demand, elected Sheikh Mujib president of AL for the first time and Tajuddin general secretary.
Sheikh Mujib, piloting the six-point demand in the country bravely, became popular, got the support of his leader Bhashani who espoused the regional autonomy before. On December 6, 1968 at the Paltan public meeting Bhashani termed the 'Agartala conspiracy' baseless and false. Mass uprising continued. It led to death of Asaduzzaman, a leader of erstwhile East Pakistan Students Union, who turned a peasant leader under the leadership of Bhashani. It shook the formidable base of Ayub regime. It is to be kept in mind that students then were not part of any organisation of a political party. Annual elections for students' unions at universities and colleges were held regularly throughout the country.
It was pro-Soviet Communists in the NAP under Prof Mozaffar that brought the Sino-Soviet rift creating a tiny faction in the NAP in 1967 in his name to fish in the split of the Communist camp. They got foreign fund, training and tours. It is so recalled by contemporaries that Sheikh Mujib asked him to bring down his faction's flag, which he did not listen to because of Communist connections, and the present-day woes are due to his ambition, opined an octogenarian leader Abdus Samad talking to me on his mobile few days back. His faction broke again and again for sharing posts and funds. Now the NAP exists with him as lifelong president, the Ganatantri Party registered by the Election Commission in 2008, the unregistered Oikya NAP and so on.
There is no moral ground that the communists should lie in disguise in the NAP after Independence in 1971 instead of joining any Communist Party, which is no longer underground and many contested national elections in 1973. It is learnt that Muzaffar has submitted to a Soviet diplomat that Bangladesh is a Muslim country, so he should continue his faction for benefits instead of merging with the parent Communist Party of Bangladesh. In spite of efforts made by elected National Committee in 1990 led by a NAP founding member and parliamentary party leader, Barrister Abdu Haq, to unify NAP factions to have a mainstream party as in neighbouring democracies, it was of no avail. It was defunct on November 17, 2006. Hopefully Bhashani's ideology as reflected in his own life will survive Insha'Allah. The AL, BNP and new generations should learn from it before carrying forward it constructively.
The writer is an economist and socio-political activist.
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