April 17-New sunrise of Bangladesh

Opinion

April 17 is a historic day for Bangladesh. On this day, in the third week of the 1971 Liberation War, the first legitimate government of independent Bangladesh took oath as the elected representative of the 75 million people of the country in front of hundreds of journalists and local people from home and abroad at an Amrakunja in Baidyanathtala, Meherpur subdivision of Kushtia district. Historically, this was the first National Parliament of independent Bangladesh. The oath was delivered by Professor Yusuf Ali. Professor Yusuf Ali was once a professor at Nawabganj College and later at Surendranath College. Later, he got involved in Awami League politics and was elected as a member of the National Parliament in the 1970 elections.

Before 17 April, on 10 April, the first National Parliament of Bangladesh was held at Bagdogra, upstream of the Teesta River in the Indian part, with the members elected to the National Parliament and the Provincial Councils (who had been able to cross the border to India) who had won the 1970 elections. Professor Yusuf Ali was nominated as the Speaker to preside over that parliament. Earlier, on 3 April, a small delegation led by Awami League General Secretary Tajuddin Ahmed met the then Indian Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi and sought her support in Bangladesh’s liberation war.

In response, Indira Gandhi advised the delegation that it would be easier to provide such assistance if a government was formed by elected representatives. Barrister Amir-ul Islam, one of the members of the delegation and the author of the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh, shared this information with this writer in a personal conversation. After writing the Declaration of Independence, he took it to Subrata Chowdhury, a senior lawyer of the Calcutta High Court. He read it and said that there was nothing left to add to the Declaration.

At the same time, two other groups tried to form a government in exile separately. The first group was led by some young Awami League leaders, and the other by some army officers who had joined the liberation war from the Pakistan army. But neither side had a prudent and far-sighted leadership.

On the eve of April 17, Awami League MP M.A. Mannan and Barrister Amir-ul Islam went to the Kolkata Press Club and informed journalists that the next day, the Prime Minister of the newly formed government-in-exile, Tajuddin Ahmed, would deliver some important speeches through a program and arrangements would be made to take them there, so that they could be prepared. For security reasons, complete secrecy was maintained regarding the matter.

Initially, the oath-taking ceremony was supposed to take place in Chuadanga on April 14. But somehow the news got out. As a result, the Pakistani air force started attacking there. So it was decided to change the venue. The responsibility of organizing the entire ceremony was taken by the then Deputy Commissioner of Pabna, Nurul Kader Khan, and the Sub-Divisional Commissioner of Meherpur, Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury (Bir Bikram), who is currently in jail without trial in the Kalpana Prasut murder case. Previously, he was the energy advisor to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. They were assisted by the local Sangram Parishad and the people and the Indian Border Security Force, BSF.

On April 17, early in the morning, Awami League leaders along with local and foreign journalists left Kolkata for Meherpur. The BSF provided them with the necessary security. Meherpur is a border subdivision. By 11 am, a small convoy of vehicles crossed the border and entered Meherpur and took up position at Baidyanathtala, a large Amrakunja adjacent to the border. A small stage was made by bringing some tools and tables from a local church. Arrangements were made for foreign journalists to sit in front. The director of the program, MP MA Mannan, briefed everyone about the program. In a very short program, first MP Professor Yusuf Ali read the Declaration of Independence, which is now included in the Constitution of Bangladesh. Then Bangabandhu was declared the President and a four-member cabinet was formed. It was also announced that Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam would serve as the interim President in Bangabandhu’s absence, and Tajuddin Ahmed would serve as the Prime Minister. Professor Yusuf Ali administered the oath of office to the cabinet members and the Vice President at the ceremony. Colonel MAG Osmani was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief and given the responsibility of leading the Liberation War. At the end of the ceremony, Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam and Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed made brief speeches to the people and journalists present. They called on other countries of the world to provide assistance and support to Bangladesh in its Liberation War. Finally, a guard of honor was given to Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam under the leadership of Jhenaidah Police SDPO Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, in which members of the local police and Ansar forces participated. This ceremony established the first legitimate government of Bangladesh. That government had a cabinet, a speaker (Professor Yusuf Ali) and an army chief. I heard that the present Speaker of the National Parliament, the brave freedom fighter Major (retd) Hafizuddin, along with Bir Bikram and a few other fellow freedom fighters, were present at that event. A similar incident was committed by the representatives of the United States in the city of Philadelphia, USA, on July 4, 1776. There is no such precedent anywhere else outside these two incidents.

