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MoulanaBhashani...fortyyearsafter1976

Moulana Bhashani . . . forty years after 1976

SyedBadrulAhsan
Published:Sunday,20November,2016at10:03AM,Count:208

Moulana
Abdul
Hamid
Khan
Bhashani'sfinesthour
came in the final
phase of the mass
upsurge against Field
Marshal Mohammad
Ayub Khan in early
1969. As the struggle
for a restoration of
democracyintensified
in what was yet a
united
Pakistan,
Bhashani took charge
of the movement and
demanded that the
Agartala Conspiracy
Case be withdrawn
and that Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman be
freed
without
conditions.Hevowed
to lead a march on
Dhaka cantonment,
where all the accused
inthecasewerebeing
tried, and compel the
military junta to
accede to the popular
demand.
ItwasatimewhenjalaoandgheraoburnandbesiegeweretheweaponsBhashaniemployed
against the ruling classes. On the one hand, he was providing deft leadership to the Bengalis in
theirstruggleforanAyubfreeland.Ontheother,hemadesure,throughconveyingthemessageto
thesoontobeBangabandhu,thatundernocircumstancesshouldheagreetojointheRoundTable
Conference convened by the President in Rawalpindi as a way of tiding over the political crisis
engulfingthetwowingsofPakistan.Intheevent,SheikhMujiburRahmanwasfreed,alongwith
hisfellowprisonerssaveone(SergeantZahurulHaquehadbeenkilledinprisonbythearmyonly
daysearlier),wasanointedasBangabandhuatamassrallybeforeflyingofftoWestPakistanto
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attendtheRTC.
Intriguingly, Bhashani, whom his followers and detractors alike often referred to as the Red
MoulanaowingtohisLeftistpoliticalorientation,stayedawayfromtheRTCalongwithhisfellow
maverickZulfikarAliBhutto.Bhashaniwasconvincedthattheconferencewouldyieldfew,ifany,
results.Hewasprovedrightwhenonlydayslaterthearmyintervenedasecondtimeinpolitics,
forcingAyubKhanoutandfoistingAghaMohammadYahyaKhanonthecountry.
Fourdecadesafterhisdeath,itbecomesnecessarytocastlightonMoulanaBhashani'spoliticsand
hisimpactonBengalisbothinthenearlyquartercenturyinwhichtheywerepartofPakistanand
in the few years he was to live out the remains his life in a sovereign Bangladesh. Studies of
Bangladesh's history are incomplete without taking into account the tales of all the important
playersinitsevolutiontoanindependentstate.Bhashaniwasoneofthemostinfluentialamong
thoseplayers,demonstratinghisindispensabilityinnationalpoliticsthroughtakingchargeofthe
newly formed Awami Muslim League as its president in June 1949. It was the winning
combinationofBhashani,ShereBanglaA.K.FazlulHuqandHuseynShaheedSuhrawardywhich
madeitcleartothecentralauthoritiesinKarachithatchangewascalledfor.Thetriumphofthe
JuktoUnitedFrontattheprovincialelectionsof1954
wastheloudmessagethatwentout.
Itwasvictorythatwasnottobepermittedtolast.TheJuktoFrontministrywasdismissedwithin
two months of taking charge. Humiliation was piled on ShereBangla. None of that, however,
deterred Bhashani, whose populism continued to be the underpinning of his politics. His natural
inclinationtowardsecularpoliticsreachedamilestonewhentheAwamiMuslimLeaguegraduated
to being the Awami League, a significant development in the context of Pakistani politics.
Bhashani'spopulismwasathorninthefleshforthecountry'sentrenchedinterests,toapointwhere
GeneralIskandarMirzathreatenedto'shoothimlikeadog.'Theironywastocomelater.Mirza
wouldbebundledoutofhistory.Bhashaniwouldgoonandon.Hispoliticshadtheforceofagale
thatcouldnotbestavedoffbypoliticiansreadytocompromiseorindulgeinsomersault.
A significant aspect of the Bhashani persona, even in those fraught days of the Cold War in the
1950s,washispubliclystatedunwillingnesstogoalongwithSuhrawardy'sproAmericanstance
in foreign policy. Bhashani was perspicacious enough to understand that such USdominated
regionalorganizationsasSEATOandCENTOwouldnotbeabletowithstandthehistoricalwaves
whosesoundshealreadydetectedinthefuture.HelefttheAwamiLeagueandinFebruary1957
gave shape to a new political organization, the National Awami Party, through a conference at
Kagmari.Ifthatwasanastutemoveonhispart,itcametotheaccompanimentoftheradicalwhen
he warned the vested interests of West Pakistan of East Bengal's willingness to say 'assalamo
alaikum'tothembeforegoingitsownway.Itwasaboldstatement,perhapsmadeontheemotional
spurofthemoment,butitdidsetpeoplethinkingoffuturepossibilities.
AndyettherewerethecontradictionsinMoulanaBhashani'spolitics.Muchashewasopposedto
anymilitarydominanceofpolitics,hewasreadyby1963toaskhisfollowersnottodisturbAyub
Khan. His reasoning was clear: Ayub Khan and Z.A. Bhutto were busy reconfiguring Pakistan's
foreign policy through opening a diplomatic road to China. An ardent admirer of Chinese
communism, Bhashani was willing to countenance Pakistan's new ties with Beijing. Bhashani,
throughout his career, showed not the slightest desire of seeking power and yet it remained his
preoccupation to speak, for much of the time, truth to power. And of course there was always a
dashofadventurisminhispolitics.Hisdecisiontoboycottthegeneralelection,Pakistan'sfirst,in
1970 stunned people all across the country. Add to that his public declaration, only three days
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beforethecountrywenttothepollsinDecemberoftheyear,ofEastPakistan's'independence'asa
sovereignstate.Foronceinalongtime,Bhashani'spoliticsclearlycameacrossasflawed.
