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Bangabandhu’s initiation in politics


Bangladeshpost
Published : 10 Aug 2019 09:32 PM | Updated : 05 Sep 2020 03:14 AM

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman received his first initiation in politics during the tumultuous days in the pre-independent India when Hindu-Muslim riots in Kolkata tore the otherwise peaceful society apart. He was a student of Islamia College, under Calcutta University. He was drawn to Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy and joined his band as a student volunteer to help stop the riots. He mobilized fellow students for various political and anti-riot activities under the leadership of Suhrawardy.

After 1947 he returned to East Bengal, then East Pakistan, to study law in Dhaka University but the hapless condition of the common people, the pervasive poverty throughout Bengal, made him contemplative. He could also see through the double standard of the West Pakistani rulers and blatant exploitation of the wealth of Bengal by them.

He strongly felt the urge to devote himself to the cause of the teeming millions and thus unknowingly stepped into the arena of politics. He knew he needed a strong platform to start his work so he undertook the task of reorganizing the students under the banner of East Pakistan Muslim Student League. In response to a sad incident of abuse of the third and fourth class employees of Dhaka University in the hands of DU authorities, he got involved in the movement of the fourth class employees of the Dhaka University and for this reason he was expelled from the university in 1949.

Now, as a full time politician, he was arrested while protesting against the Muslim League Government for conspiring against Bangla, the mother tongue of the majority portion of the people of Pakistan. He soon became a central leader of newly formed Awami Muslim League which later was made Awami League, with more secular features. He was a Joint General Secretary but in recognition of his fiery leadership he was made the General Secretary of the Party.

Competing under the banner of JuktoFront (United Front) he ensured landslide victory for the opposition in 1954 Election. But they could not rule for long because of naked conspiracy of the Pakistani rulers. Incidentally, he was arrested for speaking on behalf of the Bengalis too often. Bangabandhu became a towering national leader after his release in 1969 as the Pakistani rulers could not bring any substantial evidence to frame him in the fabricated ‘Agartala Conspiracy’ case. He became the only spokesperson to talk on behalf of the Bengalis of East Pakistan. His popularity among the masses became phenomenal and it was reflected in the 1970 general elections. Awami League won a landslide victory.

He was to be the prime minister of Pakistan. But conspiracy by ZA Bhutto and the Army Junta was directed against his premiership and they conspired to let loose a genocide of historic proportion in East Pakistan to silence the voices of the people on the streets. But the army action in 1971 was the biggest blunder that ultimately saw Pakistan totally shattered. The eastern wing became independent and sovereign Bangladesh. Bangabandhu’s dream for an independent abode for the Bengalis became a reality.