Awami League and Common People’s Politics

Dr. Rashid Askari:

The sun of Bangladesh’s independence that had set on one 23 June in the Battle of Plassey (1757) began to rise on another 23 June after nearly a couple of centuries (1949) at a place called ‘Rose Garden’ located in old Dhaka’s KM Das Lane where a common peoples’ party, East Pakistan Awami Muslim League came into being with Maulana Bhashani as the President, Shamsul Haq of Tangail as the Secretary and the 29-year-old budding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Joint Secretary. That was the beginning of a real mass movement, a conscious popular demand for the autonomy of a province and thereby the emergence of a people’s republic which was not taken heed of by the Pakistan Government, who stood to benefit from the so-called ‘Two Nation Theory. As a matter of fact, the common people of East Pakistan soon became disillusioned with the racially discriminatory rules of the Government and badly needed a new political platform to give vent to their political hopes and expectations. When the conservative right-wing Muslim League had utterly failed to strike a chord with the common people, its progressive segment decided to break free from its reactionary older version and came up with a pretty liberal political stance. And again in 1955 in the wake of the landslide victory of the United Front in the 1954 Provincial Assembly elections and the debacle of the old-fashioned Muslim League, Awami Muslim League deleted the word ‘Muslim’ and became more inclusive and secular.

Ever since then, there was no holding the party. Born out of a people’s feeling of autonomy, Awami League under the historic leadership of Maulana Bhashani, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman participated in all the democratic and progressive movements in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. As a party of the common people both in theory and in practice, it thrived under charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujib and had been instrumental in the entire independence struggle movement on the country. That the nation was united and fought the Great Liberation War in 1971 under Mujib’s leadership in absentia is a very rare example in human history.

Awami League owes a great debt of gratitude to Bangabandhu’s family. Bangabandhu himself sacrificed his whole life for his party, his country and its people which meant the world to him. He was one of the very few political leaders in history who had served for more than 12 years and was under close surveillance for another 10 years and finally made the supreme sacrifice along with his family on the darkest night of 15 August 1975 when almost all members of his family except for two daughters— Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, were brutally killed. The atrocity of that August night stands no comparison when we see that even Bangabandhu’s ten-year-old son Sheikh Russel could not escape the wrath of the killers. Bangabandhu lived for his country and people and also died for them. What can be a better sacrifice than this? However, Bangabandhu’s achievements as a political leader reached such heights that it cannot be measured by the narrow confines of a particular party. Bangabandhu began his political marathon as a party politician and ended as one of the most distinguished global leaders.

Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina, currently the prime minister of the Government of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh, too, did a lot for her party, Bangladesh Awami League. As a matter of fact, she gave the party a phoenix resurrection from its ashes left in 1975 after the Father of the Nation was assassinated and his most-trusted followers were killed in the jail and a political impasse loomed large. For about half a decade, Awami League’s ark was about to be capsized by the enemies of the country and the people ganged up against Mujib and his family. Sheikh Hasina came to its rescue as a saviour. She pulled on the oar of the sinking boat and started rowing it by upsetting the apple cart of Bangabandhu killers and the beneficiaries. She has been successfully leading the party for quite a long time and has brought it to power as many as three times and is doing some wonderful jobs for the country’s development by implementing a couple of visions—Vision 2021 and Vision 2041.

Awami League led the road to autonomy and to independence of the country and still is leading the way to its development. Bangabandhu sailed for independence and his worthy daughter and the heir to his blood and political ideology, Sheikh Hasina is sailing for development.

Bangabandhu led the struggle for democracy in the pre-independence Pakistan and Hasina led the struggle for democracy and striving for development in the post-independence Bangladesh. Bangabandhu succeeded in giving us independence and Sheikh Hasina in giving us prosperity.

Awami League is a party which is of the people, for the people and by the people. It was the spontaneous overflow of a powerful public emotion for liberal democracy, progressivism and non-communalism.

Since Awami League is the oldest and the biggest political party in Bangladesh, it has become a melting pot of peoples regardless of casts, creeds and religions. Its image is sometimes vitiated by fake Awami Leaguers and opportunist infiltrators. They take advantage of their party affiliation and tarnish the image of the party by evil deeds and corrupt practices. But then again, people take recourse to this party time and again, for, it is the most trusted pro-liberation and secular democratic political organisation in the country. If the infiltrators and opportunists are held in check, Awami League can serve the country and the people much better than any other political parties in the country. The political fate of the Bangladeshis is tied to Awami League. If Awami League wins, Bangladesh too wins and if Awami League loses, the whole country loses.

Writer: Former vice chancellor of Islamic University, Bangladesh.