Bangabandhu: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who Cracked the Sky, Shook the Earth…
In 1971, as a college student, I witnessed how our people sacrificed their valued lives with deep patriotism in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to achieve Bangladesh
By Anwar A. Khan
A century ago, a shepherd king was born in a remote hamlet of Gopalgonj District, Bangladesh as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He showed the potential of leadership since his school life. From a very young age, Mujib strived to work for issues that mattered to him, hankering one cause after another. He showed the first sign of being a revolutionary leader when he distributed rice from his father’s own stockpile, giving it to famine stricken people in his area, much to his father’s dismay. His flames are not for the sake of smoke – they are the catalyst for the politicians and patriots to rise like a phoenix year after years.
We all feel an undeniable bond with the land where we are born. And yet, if we leave it for another, we grow to feel a similar bond, often of a more complex nature. Both are forms of patriotism – the first, involuntary, by birth, the second by choice. Neither is less worthy than the other. “But one is earned” as it was said by Vera Nazarian and Mujib has earned it through his selfless services to the nation.
Bill Kristol has written, “Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilisation against barbarism” and Mujib always stood in the defense of civilisation against barbarism. He was the most influential statesman across the world of his time and is highly-respected and well-liked throughout the world. Because he brought intelligent, honest and straightforward approaches to everything he did. He was crowned with the title of “Bangabandhu” and remembered as a dedicated man of the people. The very word Mujib is synonymous with the country, Bangladesh.
During our glorious Liberation War in 1971, being a very young college student, I witnessed how our people dared to sacrifice their valued lives with deep patriotism in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman chanting “Joy Bangla” and “Joy Bangabandhu” slogans at gun points of Pakistan’s army and their ruthless local collaborators to achieve Bangladesh. Bangabandhu is the most celebrated politician of Bangladesh’s Revolution in 1971 because of his pivotal role in wresting the eastern theater from the Pakistani regime and securing a revolutionary patriotic victory. He shall be remembered for his indomitable will, his unwillingness to consider anything else as long as the slightest hope of victory still burnt. We thank Bangabandhu for making our state, our country.
Mujib became politically active in British India, the Bengali Language Movement, the founding of the Awami League, the Six points movement, the Anti Ayub movement, the 1970 Elections and Civil disobedience movement in 1971, establishment of Bangladesh, governing Bangladesh, struggle for national reconstruction… He is credited as the central figure in Bangladesh’s liberation movement and is considered the founding father of Bangladesh.
The life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the saga of a great leader, turning people’s power into an armed struggle that liberated a nation and created Bangladesh which was the triumph of his faith in the destiny of his people. Sheikh Mujib, endearingly called “Bangabandhu” or Friend of Bengal, rose from the people, molded their hopes and aspirations into a dream and staked his life in the long battle for making it real and he is the man who stood on this core spirit.
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The Bangabandhu was a charismatic leader who organised dissent and rebellion against the British in India, led the Bengalis of former East Pakistan in their resistance to the unjust actions of the post-colonial Pakistan’s government, and finally helped found the independent nation.
For him, the battle for freedom from exploitation was never-ending. Even after winning independence for Bangladesh from Pakistan, an exploitation-free Bengali society eluded him. When he seemed to be having some success in tiding over the most difficult period of post-liberation history, he was assassinated and his family massacred in a fluke coup staged by a handful of junior officers of the fledgling Bangladesh army on 15 August, 1975. He is easily the most archetypal story in Bangladesh’s history.
Bangabandhu was a strong voice for the people of this part of the land. He shook or rocked up the world in 1971… His brutal murder is of the biggest and saddest events in the world history. Famed poet Kamal Chowdhury has aptly written, “Tumar mrittur kotha mone holey, tumar jonnmer kachey rhini hoye jai (If we think about your death, we become indebted to your birth).” In myth he becomes what they want him to have been, and anyone who belittles this transformation has an imperfect understanding of truth. Youth, beauty, apparent vigour and even the most arguable personal virtues were silenced by a sudden and violent death. And the fact that such a man paradoxically took on godhead for a while is proof that we continue to see death not just as an end, but as a doorway to transcendence.
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The iconoclastic, revolutionary politician would have been 101 on 17 March last of this year and, while he has been dead for about 45 years ago, but his voice is as loud as ever. He had a thing that you can’t just buy. You can’t just rent a politician who can do that. He had something there that was like intuitive. He believed in a certain philosophy and way of life. They were a unit.
He was laid to rest at Tungipara, Bangladesh. Famous rhymer Khaleque-bin-Zainuddin has written, “Sheikanete rakhal rajar chotto koborkhani, shondhey-shokal jhorai kebol lokkho chokher paani” (There lays the small burial-ground of the shepherd king/ The tear-drops only of hundreds of thousands flow from morning to evening).”
So, if through Bangabandhu’s window there is a new day breaking, a new promise be unfolding, though mind and soul be aching, if with harvest over there is grain enough for gleaning – there is a new tomorrow and life still has meaning. Is it, then a coincidence, that the centenary of his birth coincides with a half century of Bangladesh’s existence? His imprint is lasting, and his presence in our lives will surely be missed in his own independent and sovereign homeland – Bangladesh.
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With that in mind we ring in the centenary celebrations marking the birth of this extraordinary human being.
The writer is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Views are personal and International Affairs Review neither endorses nor is responsible for them.
