Independence of Bangladesh through the eyes of the youth

Bangladesh is one of the few countries which earned its independence through the short but intense armed struggle following the breakdown of all peaceful means of negotiation of transfer of power to its legitimate elected leadership by the ruling elites of Pakistan in 1971. It was then a province of the artificial state called Pakistan created in 1947 through manipulation of religiously pampered ‘nationalistic’ identity which crumbled into pieces under the pressure of all kinds of inequalities and injustices. The Bengalis constituting most of the population could sense the ‘false dawn’ of a loosely federated country called Pakistan which failed to integrate their deeper liberal, democratic and secular socio-economic and political aspirations right from its initial days of fractured so-called ‘Muslim nationhood.’ The frontal attack on the sanctity of their mother tongue Bangla by the Pakistani ruling elites made it crystal clear to the Bengalis that their aspirations for independence were not at par with those of Pakistanis. Soon the Bengali youth led by the then most promising student leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his co-leaders embarked on the first phase of the Language Movement asking for providing the status of state language to Bangla for which they were arrested on 11 March 1948 and jailed for a few days.

This ignited the minds of the youth who continued to flag the demands of not only the Bangla as a state language but also for more equal economic and political share of governance for the Bengalis. In the process Sheikh Mujib was put to jail repeatedly and forced to leave the Dhaka University as a student for his uncompromising stance for better employment opportunities for the low-income employees of the university. Simultaneously, he continued to support the language movement whether he was in jail or not in addition to his leadership engagements as a mainstream political leader forming a more democratic and secular party called Awami League (dropping ultimately the word Muslim at some stage) which became the center of attraction of the youth and the masses. Working in conjunction with his political guru Suhrawardy and other senior leaders like Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, Sheikh Mujib finally emerged as the spokesperson of the emerging Bengali nation who was ‘rightly’ marked by the secret documents of Pakistan as the real rising hero among his followers, mostly youth and masses.

Sheikh Mujib’s clarion call for realizing the ‘Six points’ to end surging inequalities between two parts of Pakistan created huge traction among the youths and ordinary masses to rally behind his party Awami League. Unfortunately, Pakistani ruling elites decided to respond to his peaceful call for equality through the language of violence and continued confinement in jail. However, his followers continued to upsurge creating stronger ground for galvanizing the platform for incipient Bengali nationalism. The Pakistani ruling class further strengthened their stranglehold and lodged a so-called Agartala conspiracy case against Sheikh Mujib fueling further fuel to the campaign for more autonomy for eastern part of the country leading to the final push of mass upsurge in 1969 when he had to be released unconditionally. His image as the uncompromising leader of the Bengalis further cemented for which he was crowned as Bangabandhu- the friend of Bengal. With the superficial change of guard at the center when General Yahia Khan took over the government from President Ayub Khan there was an offer of a peaceful transition of power through a fair general election within the Martial Law Framework. Bangabandhu took a calculated risk and betted for the election which later became a gamechanger in those days of politics in Pakistan. With massive support for the Six Points particularly among the youth and the masses including peasants, workers and the middle class Awami League led by Bangabandhu won comprehensively the 1970 general election only to be denied the transfer of power through peaceful means of parliamentary democracy by the Pakistani clique led by Bhutto and other military and civil elites. The result was the formal declaration of independence of Bangladesh by Bangabandhu in the early hours of March 26, 1971, just before his arrest by the Pakistani military forces.

This was preceded by a prolonged non-cooperation movement for defying the Pakistani rule and running of apparently independent Bangladesh under the leadership of Bangabandhu in the light of the framework of civil governance articulated by him on 7th March 1971 at the Ramna Racecourse. Bangabandhu skillfully avoided Unilateral Declaration of Independence on that day despite huge pressure to do so from different quarters including his young Turks of the party. But he did not disappoint them either by providing a clear signal that the nation would go for a massive guerilla warfare if his call for withdrawal of army from the streets and handover of the power to the elected representatives of the country was not adhered to. The youth knew it very well that the so-called negotiation between Bangabandhu and Yahiya Khan was a smokescreen only to bring more military forces and ammunitions to start a genocide against the freedom-loving people of Bangladesh and they started preparing themselves for a people’s war. It was only a matter of a few days and then came the evening of March 25,1971 when the brutal genocidal military attack was launched against the defiant students in Dhaka University, police in Rajarbagh police line and semi-military force ‘East Pakistan Rifles’. The war of liberation that was led by Bangabandhu (not, of course physically but spiritually) and his able co-leaders was massively participated by the youth from all over Bangladesh. They were mostly sons and daughters of the peasants, workers and the middle class and shed their blood for independence keeping in mind the fighting spirit of liberation as ignited by our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The war lasted for nine months with a huge number of martyrs (as high as three million) including thousands of Indian soldiers who came forward to help Bangladesh to defeat the occupying Pakistani forces. The joint forces of India and Bangladesh finally forced the Pakistani forces to surrender on 16th December,1971 to facilitate the freedom loving people of Bangladesh to celebrate their victory day.

