Opinion || Once, Look Toward the Stars

Ejaz Mamun
is a scientist and columnist.

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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is a man of our hearts. We cherish him in our hearts. He is the complete embodiment of the thousand-year history of our development as a Bengali nation. Bangabandhu is the Father of our Nation, the architect of Bangladesh. Another name for Bangladesh is Sheikh Mujib. This great man has conquered this land called Bangladesh for us with his boundless love, wisdom and foresight in every moment of his life.

We consider ourselves Bengalis. Because we speak Bengali. We believe that the day the Bengali language emerged, the beginning of Bengali culture, the path of Bengaliness, began. But it was at the hands of the momentous Mujib that this Bengali got its true form and its shining identity.

No matter how bad the geographical position of Bangladesh was, the wealth and abundance of Bengal made this region attractive to foreigners. As soon as the British occupied India and Bengal, days of sacrifice and hardship descended on the lives of the Bengalis. The oppression and oppression of the common Bengalis began. As the exploitation and oppression of the British became more intense, the Bengalis also became tougher and tougher to awaken their identity. New values ​​emerged among the Bengalis. The British understood that the mistake they made during the Sepoy Rebellion could not be repeated.

The British adopted the policy of divide and rule. They used Hindus and Muslims against each other. The partition of Bengal was implemented in 1905. Then, for 40 long years, the politics of conspiracy and revenge continued. The soil of Bengal turned red with the blood of Hindus and Muslims. Bangabandhu was a young leader at that time.

Bangabandhu tried his best to prevent the Hindu-Muslim riots in Bengal, which was built on the sweetness of eternal brotherhood and unity. Many people including Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhiji supported the division of Bengal. In the face of opposition from many Muslim leaders and cultural workers of Bengal, Bengal became a part of a separate national entity in 1947 only under the pressure of the Muslim League.

Bangabandhu understood that this partition and the annexation of Bengal to Pakistan were a blueprint to destroy the Bengali nation that had been built up over thousands of years. He could not help but understand that the Bengalis would be oppressed and crushed in the state structure of Pakistan, which was created on the basis of the two-nation theory. On the eve of the partition, he and his workers resolved to restore Bengal at the Siraj Daula Hotel in Kolkata. Sometime in 1947, at a school convocation, he announced the resolution of ‘Bangladesh’.

After the partition of India, the Pakistani government first tried to suppress the Bengali language and culture. Urdu was imposed on the Bengalis as the state language. Bengali consciousness became strong. And this light was lit by the brave student leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, the son of history, with his heroic protest. In the first phase of the language movement, Language Day was celebrated on March 11, 1948, under his indomitable leadership.

The struggle that began in his childhood and adolescence did not stop, but rather expanded over time. In this man, God later endowed a nation with the strength to stand tall.

From 1948 to 1971, Bangabandhu Mujib spent every moment of his life with a firm conviction to achieve the rights of the people of Bengal and to allow Bengalis to live with their heads held high. Where was his leadership?

His life was filled with countless events, such as the 1948 language movement and formation of the Chhatra League, the formation of the Muslim Awami League in 1949 and the hunger march demanding food, opposition to the basic principles of the Pakistani constitution in 1951, hunger strike in prison in protest against the firing on the language activists in 1952, the formation of the United Front in 1953, the 21-point issue of the United Front in 1954, the debut of the Awami League in 1955, opposition to the name East Pakistan instead of East Bengal, the demand for autonomy and opposition to the equality of the number of people in 1956, the announcement of his resignation from the ministry at the Kagmari Conference in 1957, imprisonment under Ayub Khan’s military rule in 1958, support for the student movement against the education policy in 1962, opposition to the Ayub constitution in 1963, the six-point proposal in 1966, the withdrawal of the Agartala conspiracy case in 1968, snatching the absolute victory of the Awami League in the 1970 general election, and the independence movement in 1971, such as Bangabandhu. It has glorified a nation and has liberated it from its cursed, oppressed life.

The countless struggles in his life have made him known not only as a prominent leader of the subcontinent, but also as a world leader.

