It
was March 11, 1948, when protests were taking place in Dhaka. One protest
procession was heading to the residence of Chief Minister Bengal Khawaja
Nazimuddin. The protestors were demanding national language status for the
Bangla language. The protestors were very angry over the Urdu language instead
of Bangla printed on coins and stamps. Attempts were made to stop this protest
rally. Which increased tension wherein the police resorted to serious action
against the protestors.
Many
were injured including the leader of the protest rally. He was the same person
who had presented the Pakistan Resolution in 1940. He was Sher-e-Bangla Abul
Kasem Fazlul Huq, AK Fazlul Huq. From Chittagong to Quetta only one was the
subject of discussion in 1948. That whether national language would be Urdu, or
Bangla or both. And Capital of East Bengal, Dhaka was the center of this
dispute. In 1948 Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah came to Dhaka to talk
to the people on this issue.
A
huge gathering of Quaid's fans was present before him. Everyone had one
question in mind; whether or not Bengla would be the national language? A
smartly dressed person was addressing gracefully the public at the Race Course
Medan Dhaka on March 21, 1948. He was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of
Pakistan. He praised the Bengalis on their role and sacrifices in the struggle
for independence. Then he came to the real question.
He
categorically supported Urdu as the national language of Pakistan. He said: "Let
me make it very clearly to you. There should be no doubt that the state language
of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language." He said no nation
could make progress unless it had a single national language. "Without
state language, no nation can survive." He asked the Bengalis to consider
making Bengla the official language of Bengal.
And
a decision would be taken on it at the time of framing the Constitution. Quaid
said: "For official use in this province, people of (the) province can
choose any language they wish." This question will be decided only in
accordance with the wishes of this province as freely expressed through their
elected representatives at the appropriate time." The Bengalis highly
respected Quaid-e-Azam. Therefore the matter of Bengla language was put on the
back burner for the time being.
But
sentiments of the Bengalis got reignited when the language issue remained
unsettled till Quaid's death. The sentiments flared to the limit that the
Bengali leaders formed a separate party on June 23, 1949. This political party
was formed against the Founder Party of Pakistan, the Muslim League. The
Bengalis named it Awami Muslim League. However, after a few years, the world
''Muslim'' was omitted from its name. And it was renamed "Awami League."
The
Bengali leaders wanted the Party to run on a secular basis instead of religion.
Maulana Bhashani was the first president of this Party. And a student leader of
the Pakistan Movement was among its joint secretaries. His name was Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman had been a member of the Muslim Students
Federation (MSF). His political guide was Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi. Suharwardi
had served as Chief Minister Bengal before the partition of India.
But
after the establishment of Pakistan, he had quit the Muslim League. And later
joined the Awami League. So this party formed in the background of language
issues began the struggle to achieve the objective from the very first day. It
was for making Bengla the national language of the State of Pakistan. But the
situation went bad due to the statement by a Bengali leader on January 26, 1952.
On that date, Prime Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin Din, himself a
Bengali, announced that Urdu should be the official language of Pakistan.
This
announcement had coincided with the framing of the Constitution of Pakistan. The
Constitution had to resolve the language issue also. Awami League was much
angry over this announcement. So protest demonstrations started in East
Pakistan immediately. Awami League was leading these protests. In order to stop
the protest, Section 144 was imposed in Dhaka on February 20, 1952. Now the
gathering of more than four persons at a place was banned.
The
student of Dhaka University did not accept this restriction. So they took to
street protest on February 21. The students blocked roads and forced vehicles
to stop. And pelted stones if any vehicle did not stop. The police tried to
check the protestors but they became more violent. In the height of fury, both
sides took to violence. Students attacked the police force. Many policemen were
injured due to stones pelting. And the police opened fire to disperse the
students.
And
the firing took the life of five students. The students were dispersed but the
entire Bengali people had known that five students laid down their life for the
sake of the Bangla language. The news further angered the already agitated people. The
next day in East Pakistan began with protests and strikes. Students staged a
boycott of the classes and Pakistani flags lowered deliberately. The protests
intensified. And the police again restored to firing and more protestors were
killed.