There is no room to question the legitimacy of this government, because all those who were members of the government were elected representatives. Since then, this place has been named Mujibnagar. Some people say that the first president of Bangladesh was the founder of BNP, General (then Major) Zia. They forget that Zia had no legal opportunity to become president. Because he was not an elected member of parliament, and he did not take any oath as president. They also forget that Zia, who worked under the first government and who were previously government employees or were later appointed as government employees, all received a symbolic salary from the government. However, many did not get the opportunity to receive real salaries.

A Liberation War Museum was built at the place where the oath-taking ceremony took place. There was a symbolic sculpture commemorating the event of that day. In 2024, after the terrorist anarchy under the umbrella of the ‘anti-coat’ movement, some miscreants of Pakistani origin destroyed them. Some of them recently hung banners in front of Baitul Mukarram and demanded the unification of Bangladesh with Pakistan. They blamed Sheikh Mujib for ‘breaking Pakistan’.

The Declaration of Independence provides a brief description of the context in which Bangladesh declared its independence. It states that on March 26, 1971, ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman duly declared the independence of Bangladesh on the night of March 26 in Dhaka with the aim of establishing the legitimate right of the people of Bangladesh to self-determination and made a solemn appeal to the people of Bangladesh to protect the dignity and integrity of Bangladesh.’ That proposal provides a clear outline of how an independent Bangladesh will be governed and also declares that this Declaration will come into effect from March 26, 1971 and that the country will be governed in the light of this Declaration until a constitution is formulated. The Declaration emphasizes ensuring equality, human dignity and social justice. Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam and Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed, in addition to mentioning these issues in their speeches, also said that Bangladesh will be a non-communal state and that this country will abide by all international laws and charters, including the United Nations. The Declaration of Independence was included in the Constitution as the Seventh Schedule in 1972. However, such a document was abolished by Zia after Bangabandhu was assassinated in 1975. The four national leaders who started the journey of independent Bangladesh on November 3, 1975, were brutally murdered in Dhaka Central Jail. On the other hand, when the Awami League government was formed in 1996 under the leadership of Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina, it was again incorporated into the Constitution. Khaleda Zia, who came to power in 2001, abolished it again. However, this proposal was the birth certificate of a legitimate independent and sovereign Bangladesh. Whenever the BNP came to power in the unfortunate nation, they have interfered unnecessarily in some of the fundamental issues of Bangladesh’s liberation war and independence, although there are several heroic freedom fighters in the party.

Bangladesh has completed 55 years of independence. In these 55 years, Bangladesh has achieved a lot; but what it has lost is not less. In these 55 years, the non-communal Bangladesh dreamed of by Bangabandhu and the four national leaders has been largely lost. Social justice is now largely in exile. Socio-economic inequality is currently in an extremely painful state. The power of dishonest people in society is overwhelming. If you analyze the overall situation, it may seem that in many cases, the communal forces in Bangladesh are much stronger now than during the Pakistani period. When you see their joyous dance in the great National Parliament today, there is no reason to think that this is the National Parliament of Bangladesh, which was won with the blood of three million martyrs. A class of fanatical fundamentalist groups have cornered Bengali culture in the name of religion. They see the celebration of Bengali New Year as Hinduism. They argue about whether the parade organized to celebrate it will be a ‘Mangal’ parade or a ‘Baisakhi’ parade, making it difficult to sleep at night. They object to the ‘Anand’ parade itself. A few years ago, a Hridoy Chandra Mandal had to go to jail for talking about science in the classroom. He passed away a few days ago. Another Amanat Ullah Khan in Chuadanga challenged science and said that the sun revolves around the earth. This anti-national communal group gets the opportunity to heat up the field on these issues largely because of the government’s appeasement policy at different times. The government is probably unable to understand all the time, they want to make Bangladesh another Afghanistan. They want to establish Taliban rule. It is difficult to rein them in now. They have reached the National Parliament.

Let’s go back to that fiery 1971, the Declaration of Independence, or many of the original ideas of the 1972 Constitution are currently in exile. Although it is difficult to bring all these things back during the current government’s tenure, it is somewhat possible if there is goodwill. It must be remembered that Ziaur Rahman, the founder of the BNP, the majority party in parliament, was also a heroic freedom fighter. If the government party in parliament cannot preserve the spirit of 1971, then the shell of independent Bangladesh, which was achieved with the blood of 3 million martyrs, may remain, and everything else will be lost. The Bangladesh of Bangabandhu and the three million martyrs and three million mothers and sisters who lost their dignity will enter a dark era. If we are not careful in time, the Bangladesh of 1971 will not be found in the future. On the other hand, those whom the BNP considers its allies and are now involved in the tussle will not hesitate for a minute to strike back if they get the opportunity.

– Syed Iftekhar Hossain
Political Analyst