After the mass uprising of 1969, Bangabandhu came out of prison and announced on December 5 of the same year, ‘From today onwards, the name of the eastern part of Pakistan will be changed from East Pakistan to Bangladesh.’ From that day on, the path to making the dream of the Bengalis a reality began. On March 7, 1971, he gave the most powerful and convincing speech of all time, surpassing all the leaders and leadership history of the world.

He ordered the Bengalis to unite, called for independence and liberation struggle, and gave directions on how to liberate Bangladesh. The Bengali nation seemed to regain its life at the words of the leader, and they firmly pledged to liberate the country. On the eve of the great war of independence, Bangabandhu was captured by the Pakistani junta on the dark night of March 25.

Bengalis did not know where Bangabandhu was or how he was. But, inspired by the leader’s orders, the brave Bengalis, disregarding the illusion of life and ignoring all the obstacles of Pakistan and its allies, emerged victorious in a bloody war from March 26 to December 16, at the cost of three million lives and indescribable sacrifices. Our golden Bangladesh, filled with green and lush flowers, was born.

Renowned political scientist Abdur Razzak said in one of his speeches, ‘Bangabandhu was absent from March 25, 1971 to January 10, 1972, when two unequal powers were engaged in a terrible and cruel struggle. Bangabandhu and Bangabandhu alone was the symbol around whom the supporters of a helpless cause gathered together. But there was no unexpected event.

In those dark days, in those days of trial, there was no hidden misunderstanding or hesitation among the millions of people who would create the future nation. In one word, it can be said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was the unquestionable symbol of the unity of the Bengali nation.

On January 10, 1972, by the infinite grace of the Almighty, the people of Bengal regained the jewel of the Bengali people’s eyes. Bangabandhu returned home and once again inspired the Bengalis to rebuild a devastated country. Despite hundreds of obstacles, Bangladesh began to move forward. Bangabandhu announced the epoch-making political and social system, Baksal.

Pakistan and the American gang that opposed the liberation war never accepted Bangladesh and its path. How cruel our history is! Just three and a half years after the country’s independence, the Pakistani-American spies, their domestic ghosts, brutally murdered Bangabandhu Mujib and his family members on August 15, 1975. Even Bangabandhu’s infant son Russell could not escape the hands of these hyenas.

Due to being abroad, only Bangabandhu’s eldest daughter, today’s Desh Ratna Jananetri Sheikh Hasina, and the youngest daughter, Sheikh Rehana, the beloved of Bengalis, survived. Bangladesh was stunned by this brutal murder of Bangabandhu and his family. Every animal, dust particle, and nature of Bengal fell silent in grief and sorrow. The most mournful day of all time in the life of Bengalis, the most cursed day, is August 15.

Bangabandhu was a simple man, his politics and national thought were only about the people. Whether the ‘sad man’ was Hindu or Muslim, Brahmin or untouchable, Ashraf or Atraf, Christian or Buddhist was not a matter of consideration for him. He was equal to any great leader in the world. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation of India, did bring the poor people of India, divided by religion, caste, and creed, from the margins, but he did not want to eradicate the old caste system.

Bangabandhu Mujib has surpassed even Gandhiji with his simple, humanistic state thinking. Bangabandhu loved Bangladesh much more than the limits of a person’s patriotism. On January 18, 1974, Bangabandhu said at the biennial council of his beloved party, ‘If I cannot bring a smile to the faces of the people of Bengal, if I see the people of Bengal sad, and if I see the people of Bengal not having enough to eat, then I cannot, cannot, cannot die in peace.’ How intense was his love for the people of Bengal!

In every sense, Bangabandhu was the reflection of our homeland. History did not create him, he created the history of Bengalis, the history of Bangladesh. He broke the thousand-year-old chain of Bengalis and became the greatest Bengali of all time, the Father of the Bengali Nation, the architect of Bangladesh.

The Bengali nation stood up, imbued with the inspiration left by Bangabandhu, capitalizing on his dream.
But the greedy, conspiratorial, and negating the identity of the Bengali nation and the state, the circle has kept Bangladesh silent today, their violence has taken away people’s rights, and has brought public life to an immense misery.

In this great crisis, Bangabandhu Mujib is a star, looking at which we find the sign of the path. We find the direction of the path we have lost. We are filled with the courage to achieve our rights.