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Born on 17 March
1920 in the village Tungipara under the gopalganj
Sub-division (currently district) in the district
of Faridpur, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's father, Sheikh
Lutfar Rahman, was a serestadar in the civil court
of Gopalganj. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed his
matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School
in 1942, IA (Twelfth Grade) from Islamia College,
Calcutta in 1944 and BA from the same College
in 1947. In 1946, Mujib was elected general secretary
of the Islamia College Students Union. He was
an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League
and a member of the All-India Muslim League Council
from 1943 onwards. As an activist he had been
a supporter of the Suhrawardhy-Hashim faction
of the Muslim League. During the 1946 general
elections, the Muslim League selected Mujib for
electioneering in Faridpur district.
Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman was one of the principal organisers
behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim
Students League (est. 1948). After partition (1947),
he got himself admitted into the university of
Dhaka to study law but was unable to complete
it, because, he was expelled from the University
in early 1949 on charge of "inciting the
fourth-class employees" in their agitation
against the University's indifference towards
their legitimate demands.
Sheikh
Mujib's active political career began with his
election to one of the posts of joint secretaries
of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949).
As a political prisoner, he was then interned
in Faridpur jail. In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected
general secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim
League, a post that he held until 1966 when he
became president of the party. Like his political
mentor Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Mujib also underscored
the importance of party organisation and management.
To organise the party, he resigned from the Cabinet
of Ataur Rahman Khan (1956-58) and devoted himself
to the task of taking the party to grassroots
level. A charismatic organiser, Sheikh Mujib had
established his firm control over the party. He
had the mettle to revive the Awami League in spite
of the fact that his political guru, HS Suhrawardy,
was in favour of keeping political parties defunct
and work under the political amalgam called National
Democratic Front.
Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman entered parliamentary politics
first in 1954 through his election as a member
of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on the
united front ticket. He was also a member of the
Pakistan Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature
(1955-1958).
Sheikh
Mujib was a pragmatic politician. In the Pakistan
state, he appeared as the undaunted advocate of
the Bengali interests from the start. He was among
the first language prisoners. However, Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman grew in political eminence in the
early 1960s. Through his organising ability Mujib
was able to salvage the Awami League from a series
of defections and exit of various factions from
the mainstream party. He reorganised the Awami
League and put it on a firm foundation. In 1966,
he announced his famous six-point programme, calling
it 'Our [Bengalis'] Charter of Survival', which
aimed at self-rule for East Pakistan. Struck sharp
at the roots of West Pakistani dominance, the
six-point programme at once drew the attention
of the nation. Though conservative elements of
all political parties looked at it with consternation,
it instantaneously stirred the younger generation,
particularly the students, youth and working classes.
Disturbed
by the radical political views of Sheikh Mujib,
the Ayub regime put him behind bars. A sedition
case, known as Agartala conspiracy case, was brought
against him. It may be noted that during most
of the period of the Ayub regime Mujib was in
jail, first from 1958 to 1961 and then from 1966
to early 1969. During the second term in jail,
Mujib's charisma grew so much that a mass uprising
took place in his favour in early 1969 and Ayub
administration was compelled to release him on
22 February 1969 unconditionally.
On
the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya
Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students
Action Committee) organised a mass reception to
him at ramna racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Uddyan)
and accorded him the title 'Bangabandhu' (Friend
of the Bengalis). In him they saw a true leader
who suffered jail terms for about twelve years
during the 23 years of Pakistani rule. Twelve
years in jail and ten years under close surveillance,
Pakistan, to Sheikh Mujib, indeed proved to be
more a prison than a free homeland.
The
general elections of December 1970 made Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East
Pakistan. The people gave him the absolute mandate
in favour of his six-point doctrine. Now it was
his turn to implement it. Mujib was so serious
about the six-point that on 3 January 1971, he
held a solemn ceremony at Ramna Race Course with
all the East Pakistan representatives and took
an oath never to deviate from the six-point idea
when framing the constitution for Pakistan.
Mujib's
most uncompromising stand on the six-point programme
led ZA Bhutto and Yahya's military junta to take
a stringent view. Instead of allowing the Sheikh
to form the government, the junta resolved to
undo the results of the elections. President Yahya
Khan cancelled unilaterally the National Assembly
meet Dhaka scheduled to be held at on 3 March
1971. The announcement triggered off the death-knell
of Pakistan. Mujib called an all-out non-cooperation
movement in East Pakistan. The whole province
supported the non-cooperation movement. During
the course of non-cooperation (2-25 March 1971)
the entire civil authorities in East Pakistan
came under the control and directives of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, himself becoming the de facto
head of government of the province.
During
this time, on 7 March Mujib made a historic address
at a mammoth gathering at the Race Course which
marked a turning point in the history of the Bengali
nation. In his address Mujib made specific charges
against the Martial Law authorities which failed
to transfer power to the elected representatives.
At the end of his speech, he made a clarion call,
saying: "Build forts in each homestead. You
must resist the Pakistani enemy with whatever
you have in hand….Remember, we have given
a lot of blood, a lot more blood we shall give
if need be, but we shall liberate the people of
this country, Insha Allah [ie, if God blessed]….The
struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation;
the struggle this time is the struggle for independence."
Meanwhile,
President Yahya Khan and other leaders from West
Pakistan came to Dhaka on 15 March to start a
dialogue with Sheikh Mujib and his party. The
dialogue began on the following day and continued
intermittently down to 25 March morning. During
the period, non-cooperation and hartals continued
relentlessly. Students and leaders of various
political parties had been declaring independence
from March 2 and the spree continued down to 25
March. At mid-night of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan
army launched its brutal crackdown in Dhaka. Sheikh
Mujib was arrested and kept confined at Dhaka
Cantonment until he was lifted to West Pakistan
for facing trial for sedition and inciting insurrection.
Although
during the war of liberation was begun in the
wake of the 25 March army crackdown Bangabandhu
had been a prisoner in the hands of Pakistan,
he was made, in absentia, the President of the
provisional government, called the Mujibnagar
government, formed on 10 April 1971 by the people's
representatives to head the Liberation War. He
was also made the Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces. Throughout the period of the War of Liberation,
Sheikh Mujib's charisma worked as the source of
national unity and strength. After the liberation
of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971 from Pakistani
occupation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released
from Pakistan jail and via London he arrived in
Dhaka on 10 January 1972.
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman headed the first government of
the post-liberation Bangladesh for a period of
three years and a half. Starting from scratch
his government had to deal with the countless
problems of a war ravaged country. Restoring law
and order, rehabilitating the mukhtijodhas, restoring
the ruptured communication system, saving lives
of the people hostile to the War of Liberation
from the public wrath, and, most importantly,
feeding the hungry millions and many other problems
bedevilled his administration. Sheikh Mujib created
Rakshi Bahini to restore law and order and recover
illegal arms, but the system failed and brought
in its trail considerable unpopularity for his
government. Corruption and black marketing became
rampant. Famine was taking its tolls by the thousands.
Confused and perturbed Mujib, depending on his
charisma, made a "Second Revolution"
by establishing a one-party BAKSAL and District
Governor system. But the measures made him further
alienated from the people and his own party. Taking
advantage of his precarious situation, a group
of army adventurers assassinated him along with
all his other family members on 15 August 1975.
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