But none of this detracts from the sheer patriotism Moulana Bhashani demonstrated once the
nation plunged into the War of Liberation in March 1971. He was part of an allparty advisory
council constituted by the Mujibnagar government, though there is reason to believe that he
deservedtobegivenalargerroleinthestruggleforfreedom.Hewouldnotbepersuadedbyeven
hisloyalistMashiurRahmanJaduMiahtoreturntoanoccupiedBangladesh,butneitherwashein
a position to exert a degree of influence commensurate with his reputation on the freedom
movement. But that did not hold him back, once Pakistan had been defeated in battle, from
returningtopoliticswithrenewedvigour.Thatbegsthequestion,though:didMoulanaBhashani's
politicsinfreeBangladeshidentifywiththeaspirationsofitspeople?
ThetimesweredifficultforBangabandhu'sgovernment,thereasonsforwhichlaywithinaswell
as without. Bhashani did not help matters through the incendiary reports which appeared on a
regularbasisinhisnewsoutletHaqKatha.Hispublicrallies,bothinthenation'scapitalasalso
elsewhere, dwindled to being demonstrations of less than purposeful comments that titillated the
crowds. He was vituperative in his remarks on Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni, plainly parochial in
blaming the 'Hindu food minister' Phani Bhushan Majumdar for the food shortages and clearly
embarrassed Jadu Miah by informing his audience that his chief lieutenant knew how high the
priceofalcoholhadclimbedinMujibgovernedBangladesh.Hemadeitapoint,ateveryrallyhe
addressed, to remind people that the Father of the Nation had once been one of the many
secretarieswhoworkedunderhiminhisdaysaspresidentoftheAwamiLeague.
Ineffect,MoulanaBhashani'spoliticshadinaverylargesenselostdirectionbytheearly1970s.
His hunger march bhooka michhil toward the old Ganobhaban in 1972, at a time when
Bangabandhu was out of the country, did him little good. Part of the reason had to do with the
mischief the government demonstrated by releasing to the media images of Bhashani savouring
sweets as senior government leaders sat around him. Outside Ganobhaban, his small band of
followerswaitedinpouringrain.ButthebankruptcyofBhashani'sbrandofpoliticsrevealeditself
when, in a clear shift away from his secular, socialistic reputation, the Moulana launched his
deeply disturbing campaign for a 'Muslim Bangla' in a noncommunal Bangladesh. Communal
politics, proscribed in Bangladesh since liberation in 1971, thus insinuated itself back into the
political scene courtesy Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. That would be the start, with dangerous
consequences.
MoulanaBhashaniwasaperennialmaverickinpolitics,bothinpre1971Pakistanandpost1971
Bangladesh.HewashurtwhentheChineseleadership,withwhomheidentifiedinagreatmany
ways,didnotrespondtohiscallforsupportinBangladesh'swaragainstPakistan.Hewasclearly
embarrassed when Beijing vetoed Bangladesh's efforts to enter the United Nations. When
BangabandhuwentfortheFourthAmendmenttotheConstitutioninJanuary1975,Bhashani,like
somanyothersandforgoodreason,wascriticalofthemove.AndyetwhenBangabandhudrove
downtoSantosh,Tangail,inMarch,toseekhisblessings,Bhashanisteppedoutofhishumblehut,
walked a goodly part of the dusty path to embrace him and tell him he was behind him in his
efforts for change. Bangabandhu, ever respectful of the Moulana, touched his feet in profound
veneration.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's respect for Moulana Bhashani was without ambiguity. Likewise,
Bhashani's affection for Mujib, despite the conflicting positions they came to hold in politics,
bordered on the paternal. But that affection was shot through with insensitivity when Bhashani
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welcomed the violent coup d'etat which destroyed Bangabandhu and his government in August
1975. The Moulana's unpredictability was to manifest itself one more time. When Khondokar
Moshtaqvisitedhimsoonafterthecoup,Bhashaniaskedhimwhyhehadtaughtthetigertotaste
blood. With the dark legacies of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan not yet forgotten, Bhashani's hint
couldnothavebeenclearer.
Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani's political legacy is a thing of the past. The National
Awami Party, which in his lifetime splintered into two factions, is as good as dead. Within a
couple of years of his death, his disciples would make a beeline for positions in the regime of
GeneralZiaurRahman.Inthe1980s,theywouldrepeattheexercise,thistimethroughexhibitions
offawningbehaviourbeforeGeneralHusseinMuhammadErshad.
Notmanyyearsago,aleftwingPakistanipoliticalleadertoldthiswriterthatwhilemanyPakistanis
likehimwerehappythatBengalishadgonetheirindependentway,theymissedSheikhMujibur
RahmanandMoulanaBhashaniinPakistan'spolitics.Heexplained.Allthewayfromthe1950sto
theearly1970s,thetwoBengalipoliticianswerepowerfulvoicesfordemocracyinPakistanand
hadkepttherulingclassesontheirtoesthroughtheirmassappealanduncompromisingpolitical
programmes.After1971,feudalismhadswiftlyreclaimedPakistan'spolitics.
The Pakistani politician looked sad and pensive. In the distance, the Margalla Hills beyond
Islamabadwerefastpassingunderagatheringtwilightshadow.
(MoulanaAbdulHamidKhanBhashani,bornon12December1880,diedon17November1976)
SyedBadrulAhsanisAssociateEditor,TheDailyObserver

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