Now
curfew was clamped and the army called in. In Dhaka curfew was imposed
intermittently. At times it was at night and some times in the day. But Awami
League continued protests and strikes. It announced a complete shutter down
strike in Dhaka on February 23. And also gave a protest call. Thus strike and
protest both were held. And the army also continued patrolling. And Dhaka University
was the center of this entire stormy situation.
So
the University was closed down for some days. It calmed down the situation for
the time being. But the situation popularized the Awami League for which it
took the benefit two years after in the provincial elections. Polling took
place for the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in March 1954. They were the
first elections for the provincial assembly taking place only in East Bengal. The
Muslim League was undoubtedly the most popular party before these polls.
It
was to compete with the newly formed Awami League now. Awami League was fully
prepared to take part in the elections. It formed an electoral alliance with
three other nationalist parties. It was named Jukto Front or the United Front. The
alliance announced to contest the election on the basis of a 21-point agenda. Seeking complete autonomy for East Bengal was the crux of the 21-point agenda. Only
the defense, currency, communication, and foreign affairs should be with the
central government. Making Bangla the national language was the second most
important demand of this alliance Sher-e-Bengal AK Fazlul Huq was the head of
this Front.
Polling
was held on March 9 and 11. And the results were highly surprising. The United The front had obtained 97 percent votes against less than 3 percent by the Muslim
League. It was so crushing defeat that could be assessed from the fact of a young
student of the Front. Khaleequz Zaman had defeated the Muslim League candidate
and CM Bengal Nurul Amin. Amin was defeated with a big margin. United Front won
the elections and AK Fazlul Huq was made the Chief Minister.
A
happy result the Front's victory came as acceptance of the demand of the
Bengalis. That on April 19, 1954, the Constituent Assembly also gave Bangla the
status of state language with Urdu. This second most vital demand of the Awami
League was accepted. But their demand for autonomy to East Bengal was still
unfulfilled. With the passage of time, this demand became very strong. But this
demand was not being accepted.
So
the split between the government and the Opposition on this issue went from arguments
to physical fights and violence. The Bengalis and the non-Bengalis in the United The front came down to clashes. On May 15 violent protests took place in Adamjee
Jute Mills near Dhaka. Within days the death toll in the clashes rose to 400
while thousands of others were injured. The situation damaged the popularity of the
United Front. The media published that a large number of RSS Hindus from India
had entered East Pakistan and in collusion with the Communists, they had
allegedly triggered violence.
That
the Fazlul Huq government had also failed to take timely action to check the
violence. These were the charges leveled on the Awami League. A newspaper also
cartooned Fazlul Huq pulling down the wall of the Ideology of Pakistan. The
allegations were so serious that CM Fazlul Huq was charged with treason. Fazlul
Huq gave the interview to the US newspaper, The New York Times. The newspaper
attributed to him a statement that he wanted Bengal's separation from Pakistan.
Fazlul
Huq categorically disowned this statement. But the local media did not stop
labeling him with treason. Sher-e-Bengal was also cartooned as clustered by
the Hindus. In this situation, Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dismissed his
government on May 23, 1954. The Governor-general declared the governor's rule
in Bengal. Sikandar Mirza, a Bengali, was appointed the Governor. Air force
planes dropped the pamphlets against Fazlul Huq and to justify his removal on
the ground that he was planning to break the country.
Thus
the first elected government that came with the huge mandate was dismissed in
less than two months on the treason charges. The leader who had presented the
Pakistan Resolution was dubbed as a traitor and put under house arrest. Subsequently,
659 leaders of the United Front were also detained. Among them, the Minister of
that short-lived government Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also included. But it was
not his last arrest.
During
the Martial Law of General Ayub Khan in 1958, Mujib was again arrested. And
this time, the arrest had changed his heart and mind. He said it was the moment
when his thoughts took a diametrical change. According to the Awami League
website then Mujibur Rahman had resolved to fight for the liberation of Bengal.
After the death of Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi in 1963, Mujibur Rahman became the
president of the Awami League. The future of Pakistan had practically come into his
hands after he took over the most popular party. Because East Pakistan
outnumbered West Pakistan in population.