However, the victory was not complete without the come back of Bangabandhu on January 10,1972 to the soil of independent Bangladesh from his agonizing captivity in Pakistani jail. He was looking frail on that afternoon but high in spirit for rebuilding a war-ravaged country to a prosperous Bangladesh. He could clearly remember the sacrifices of the people of Bangladesh and the vanguard role of the youth in making independent Bangladesh. So, the whole world and, of course the Bengalis at large, were not surprised to hear from Bangabandhu the kind words about the heroic role of freedom fighters who were mostly young and coming from the modest background of masses. Hence, he could easily say on that late afternoon that the independence of Bangladesh would be meaningless if ordinary people didn’t have enough food and their sons and daughters were not given enough opportunities of employment and self-employment. And these were not mere words for words’ sake. He really meant them and embarked on a full-blown struggle for economic independence for all right from that moment until his tragic martyrdom on 15 August 1975. Not surprisingly even today’s youth continue to adore him as a Father of the Nation and can easily connect themselves to the historic struggle for independence that he formulated and led with his co-leaders.

While celebrating the birth centenary of Bangabandhu we conducted an online survey on their perception of Father of the Nation. It was indeed heartening to note that the youth value his aesthetic leadership and can connect themselves with the above narrative. According to that survey, 65% of the respondents said that the moment they hear the word Bangabandhu the struggle for independence of Bangladesh flashes in memories. In addition, 74% of them think that the word Bangabandhu is synonymous with the flashpoint Bengali’s history that was unfolded by him on March 7,1971 when he virtually called for independence of Bangladesh in front of a million people defying all odds of local adversities and global diplomatic challenges. When we asked today’s youth why Bangabandhu was so important to them their answers were categorically focused on the qualities of transformational leadership. Eighty one percent of them thought Bangabandhu remains adorable to many primarily because of his aesthetic leadership qualities. Seventy three percent of them thought that his trait of uncompromising leadership for the noble cause of freedom made so significant as a father of the Nation. Another 72% of those young respondents thought that his leadership was selfless and always geared towards public interest. No doubt, he remains close to the hearts of today’s youth despite many challenges bugging the contemporary body politic and society. A recent survey92023) conducted by Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center on 50609 nine youth aged between 16 to 25 were asked about various aspects of Bangladesh economy and society including some of the challenges that they will have to overcome. While these youths expressed mixed perceptions about some of these aspects, they were overwhelmingly e positive (56.8%) and neutral (21.6%) about the future of Bangladesh. Only about 21.6% of them were critical about the future of Bangladesh. I am not surprised at the key findings of this survey. None can deny that there are many challenges in Bangladesh economy and society that need to be addressed by all stakeholders, more particularly by the policymakers.

Bangabandhu was equally critical about the state of the affairs about our education, employment and corruption as reflected in various speeches. Yet, he was an eternal optimist about the future of Bangladesh like these youths. He dreamt of a prosperous Bangladesh when there was not even a dollar in his coffer and more than 80% people were under poverty line, mostly devoid of two full-mouth meals a day. But he never lost hope. He thought Bangladesh had good cultivable land and hardworking people to transform a struggling Bangladesh into a Golden Bengal. Like him, 77.2% of the surveyed youth believe that their personal economic conditions will improve in the coming years. Like Bangabandhu who launched Kudrat-e-Khudha Education Commission to improve the quality of education in Bangladesh, 68.6% of these youth feel that the education system needs to improve to prepare them for jobs. Another 69.6% percent of them feel that the education system should prepare them for entrepreneurship. As Bangabandhu used to focus on the quality of teachers, 57.7% of these youths also feel that enhancement of quality of teachers was crucial for a better education system. Another 35% of them talk about the need for critical thinking as vital component of better education.

On corruption and unemployment, today’s youths are equally vocal like Bangabandhu. While 88.8% of them identify corruption as a major challenge for Bangladesh’s development, 67.3% of them think unemployment is also a big challenge for the same. Although Bangabandhu didn’t talk in the same terminology, he was much worried about the fate of the Sundarbans which stood as a natural barrier to tidal surges and saving the lives and livelihoods of the people in the coastal belt of Bangladesh in the early 1970s besides his face-to-face contact with the victims of 1970’s devastating cyclone. Surprisingly, 73.4% of today’s youths also have faced negative impact of climate change and talk about the adverse effects of extreme heat, natural disaster, health problems, bad air quality and food and water shortages.

One can go on looking at the traits of Bangabandhu as seen by today’s youths who find in him the real source of inspiration for working for a better Bangladesh. They need to be more engaged with the life and various aspects of Bangabandhu’s charismatic and transformative leadership qualities through more focused research and advocacy on him. Unless our youth know more about Bangabandhu’s ascendence to pinnacle of his aesthetic leadership it will not be easy for them to comprehend true meaning of the struggle for independence of Bangladesh. So, let’s try more seriously to keep them engaged with both Bangabandhu and Bangladesh. Indeed, both are synonymous. They represent both sides of the same coin.

The author is an eminent economist, former Governor of Bangladesh Bank and Emeritus Professor at Dhaka University.